# ADA Mini-L: Rootified



## ClPat (Apr 30, 2009)

WOW! I'm already loving it. Can't wait to see what you do with it.


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

Wow. Those are some nice lights! How much did you get them for? 
Cant wait for you to start planting this baby!


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

i got it for 100. I don't think the brand's very widely known.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

btw thx for the support so far! look forward to hearing more comments and beginning the planting process.


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

I just noticed the turtle!


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

HAHA just a little life before i get plants and fish in there


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

the root piece is nice but I'm not sure what's going on with that kind of random twig sticking out.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

yeah i agree that's totally killing it. The thing is I want to find a thicker, similar piece with the same shape. not exactly the easiest task


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## CLASSIC (Feb 25, 2009)

Cool! I like the bonzai tree, but i must agree with dollface and say i do not like the stick. It throws the size of the bonzai off. I just bought this tank also, and have been searching the forums to see what others have done to theirs. You are off to a great start!


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

What I find helpful to do when faced with a lack of hardscape materials is to use plants to fill in the blanks or to hide any missing pieces. 
Rather than try to find a matching branch for the area the twig now occupies, you could try to pick out a plant or plants to be put in it's stead.
Were it my tank, I would just use the main trunk and do away with the above-mentioned twig, the twigs at the base, and the slanting piece behind. I'd then place the driftwood on a slope in the back left corner with small jagged rocks accenting the root structure to give the effect of a dead tree in a mound of rocks on a hillside.
Keep the turtle, though. It's rad.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

I agree lose the twig the bonsai root looks awesome. Just slope your substrate a little more. You are like 2 miles away from Irwindale. there is some rock quarries were you can get nice rocks or head on over to Nature Aquarium in Santa Monica and pick up some nice seiryu or yamaya stone. nice light BTW I see alot of Jali products around here, similar to Finnex.


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## ch3fb0yrdee (Oct 2, 2008)

Sick light. Its the same as mine, but mine is a smaller with less watts. 55 Watts is monster! Haha cant wait to see what it looks like.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

thanks for the input guys. yeah you know what the rock idea sounds like a good one. Cause i honestly dont think I can find any pieces that would go well with the bonsai tree. The hue of the brown and the texture are pretty unique. As for sloping the substrate, which way should i slant it? high to low, left to right?


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

you add more depth to the scape by sloping low in the foreground and taller in the background.


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## Outlawboss (Dec 30, 2008)

Already subscribed. This is going to be one of the great ones, I can feel it. Love the light. It looks just like the Finnex one, but like 3 times the wattage.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

definitely enjoying the hype that my tank is getting. Unfortunately I won't be able to start planting until this weekend cause I'm at school right now. But me and my bro are gonna head up to the Arcadia Mountains this weekend to go on a hike and hopefully grab some nice material for scaping. Then the fun begins!


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

removed the wood and began the planting process. Planted some HC along with some other stem plants. Probably gonna keep it like this for about a week or so to let the roots grow in. Enjoy the pics and if anyone has any suggestions to help the plants let me know!


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Why did you remove the root? If you add it later you will disrupt the substrate and the HC. Are you gonna grow the HC emerced first? Im not a fan of emerced growth cuz it still has to go through a melting faze once you add water. For such a small tank I would just add ten pots of Hc and be done with it. You should spread out your micro sword for faster growth. The anubias should not be on the substrate cuz the roots will rot. Tie it to rock or wood instead. PM me the details to were you got that light. You are welcome to come to SCAPE meet to get a chance to get some nice plants for your tank.


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## resowner92 (Jul 23, 2007)

MARIMOBALL said:


> You are welcome to come to SCAPE meet to get a chance to get some nice plants for your tank.


x2 :icon_smil

I also might have some extra HC for you after I'm done replanting. I also have some red rocks if you want them :wink:


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

i removed the root cause im still in the process of soaking and boiling it so that it will stay submerged in the water. As for the HC, i'm going to add a little more water so they're no longer emersed. Yeah I wanted to purchase more HC, but the ones i saw in stores looked like they were dying so i bought a limited amount. Yeah i'd love to come to a SCAPE meeting. Maybe in 2 weeks or so when I'm done with finals and such. Thanks for the help guys. And i would love to get my hands on that HC!


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## resowner92 (Jul 23, 2007)

allur3 said:


> i removed the root cause im still in the process of soaking and boiling it so that it will stay submerged in the water. As for the HC, i'm going to add a little more water so they're no longer emersed. Yeah I wanted to purchase more HC, but the ones i saw in stores looked like they were dying so i bought a limited amount. Yeah i'd love to come to a SCAPE meeting. Maybe in 2 weeks or so when I'm done with finals and such. Thanks for the help guys. And i would love to get my hands on that HC!


pm sent :thumbsup:


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

set up the whole tank today. got the co2 and filter running. Everything looks good so far. I also purchased some new HC cause mine was kinda dying. Here's some pics of the launch.










































let me know what you guys think! i feel like the right sides a little empty.


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## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

I love it, just like it is. Get some flame moss or other growing on that root!:icon_smil


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## Clemsons2k (May 31, 2009)

Looks good! Maybe get a stem plant or some other big plant for the background to cover up the blank space towards the middle and right side of the tank. Other than that I'd leave it the way it is


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

i need to buy some lily pipes  and i really hope my HC makes it past its melting stage.


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## jkplanter (Sep 4, 2008)

looks ok..


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

its turning a little brownish and wilting. sorry no pics though


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

I haven't updated this post in awhile but trust me a lot has happened in my tank. First of all two instances of HC have died. And to add to that tragedy, my whole tank was infiltrated by hair algae. But after much effort, I have added some new plants and things are looking hopeful. Here are some pics.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

oh yeah and i just added 2 algae eating shrimp and they both died within 10 seconds of enterring the tank.. some advice please? LOL it was very heart breaking.


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## KentCurtis (Jan 22, 2009)

lol whats your CO2 PPM? You might have had it cranked if you dont have any other fish/shrimp in the tank...which means basically instant suffocation if you will


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

yeah i figured that was probably the cause. So i did about a 35% water change and I turned down my co2. Is there anything else I can do to ensure a safe environment for my next batch?


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## sandiegoryu (Feb 15, 2006)

Did you acclimate your shrimp? It's very crucial that you do.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

how exactly do you do that? excuse the noob question.


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## jkplanter (Sep 4, 2008)

you don't just dump them in. you acclimate like fish. ask your pop. he knows. I have cherry shrimps for you too.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

Today went a little better with the shrimp. I did a two 30% wc's on 2 consecutive days. After doing so, I bought some shrimp from the pet center sale and put them in my tank. They seem to be doing quite well. However, when I tried to put in a dwarf puffer, it didn't end up quite as well. He was disoriented from the moment he entered the tank and after a couple minutes he fainted. So i stuck him in an oxygenated tank where he fortunately revived. guess I should turn off my co2 for the time being and do another wc? Do you guys turn off your co2 during the night time? Here are some pics of the shrimp.


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## KentCurtis (Jan 22, 2009)

I personally dont turn mine off and everything is fine in the morning. Some people will run an airstone at night to oxygenate the water. You shouldnt have to turn off your co2 and do a water change to get the puffer in there. I would just acclimate him as someone mentioned earlier about the shrimp. Place him in a bucket or something with the water he came with from the store (or from the oxygenated tank in your case). Then tie a semi-tight knot in a stretch of airline tubing and start a siphon from your Mini-L. Adjust the knot tighter to get it to drip drops of water every second or so into your bucket. Leave the bucket sit until it at least doubles the amount of water in it. Then just scoop your puffer into your Mini-L. Should do the trick.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

gotcha. i'll try acclimating him instead this time and we'll see how things turn out


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

little update:

planted some new plants I purchased from nature and pet center. Also added some more shrimp to have a total of 7 in my tank so far. so far the plants are doing really well, but the foreground plants are kinda struggling. For some reason, I have never had any thriving foreground plants ie: hc. Can someone help me? My theory is that my light isnt reaching the ground so those plants are light deprived. I dunno, you guys tell me.


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## Tex Gal (Mar 28, 2008)

I thought dwarf puffers will eat shrimp. Am I wrong? I thought they would ear any invertebrates that they could.


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

Tex Gal said:


> I thought dwarf puffers will eat shrimp. Am I wrong? I thought they would ear any invertebrates that they could.


Their mouths are really small. They picked at shrimp a bit, but I never saw them kill one. Snails are softer and slower.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

haha well i eventualy gave up on the dwarf puffers anyway. For some reason they keep fainting in my tank.. perhaps ill try some neons soon. Anyone formulate a reason why my foreground plants refuse to be healthy?


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## jkplanter (Sep 4, 2008)

did you turn off that HUGE co2? your setup is more for a 60g then a 10g. :/


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

yeah i've started to routinely turn on the co2 for like 3-4 hours a day at less than 1 bubble per second. Put some guppies and an otto in my tank today and they finally lived!


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## ldk59 (Jan 30, 2009)

allur3 said:


> yeah i've started to routinely turn on the co2 for like 3-4 hours a day at less than 1 bubble per second. Put some guppies and an otto in my tank today and they finally lived!


Your not maintaining a high enough concentration of C02 for the HC...
Buy yourself a cheap Drop-Checker and use it to properly tune your
C02. 

The tank is looking good roud: I'm enjoying watching it come to life.

Keep up the good work :icon_bigg

Larry


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

I have grown hc pretty well without any co2 before, but I would have the co2 on when your lights are on.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

bought about a dozen baby rcs from a scape member the other night. They seem to be settling in my tank perfectly. I also found that I have a patch of clear eggs on the front panel of my tank. Are these snail eggs? If so, how can i effectively rid of them? Probably going to pick up a few crs from a friend tomorrow. I'll try to add some pics.


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## jkplanter (Sep 4, 2008)

i have rcs if you want some. you sure they won't get sucked into your intake? i have plenty of snail eggs. i consider them as a cleanup crew.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

cool I'll pick some up when you're free. Yeah I put a net over my inflow and no ones getting sucked in. Kinda ghetto, but it works. You just let the snail eggs hatch?


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## jkplanter (Sep 4, 2008)

they clean the extra algae in the tank. most die trying to clean the algae on the inlet. haha.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

7/19 update with some pics

added some rcs and crs to my tank. Also, only days after receiving them, one of my rcs has berried and looks good! here are some pics. My tank has grown out quite a bit, finally.


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## MINICHILIRED (Apr 22, 2009)

looks much better and I want some shrimp


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

so over the last two nights, three of my shrimp mysteriously died. I didn't see it happen, so I can't make a judgment as to how they're dead. They were all different kinds: amano, bee, and crs. However, the characteristic that linked the three was that they were the larger of all my shrimp. keep in mind that I have other amano, crs, bee, and rcs in my tank, but they didn't die. Some are almost the same size as the ones that did die. Does anyone have an explanation as to why they died? I run co2 around 3-4 hours a day, I'm thinking that might be the cause since the bigger shrimp consume more oxygen. I'm not quite sure though.


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

Low O2 is a casue, how much CO2 are you running in the tank? I've got to keep my CO2 around 15 ppm a nice deep green coloring. If it goes yellowish in my drop checker I get unhappy shrimps.

Craig


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## Outlawboss (Dec 30, 2008)

You might also check your nitrates if you are dosing frequently. CRS and Bee are notoriously sensitive (at least in my experience) to high nitrates. I've have a very similar experience to yours except for the Amano. They seem to hold out better in cases of high nitrates. Anyway, it might be worth checking.


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## jkplanter (Sep 4, 2008)

when was your last waterchange? did you have the air con on? it was hot over the weekend and i know you have that tank next to the window. if the water got HOT then it decreases the O2. Just turn off that monster co2. you really don't have enough plants to need it.


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## allur3 (May 18, 2009)

thanks for the advice guys. I stopped dosing ferts as often cause of the nitrate that ends up in the water and it seems to be working. I only have one crs left, but he seems to be doing better. hopefully that was the underlying problem.


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## MINICHILIRED (Apr 22, 2009)

check out my new crs on my 60p tankilicious in tank journals


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