# Janick's ADA Mini-M Cube Garden, Iwagumi "Padang"



## Betta Maniac (Dec 3, 2010)

Pretty. 

I love the stark "mountain range" tanks . . .


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## Jeff.:P:. (Sep 8, 2009)

nice


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

*16 December, 2010*

Planted Hemianthus Callitrichoide (Baby Dwarf Tears) and Riccia Fluitans on two small stones, emersed (dry start) method.

*Hemianthus Callitrichoide*
Mixed doubts on whether to leave rock wool from pots in. First planted with small clumps with the rock wool on (2 days prior to 12/16). Did further research and decided was not a good idea, so took out everything and removed all the rock wool. Separated stems into smaller groups and replanted on the evening of 12/16.

*Riccia Fluitans*
Tied two small batched on to two smaller (pebble) stones to nudge between the two larger Seiryu Stones. Riccia was a little brown then.

*Emersed / Dry Start*
Wrapped saran wrap on top and added a little water to the substrate. Reflecting back, the front lawn got a little too flooded.


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

*24 December, 2010*

_Christmas Eve, 6 days later_


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

*2 January, 2011*

There seems to be some progress for most of the HC in the back (elevated) areas. I suspect the front of the tank was a little too muddy/flooded for the HC's to take stronger roots and flourish. The Riccia's seem to have revived itself and I can see new greens growing. Mold was starting to show at the front, which is what prompted me to clean a little and start flooding the tank.










A part from it being fun to actually flood the tank. I now wonder if it was too soon. (~ 2 weeks emersed / dry start)


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

*3 January, 2011*

Decided to flood the tank. This turned out to be premature. The HC's in the front portion of the tank began to float. The roots were not as well established as I'd like it to be relative to those in the elevated area of the tank. The current fauna in the tank are pearling nicely. But I am very concerned that there will be more floaters in the near horizon.










I am struggling with finding the patience to have the nice meadow I intended to achieve with a dense carpet of HC's. From what I understand, it will take a long time for the carpet to heal the front of the tank submerged. So I ordered two pots of HC's to plant in the front as I was hoping to plant them with the rock wool. The idea is that this would anchor the HC's down.


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

The more I think about it, the more I lean toward draining the tank and add more HC (pots) and let it run its course emersed for another two/three weeks. _Please feel free to throw in your suggestions and comments_

So should I:

1. Plant new HC with rock wool on to anchor it down in front?

2. or, drain the tank and plant new stems of HC's in the front and let it take its course emersed for the next few weeks before flooding again?


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## chilled_fire (Jun 4, 2010)

Its looking great roud:

Patience is the key when it comes with planting HC , i had kept it for 4 weeks before filling my 29g up , and i have noticed that HC grows like crazy when emersed with good lights , i also used some excel .
So, in your case if you dont want to drain the water out , you could wait cause HC will fill but would take more time.  
Personally , i never had much luck with anchoring HC .


PS : "Padang" doesn't that mean open field, i recollect reading somehwre about it when i was in Singapore


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

Chilled_Fire, Yeah thanks. I think I'm going to drain it tonight or tomorrow. Then dry things out a little and wait plant new stems early next week.

My only concern (I'm a little new to this) is on my filter and tubings, it being wet and all now. I wonder what would happen to the filter media after a few more weeks of emersed waiting. I'd hate to see mold grow in my filter canister.

Aside from me just doing it and see what happens - anyone out there with experience on draining and waiting?


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## DMRaver (Dec 30, 2010)

It looks beautiful. I love the scape! I would drain the tank, and plant more HC without the wool. 3 or 4 more weeks will do wonders for your carpet. Maybe even 6-8? haha Depends on your patience I guess. I would drain and clean the Eheim, keep it dry till you've got your plants filled in. Don't be rushed to flood it.

p.s all the ADA stuff looks very simple and clean together. I like


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## chilled_fire (Jun 4, 2010)

If your Filter is new , then I would recommend removing everything out and drying it rather than keeping it closed.
Cause either ways you won’t have any good bacteria build in there as it’s just been few days I guess, So my suggestion would be to just clean it and dry it out.

I did the same to cycle the Aquasoil in my tank as Aquasoil has a tendency to leak amonia, So i had to cycle my tank for almost a month , then drain everthing , plant HC, wait 4 weeks and then fill it up .
Again wait for couple of weeks for bacteria build and then add fish


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## Betta Maniac (Dec 3, 2010)

chilled_fire said:


> I did the same to cycle the Aquasoil in my tank as Aquasoil has a tendency to leak amonia, So i had to cycle my tank for almost a month , then drain everthing , plant HC, wait 4 weeks and then fill it up . Again wait for couple of weeks for bacteria build and then add fish


Clearly I need to learn patience (not a strong point with me).


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## beedee (Jul 1, 2010)

looks good dude!

patience is indeed the hardest part of this hobby in my opinion!


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Looks great! I agree - it's so hard to be patient, especially when it looks so close to being ready. But don't worry: It's worth it!


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## boostfed (Dec 25, 2010)

thats a great start! how long is your photoperiod and whats the temp in your tank? mine looks nothing like that on day 6, lol. if you keep up with it that tank would look awesome! i'm sure you can salvage the foreground though, i hear with the Co2 cranked up the HC will spread like wildfire.


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

*5 January, 2011*

Drained the tank. Kept the top open overnight to dry out any moisture. I also elevated the front of the tank with a book so that it will not flood as I continually moist the top over the next few weeks. Cleaned out filter and parts are out to dry.

I am a little concerned about fungus/mold developing over the next few weeks as I initially had signs in the foreground area (emersed). I have two pots of HC's arriving on Friday and intend to replant them in the foreground.

This time, I am on a mission to wait this out emersed until I get a nice dense rooted carpet. I will be updating with more photos of progress at least on a weekly basis.


_PS. Thanks guys for your comments and support roud:_


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## chilled_fire (Jun 4, 2010)

for fungus just add some more water till the fungus drowns 
If the water levels goes above HC thats fine too just dose some excel everyday you might even see pearling 
All the fungus will go away and no harm to HC.
Just add enough water to drown fungus


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

*6 January, 2011*

New pots of HC and a portion of excellent Riccia arrived in the pm. Spent the evening replanting the foreground. The leaves on the new pots of HC were relatively smaller than the ones already planted in my tank. I wonder if it is because the ones already planted have been growing emersed for some time while the new pots were probably submerged from the nursery?

After replanting the foreground, I had excess powder type soil and a few more very small patches of HC. So I took one of my whisky glasses and created a small patch of soil and am going to try and do that emersed under my cabinet fluorescent lights for a bit. Will see how that goes as well.


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

*9 January, 2011*

Here is today's photo of progress of the replanted foreground. the leaves of newer HC are still small and darker in pigment.



I have some slight gaps in the saran wrap where my filter pipes sit on the glass (lily pipes). I wonder if I should take them out and seal the saran wrap completely. I have been misting every morning to keep the soil damp and reasonably humid. Condensation in the tank walls and some cumulation of water on the saran wrap ceiling is visible.

_Excuse the books, used for elevating the front of the tank and securing the back._


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

I know that feeling...when you begin to slowly fill the tank and the HC starts to float and you scramble to replant it....I'm glad you took the brown wool off though. It does not need to be planted with that attached. I skipped the emmersed setup in my tank and just planted and filled. So far so good. Looking forward to seeing updates of your tank. When you plant your HC do you use tweezers/forceps or just your finger tips? I found that planting it on an angle and removing the forceps very slowly to let the aquasoil fill in has been the most affective rather than planting it straight down into the substrate.
best, el g


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

*15 January, 2011*

Concerned. the older patches (read elevated) seem to be getting duller in color. I have been keeping the saran-wrap on with a small gap from the lily pipes. The foreground plant seems to be retaining it's fresh green colors which is promising. I am now worried that the older planted batch of HC are starting to fade away. 



Would flooding the tank now and dosing with liquid fertilizers / CO2 help? It's been a week since the foreground planting, I could try to be really carefully when flooding?

Maybe they are not getting enough air? Any ideas / suggestions? I've dose twice with Excel so far (mist). Maybe lack of photoperiod? I reduced it to 8 hours with a 3 hour break in between to discourage mold growth. Maybe that was wrong, I increased the photoperiod to 12 hours now and hoping for re-vitality.


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

*21 March, 2011*

Flooded the tank today. Happy with results. Broke my CO2 pollen diffuser though - luckily had a backup. Will be replacing that in a week or so.



Hopefully things will go well for another three weeks until I get a chance to stock with some tetra beauties!
:thumbsup:


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

A comprehensive guide for beginners from start to finish on growing Baby Dwarf Tears. I have tried to compile all possible concerns, queries, and "the best way" to approach growing Baby Dwarf Tears for your Iwagumi tank:

http://cel.kulasekaran.com/post/3943458204/growing-baby-dwarf-tears

Many thanks to PlantedTank for helpful discussions. I will be back with more as I continue with this tank and stocking it shortly.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

lookin good!! (time for a a baby tear haircut)


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## 46_Lubo_46 (Mar 30, 2011)

Beautiful tank really!

Big respect


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## Kazuya (Apr 4, 2011)

Nice looking set up. roud:

What kinda of CO2 system is that? ADA?
How often do you change the bottles?


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## janickg (Dec 2, 2010)

Yes, I am using the ADA canisters. Around 3 weeks, but I am dosing a lot of CO2 now to minimize algae threat. Have it running at about 3bps, 10 hours a day.

Hoping to get it down to 2 bps, 8 hour photoperiod. That should last closer to a month I would think.


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## moto (Jan 12, 2010)

I love the set-up. I have been growing HC now for a year now and started from one Tropica pot. I've learned over my 3 or 4 tank changes to anchor it with small stones. I've have a piece of polished granite that i was been chipping away at and placing on-top of the HC it works great and also keeps the fish from tearing it up....... But i noticed with my last tank "witch prompted me to replant" that after it forms a nice lush carpet it starts to unroot in the middle. Almost like the oxygen is forcing it up? Anyone had a similar experience? I'm using eco-complete and think this may be to prob OR i need to trim more frequently.


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## mrparker (Oct 23, 2009)

*Costs*

What are the costs associated with the setup of that type of tank? I realize that ADA stuff is expensive. But I'm just curious. I really want to do an all glass sexy tank like that, but cant ever commit to forking over the $$.


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