# ADA Mini L 8.8 G Tank



## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

So this is my second week on the forum and I thought Id just post up my new tank. Just picked it up the other day so ill say this pic is Day one. 

Its a ADA mini L tank about 8.8 gallons. 45x24x30cm Which im really happy about getting. you see i walked into Aqua forest in SF the other month for the first time and it re ignited my planted tank hobby. Ive been keeping a 75 gal Extra tall in my family room for a few years now, actually had the tank since I lived with Mom and Pops, but never really took the tank that far. Just anubius, java fern and the easy stuff. But thats another story. 

So anyhow Aqua forest enlightened me to the world of CO2 and now ive been running a paintball setup on my 75G for a month or so, things have been chaning quick in that one and I really wanted to setup a 2nd tank in the downstairs office so i can have something plesent to look at and at the same time scape and keep some dwarf shirp.


Currently im running just a HOB style filter, Aqua clear 20
Stealth submersible heater
Aqua soil Amizonia - the fine type
The pad is actually a static mat that i trimmed down to fit under the tank. 

Still waiting on the ebay T5 light setup, CO system, and a few other things to show up.




Ill keep updating as things move along.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

So day three or 4 now and i added some trimmings from my 75 tall and a small school of rasboras just to get things started. Still waiting on the lights to arrive in the mail.











Some pics of my 75 extra tall tank after trimming. Ill split it off into its own journal one of these days.


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

did you cycle it? those fish will be dead tomorrow if you didnt..


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

chris127 said:


> did you cycle it? those fish will be dead tomorrow if you didnt..



Yes its been cycled and those fish are already past the 24hour mark so i think there good.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

I can't wait to see this tank shape up


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

okay good cause amazonia is deaadly lol  so what light fixture did you buy?


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

chris127 said:


> okay good cause amazonia is deaadly lol  so what light fixture did you buy?



Just a T5 X 3 off ebay. 24 watt total. 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=380074575975


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## badisbadis101 (May 29, 2008)

Your 75 looks great  I would love to have a tank like that 

I cannot wait to see what you do with the Mini


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Good luckroud: I'm looking forward to it too


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

thanks for the comments guys, appreciated. nobody likes to be the wall flower talking to themselves.

Anyhow day 5 now.

swung by Home depot and picked up a 99cent cracked 1' tile of slate and went home to destroy it with a hammer. After some soaking i took a few pieces and began to arrange. 

A few things showed up in the mail today. a glass defuseser, paintball bottle style regulator, needle valve, drop checker and some cal aqua nano inflow outflow pipes.

Still waiting on the light, and canister filter.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

Ok up and running for a week now. Still waiting for the light to show up. but i have a CFL hanging above it for the time being. 

Today i added a piece of drift wood and a small rock i found on a walking path that i thought looked interesting.


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

The light that you purchased (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=380074575975) is going to cause a problem...

That fixture (as stated in the listing) runs at these specs: Voltage: 220-240V, Frequency: 50/60Hz. North American 110-120 volt electricity is generated at 60 Hz (cycles). Not to mention the plug being a different shape, and not fitting into a U.S. style outlet.









I hope my tone isn't being misconstrued here, and I hope for your sake that _I'm_ wrong, but the specs were clearly given in the description 
Research, people! :icon_frow :icon_eek:


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

Ahhh man, i cant believe i didnt notice that. Crud.

Back to the drawing board. I guess i could always get a step up voltage converter. http://cgi.ebay.com/Step-Up-Voltage...14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318





roybot73 said:


> The light that you purchased (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=380074575975) is going to cause a problem...
> 
> That fixture (as stated in the listing) runs at these specs: Voltage: 220-240V, Frequency: 50/60Hz. North American 110-120 volt electricity is generated at 60 Hz (cycles). Not to mention the plug being a different shape, and not fitting into a U.S. style outlet.
> 
> ...


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Hopefully you can get that light issue figured out, because that light is slick


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

So today i made a temporary fix to one issue ive been having with my standby light setup. 

see ive been just using a hanging 6500K CFL and its just bright as hell and looks bad with no cover or anything to shield the light from the rest of the room. 










So i was looking around for something i could use and i thought maybe i could do something with a old protein shake container. 










I decided that it would look pretty ghetto if i just drilled a hole in it and used it as a shade so i decided to wrap it in carbon fiber. Ive been working with the stuff for a few years now with my motorcycle projects and i thought it would make for a quick and easy improvement. I used some standard 3k weight 2 X 2 twill weave. For the resin i used west systems with the 205 fast hardener cause i wanted to get this done in just a hour or so. 


















After a hour or so i did some trimming and cut a hole in the top.










Here is a rough look at what its like now. I need to lay on a few more coats of resin at this point and come back with some wet sanding and clear coat it but i think it will work out for now. 










Here is a pick of some of my other recent Carbon work. This is a Gas tank i made for my 1969 honda Z50A mini trail.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

That's pretty cool!


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

added some HC today.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

I really like that little retaining wall


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

Setup a Web stream of the tank. Ill have it off during the day but ill try and keep it on in the evening when the lights are on.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/brads-fish-tank


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Cool little webcam


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## rasbora (Sep 1, 2006)

The slate wall is nice. cool idea. I think that piece of wood is kind of boring though, maybe you could do something with a "branchier" piece. Or if you could find something that looked like a stump with roots. cool tank.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

rasbora said:


> The slate wall is nice. cool idea. I think that piece of wood is kind of boring though, maybe you could do something with a "branchier" piece. Or if you could find something that looked like a stump with roots. cool tank.



You know, i have to agree with you. Im really not happy with the piece of wood that i have in there. For one it takes up far too much space in the tank. Im thinking a smaller thin branch or two would look much better.

Any suggestions on what to use then?


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

I like the wood. I think if it's accented correctly it could be quite impressive. It's a perfect piece for Java Fern and Anubias, I feel. If you were to try to create a bog/swamp 'scape, it's perfect. I'd use it on the right of the tank and flip the slate to the left, but I don't think it's a bad piece at all. I like it.


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## rasbora (Sep 1, 2006)

I would suggest putting something in the same spot. If you could find a piece that was spread out at the bottom and narrow at the top- something that resembled a small tree trunk, that might look cool and give you more planting options.

What does that piece look like on the back side?


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

rasbora said:


> I would suggest putting something in the same spot. If you could find a piece that was spread out at the bottom and narrow at the top- something that resembled a small tree trunk, that might look cool and give you more planting options.
> 
> What does that piece look like on the back side?



its pretty much flat narled and black on the back side. it might look cool on its side with the black side up and pushed to the back. Not sure though im still leaning towards finding something more branchy.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

YEY!!!

my light finally showed up. It is in fact 220 but i used a step up converter and it works great. Its really bright.


















Here is what it looks like a few steps back. i think it fits the size of the tank well.


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

nice lokiing aquarium fixture, is it fishneedit?


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

I like that light! It's awesome looking, and it's t-5 right?


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

clwatkins10 said:


> I like that light! It's awesome looking, and it's t-5 right?


3 X 8 watt t5 bulbs, two switches. one for two of the bulbs the other switch for the third.



fishman9809 said:


> nice lokiing aquarium fixture, is it fishneedit?


not sure what fishneedit is. I got it off ebay, there was a link to the auction on the first page of the thread.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

rasbora said:


> I would suggest putting something in the same spot. If you could find a piece that was spread out at the bottom and narrow at the top- something that resembled a small tree trunk, that might look cool and give you more planting options.
> 
> What does that piece look like on the back side?


So i ended up changing out the driftwood for a different piece. Something a bit more branch light with some bark on it. Also attached some X_MAS moss to it.

No update pics but you can check it out here. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/brads-fish-tank


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Loving the new driftwood, and the webcam. Thanks for setting it up. Your fish school so nicely, what kind are they?


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

Dollface said:


> Loving the new driftwood, and the webcam. Thanks for setting it up. Your fish school so nicely, what kind are they?



Just 5 harlequin rasboras for now. I feel bad i freaked them out today when changing out the drift wood and one of them went carpet surfing. I didn't even notice. I walked away from the tank for a few sec to the sink and then came back and notice one of the poor little guys on the floor. I quickly put the little guy back in the tank and after a little disorientation he seemed fine. least I caught it this time. last time one jumped out i didn't notice till it was too late. 

Anyhow i think ill put the rasboras into my 75G tall tank upstairs when i get my CRS.


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

reynolds_brad said:


> Just 5 harlequin rasboras for now. I feel bad i freaked them out today when changing out the drift wood and one of them went carpet surfing. I didn't even notice. I walked away from the tank for a few sec to the sink and then came back and notice one of the poor little guys on the floor. I quickly put the poor little guy back in the tank and after a little disorentation he seemed fine. least I cought it this time. last time one jumped out i didnt notice till it was too late.
> 
> Anyhow i think ill put the rasboras into my 75G tall tank upstairs when i get my CRS.


Oh no, atleast you found him in time. 

You're getting shrimp for this tank then? If so, moss would look spectacular in this tank, especially on the piece of DW in the back. you might have some on already but I can't tell. to distracted by the pretty fish, I really, really love watching fish.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

Dollface said:


> Oh no, atleast you found him in time.
> 
> You're getting shrimp for this tank then? If so, moss would look spectacular in this tank, especially on the piece of DW in the back. you might have some on already but I can't tell. to distracted by the pretty fish, I really, really love watching fish.



currently i have some X-MAS moss on the DW and some Java moss on the tops of the two stones. Also thinking of doing a moss wall, but still torn on the idea.


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

reynolds_brad said:


> currently i have some X-MAS moss on the DW and some Java moss on the tops of the two stones. Also thinking of doing a moss wall, but still torn on the idea.


I would let the plants and moss grow out before deciding on a moss wall.


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## manhatton (Oct 17, 2008)

Great webcam. Pretty mind blowing that I can sit here and watch someone's tank from 3,000 miles away in real time. Looks like you rasboras enjoy chasing bubbles! Good stuff!


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

Still trying to figure out how to take pictures of a fish tank, havent really done much fish shots i guess. 

anyhow snapped off a few pics today in attempts to improve my fish photo skills and capture whats going on. 


































Also added a calaqua inline defuser and a drop checker. Thanks Orlando, love the defuser.


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## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

reynolds_brad said:


> Still trying to figure out how to take pictures of a fish tank, havent really done much fish shots i guess.
> 
> anyhow snapped off a few pics today in attempts to improve my fish photo skills and capture whats going on.
> 
> ...


Looking VERY NICE! Those in-line diffusers are works of art and work like no other.

Orlando


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

Glad to see you got the light issue straightened out!


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

So i moved the rasboras into my tank upstairs and picked up 6 low grade CRS and a few decent black crystal bee shrimps. 

They are hid pretty much for the first few days. They seem to really like all the caves in the slate wall but they are cruising around the tank alot more now. Mostly when no one is there watching them as i can tell by my webcam setup. 
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/brads-fish-tank


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

the CRS look like theyre loving the cliff  

you should spread that HC out some more, it'll spread alot quicker. other than that, its looking great!


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

Well i have my first berried CRS. Other then a new stand thats my only update for this tank.


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

no fts?? hows everything filling in? and congrats on the prego shrimp roud:


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

NICE tank.. Nice summit hat + diy light!


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

chris127 said:


> no fts?? hows everything filling in? and congrats on the prego shrimp roud:



Oh yeah sorry, here are some full tank shots things are filling in nicely. Also i forgot to mention i switched out to a inline type heater.




















And here is a shot with the room light on to show the new stand.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Very nice! Love the scape and the shrimp.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

WOW I love the tank and the CRS!

Just curious, where'd you get the CRS _from_?


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> WOW I love the tank and the CRS!
> 
> Just curious, where'd you get the CRS _from_?



I got the 6 low grade CRS from Aquatic Central‎ on Ocean ave in San Francisco, and the two high grade crystal black shrimp from Aqua Forest. 

Should be interesting to see how they come out after a few generations and some selective pruning.


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

how much did you buy your inline co2 diffuser for? I want one now.lol


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

ddtran46 said:


> how much did you buy your inline co2 diffuser for? I want one now.lol


They're about $120 shipped...


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

Babies EVERYWHERE! 

So the first prego shrimp dropped her babies the other day and i finally got around to taking some pics. They are so tiny i think ive been able to count about 18 of them. 

Recently I tore down my large tank that I have upstairs so we could to a remodel. So i moved all the cherry shrimp from that tank down to this nano. So currently outside of the Crystals there are also the cherries and some otos in this tank. 

Not sure but a few days after i added the new inhabitants to the tank i sent my Crystals into a breeding spree, now almost all the full size ones are prego. Might just be a coincidence though. 

Any how here are some current pics of the tank including shots of the little ones.


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

Wow. Your tank looks amazing.
Btw. Which aisle did you buy your slates on? I tried looking every where in home depot.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

ddtran46 said:


> Wow. Your tank looks amazing.
> Btw. Which aisle did you buy your slates on? I tried looking every where in home depot.



Thanks dude, The slate i found in the tile section at Home dump. just by a square and break it up with a hammer if you cant find any broken ones.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Nice, the moss looks great! Congrats on the shrimplets.


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## fastfreddie (Sep 10, 2008)

Great looking tank! Updates? I checked the stream cam, but no luck.


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

Tank looks great, man. Looks like you and I shop at the same stores -- AFA, Aquatic Central, et cetera.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

fastfreddie said:


> Great looking tank! Updates? I checked the stream cam, but no luck.



Yeah its been down for a while. I switched to a mac cause its far more secure and all the unix tools are there. So ill either need to figure out how to get UStream.tv working with it or move on to a different streaming solution. I'de like to get a Axis PTZ cam setup for the room so I can move it around when need be to check out various things but im afraid ill eather need to upgrade my home router as the AXIS cam uses a ton of high port for the active X BS and that im sure will make the NAT port translations on the FW eat it. Dinky home routers dont let you just add a simple line summery for a range of ports at least i havent seen one capible of it yet.. Anyhow enought geek talk. 

Here is an updated pic. Ive been moving large amouns of CRS to the upstairs tank on a weekly basis so I keep this tanks population at around 30 or so. 

Also re arranged the room to give the tank a little better space relations, better for observing. 



















and here is finally a pic of my CO2 setup that sits in a utility closet underneath the staircase. one line feeds the upstairs 75G and the other my 8.8.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

Alright here is a holiday break update on this one.

Ive been really disliking my cost plus stand for a while now. Ive also been on this kick of creating as much floor space in a room as possible and more or less tossing out a ton of my pack rat stuff that was in the room with this tank. 

I cant take full credit for this as my neighbor helped me out with the wood working. 

Ive always wanted to mount this tank to the wall and plumb everything behind the wall so as to have the tank just floating there. It took quite a bit of anchoring and pretty much everything materials wise I had on hand. I ended up using some 1" chromoly bar stock left over from one of my motorcycle projects and built everything else with redwood 2 by 4 and some Ipe (Brazilian Hardwood.

Ill let the pics do the talking on how it was put together. If you have any questions let me know and ill clarify.


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

BEST ADA BUILD THREAD HANDS DOWN! That stand is wicked! Great work man.

Nice bikes BTW.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

JakeJ said:


> BEST ADA BUILD THREAD HANDS DOWN! That stand is wicked! Great work man.
> 
> Nice bikes BTW.



Thanks Jake. Appreciate the comment.

Im super happy with how it turned out. Been sitting down watching it now for the last few hours. Just looks like its floating there. :biggrin:


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## boostfed (Dec 25, 2010)

wow great setup! thats an awesome room, haha!


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## FlSHRFun (Jun 26, 2010)

From April 2009 to 2011, you've made major improvements!
That stand is very innovative! The Mini L looks great in that room!


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## Jaggedfury (Sep 11, 2010)

I like your bikes. lol, I had mines in the house in a bedroom once also. Love the stand on the wall. How much does that tank weighs?

I do similar setups like that, but instead with Inline 4 Honda/Acura engines and V6 Toyota engines for retailer shops. I guess mounting engine and fish stand on a wall are the same idea. Very cool!


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

Jaggedfury said:


> I like your bikes. lol, I had mines in the house in a bedroom once also. Love the stand on the wall. How much does that tank weighs?
> 
> I do similar setups like that, but instead with Inline 4 Honda/Acura engines and V6 Toyota engines for retailer shops. I guess mounting engine and fish stand on a wall are the same idea. Very cool!



my guess is about 75 - 80 lbs

_Gallon of water_ = approx. 8.35

the mini l is 8.8 gal. plus the weight of the tank

anyhow the shelve was able to hold my body weight so im not really worried about it.


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## DANIELSON (Jul 15, 2010)

Awesome set up i love the tank and stand. Very welll done!!


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## dknydiep1 (May 21, 2006)

Looks great!


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## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

Great tank setup!

That room is pure awesomeness.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

TLE041 said:


> Great tank setup!
> 
> That room is pure awesomeness.



Great to have a man cave and be able to do what ever you want to it. :hihi:


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

That is a really cool setup. I look forward to seeing a tank shot when it grows in.


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## flwrbed (Apr 20, 2005)

i love the tank mounted on the wall. 
great idea, and great tank


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## Zareth (Dec 13, 2010)

Really cool man, I love the wall mount!


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## yondertank (Sep 7, 2009)

Looks great! I never thought of displaying a tank like that. What is the thing I see looping behind the tank on the right side?


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

yondertank said:


> Looks great! I never thought of displaying a tank like that. What is the thing I see looping behind the tank on the right side?



Most likely co Co2 line from the bubble counter.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

So i removed the black backing that i put on there in the beginning. Decided it would go better with the clean install look im going for. However it exposed wires, tubes and what not. which look rather ugly if you ask me. Also another thing thats been bothering me with the look of the light setup is how it clips on to the tank. Those gray plastic clips on the rim of the tank really kill it for me. I do like the hanging lights also but sometimes when people have the bent conduit or hooks in the sealing, so not really what i wanted to do either, especially being that this is a small tank.

So here is what i did. Got some aluminum angle stock drilled some holes to mount it to the wall then mounted the light to it. I also went back to the inline diffuser and stuffed it behind the wall along with the bubble counter. Oh one other thing i picked up a new DoAqua mini glass lily inlet. 

Anyhow here are the pictures. 
























































Now i guess i can start working on the scape again.


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## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

That's a brilliant solution. I have the same light fixture and I'm not a fan of the clips either. Unfortunately my tank is on a corner so I can't replicate what you did here.

Something else that bothers me about this light is how the connection for the two sections of wiring falls right in the center of the tank. Why couldn't they have made it slightly longer just so that it falls out of sight? I guess this isn't much of a problem for you now that you have the cable tucked into the wall.


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## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

How freaking cool is this!


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

TLE041 said:


> That's a brilliant solution. I have the same light fixture and I'm not a fan of the clips either. Unfortunately my tank is on a corner so I can't replicate what you did here.
> 
> Something else that bothers me about this light is how the connection for the two sections of wiring falls right in the center of the tank. Why couldn't they have made it slightly longer just so that it falls out of sight? I guess this isn't much of a problem for you now that you have the cable tucked into the wall.



well you can try making a corner bracket like a triangle or something maybe. depends really how far your setup is sticking out of the corner i guess.


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## Betta Maniac (Dec 3, 2010)

Elegant is the word that comes to mind . . .


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Best ..... stand ...... ever. What happened with this tank? Sorry I know this is a little old.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

GDP said:


> Best ..... stand ...... ever. What happened with this tank? Sorry I know this is a little old.



The tank is still up and running. Going to add a UV sterilizer to it soon. I will try and get some new pics up. Also I noticed all the links were broken so I updated some to a new hosting. The pics of the stand should be fixed now.


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

Seriously long time between posts. I fell off the wagon again and neglected the tank to the point to where it was just a green blob. The other day I decided to spend a few hours cleaning it. To my suprise after only topping it off it still had some decent hair grass and one shrimp left in it. I hope to bring it back to something special.


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## Green_Flash (Apr 15, 2012)

oh yes I am sure you will be able to make it better than ever!


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

Oh man how did I missed this thread. Nice work on the shelf!


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## reynolds_brad (Oct 20, 2008)

Here is an update of this tank. Its been removed from the wall and placed on top of dresser in a different room as the one it was in I am renting out now. Some of the tank took a hit from the move but its coming back now.


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