# Mott's ADA MINI-M- UPDATED PIC'S 1/11/09



## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

I Just tore down and replaced substrate about a week ago. I had a bad batch of ASII, Jeff from ADG Kindly sent a replacement bag of AS1.
Blasting the Co2 like crazy while AS settles

Equipment: 
ADA MINI-M
2x15w spiral 6500k Stainless steel desk lamps
Eheim Ecco 2232
Cal Aqua lilly's
Hydor in-line heater(need to purchace)
Red sea paintball pressurized Co2
ADA diffuser 

Hardscape:
Seiryu Stones 

Substrate:
ADA Aquasoil Amazonia
ADA powersand, mulm

Flora:
Hemianthus callitrichoides

Fauna:
Neocaridina heteropoda in holding tank until AS is done leaching ammonia.
Maybe down the line some Galaxy Rasboras.

Here are the results:


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Galaxy rasboras will look nice. I like the clean look with the lily pipes and no thermometer or heater visible. What will the background plant be?


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

Wow that's a pretty intense nano [email protected]#[email protected] nice man


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

I think I'm gonna try HC only this time.


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## jinx© (Oct 17, 2007)

Nice little set up, those rocks have a lot of character as well.


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## Yoshi (Apr 5, 2007)

Excellent rock choice!


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Thanks, I love these stones even better when the grow a little algae on them.
They look more like they would in nature I would think.


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## dylanserbin (Oct 19, 2008)

what kind of stones are they?


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## secondaccess (Nov 30, 2008)

Can't wait for it to grow out and get lush!


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

While I myself don't like growning HC (it's such a pain to trim!), I love seeing it in beautiful tanks like this.

Are all those bubbles CO2 or are they the residual gas from a newly-filled tank? If it's the former, wow!

Nice tank. Keep the updates frequent!


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Ugly Genius said:


> While I myself don't like growning HC (it's such a pain to trim!), I love seeing it in beautiful tanks like this.
> 
> Are all those bubbles CO2 or are they the residual gas from a newly-filled tank? If it's the former, wow!
> 
> Nice tank. Keep the updates frequent!


Thanks UG
I wish it was all bubbles from pearling:icon_cry: but some of those shots were taken just after a WC.

Ammo is still at 4 ppm:icon_eek:


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

dylanserbin said:


> what kind of stones are they?


Seiryu Stones From Japan.


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## fish_fasinated (Mar 30, 2006)

this tank has a TON of character, very mono tone in its own right, but the rocks add just the right splash of character! i freaking LOVE this tank.


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Thanks Fish, I wanted something very simple with this tank. I can't wait for the HC to fill in.


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## pga7602 (Dec 5, 2008)

How many liters of soil did you end up using. I'm ordering the mini-m and dont' know if the 3 liter bag is enough.


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

The 3 liter is what I used, had just enough with the powersand.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Nice one! I'm diggin' those stones


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

Sweet!


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Back with a two week update:

Just some shots from today's cleaning I figured I would get some pic's with no equipment in the tank 

Enjoy

Top, getting nice growth huh?










Tank empty:










My lame attempt at an ADA style pic... Hairdryer in one hand cam in other lol!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

That's some nice growth there!


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Minor update, cleaning pipes today and possibly rearranging hardscape. HC grew in so much I had to do a major trim that was fun ugh...
Pics on the way after change.
Just a few shots from today's feeding


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

That HC looks great! I'm waiting to get some in myself. I just love the look, not sure how I'll feel when I need to start mowing.


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Phoenix-cry said:


> That HC looks great! I'm waiting to get some in myself. I just love the look, not sure how I'll feel when I need to start mowing.


Thanks, it really filled in much faster than I expected.


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## brt_p (Nov 16, 2008)

what kind of rocks?..it's so cool..


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

brt_p said:


> what kind of rocks?..it's so cool..


Seiryu Stones From Japan.


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## jinx© (Oct 17, 2007)

That filled in quick. Great shrimp shots.roud:


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## ch3fb0yrdee (Oct 2, 2008)

Mott your HC growth is just amazing. I was wondering, do you keep the CO2 running 24/7? How long is your light exposure? How many PPM CO2 at? I am having a hard time growing my CO2. Thanks!

Amazing scape btw, just beautiful


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Thanks so much guy's, a update is due this weekend.

The first few weeks I had co2 24/7 with a high bubble rate possibly 4-5 bps while the AS was settling and leeching out the ammonia, mind you I did not do crazy water changes like many do with new AS, just one WC a week.

I have been running my photo period at 11 hours but I'm going to cut it back now because the stones started growing BBA hence the big cleaning I just did.
I think it may be due to the fact that I had blasted the Co2 in the beginning but had to cut it back once the shrimp went in. 
I'm also experiencing some GDA but not too worried about that.

I find HC will do best with high light, Co2 and ADA AS as a substrate, you don't even have to dose that much.


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Back with an update, cleaned the rock's of BBA and the glassware of gda and redid the scape a bit.
I think I am pretty happy with this scape I can't stop tinkering with it LOL! the shrimp are like WTF! go do something else

What do you guy's think?














































Some pic's of the equipment


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

I think it looks great  The rocks are beautiful


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## btmarquis (Feb 15, 2007)

Looks good. Do you have a solenoid to control the co2? I have the same regulator, but I think I need to find a solenoid to turn the co2 off with the lights.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

It's stunning!!!


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

btmarquis said:


> Looks good. Do you have a solenoid to control the co2? I have the same regulator, but I think I need to find a solenoid to turn the co2 off with the lights.


Yes I do on/off with the lights.




Phoenix-cry said:


> It's stunning!!!


Thanks Phoenix, how's the co2 coming along?


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## MedicBMC (Jan 3, 2009)

WOW does that look great. I get my aquasoil and HC and dwarf hairgrass tomorrow. I cant wait I'm going to start my own journal ASAP. deciding on what to name my tank.


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Just some shot's today with no equipment and trying some different backgrounds. Enjoy!



Black:



















Off white:



















Grey:


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

The last one is awesome!


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

Also, the first off-white one looks fresh as hell. Love it.
The tank, too! It's looking great!


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Thanks fellas, I love it when a plan comes together.

What next? think it needs anything?


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## fishsandwitch (Apr 20, 2008)

mott said:


> What next? think it needs anything?


Let me start by saying it looks awsome!

The only thing I would do is cull all but the very reddest males, and a cull a few of the least red females as well. In this tank, the cherrys really stand out, and so having them as red as possible is a good thing. In a tank this small, it is also easy to selectively breed and get awesome results. 

I personlly, would also add a plant in a row across the back glass (hairgrass, rotala mini?) But, hey this is you tank, do what you want!


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

fishsandwitch said:


> Let me start by saying it looks awsome!
> 
> The only thing I would do is cull all but the very reddest males, and a cull a few of the least red females as well. In this tank, the cherrys really stand out, and so having them as red as possible is a good thing. In a tank this small, it is also easy to selectively breed and get awesome results.
> 
> I personlly, would also add a plant in a row across the back glass (hairgrass, rotala mini?) But, hey this is you tank, do what you want!


Thanks for the nice comment

I'm not sure how to go about doing that, by culling do you mean mating? I do have a qt laying around.

I was trying to think of another plant to add but not sure which one.
The last scape in this tank had HC+DHG and it looked nice for a while but the HG took over and grew everywhere. Too much to maintain with HC IMO.

Does Giant hairgrass invade like the dwarf type?


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## fishsandwitch (Apr 20, 2008)

mott said:


> Thanks for the nice comment
> 
> I'm not sure how to go about doing that, by culling do you mean mating? I do have a qt laying around.
> 
> ...


Culling is the process of removing the least desirable ones, while this normally means killing, it works just as well to move them into a different tank, sell them off cheap, ect. I prefer to simply feed them to my community tank. 

I think giant hairgrass would be invasive. I would try and find a plant w/o runners.


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

very nice hc carpet! it looks great!


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## thinBear (Dec 16, 2011)

Hi Mott, may I know the distance between your lighting and the substrates? I remember you are using 2 15W CFLs right?


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