# Desktop ADA Mini M



## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Cool! Welcome back to the nano-game!


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

Thanks Frank. I was tempted to go with a 60-P, but this will have to do for now.



Francis Xavier said:


> Cool! Welcome back to the nano-game!


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

Can't wait to see this grow out some!

"People who don't like bacon can't be trusted. - NWA-Planted"


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

Nice tank and scape. Are you going to add some more substrate? Looks very shallow.


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## Zefrik (Oct 23, 2011)

I need to try a nano. I keep seeing these awesome looking ones but I can't seem to replicate it myself.

Good work on the tank though, looking forward to see it progress!


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

I picked up some additions to the tank today, and added Purigen to the Eheim.

Amano shrimp


















I couldn't resist these little guys when I saw them at the store, so I bought five. Still planning on Boraras brigittae when I can get some. 












Geniusdudekiran said:


> Nice tank and scape. Are you going to add some more substrate? Looks very shallow.


Since I'm not planting any stems, I don't need much substrate, and it helps make the tank look bigger than it actually is.


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

windfish said:


> Since I'm not planting any stems, I don't need much substrate, and it helps make the tank look bigger than it actually is.


So cute!! What kind of cories are they?

Ah, I see. Good point, regarding the scale.


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## freph (Apr 4, 2011)

Geniusdudekiran said:


> So cute!! What kind of cories are they?
> 
> Ah, I see. Good point, regarding the scale.


My favorite corys...  I'm a fan of anyone's tank who has these. This is gonna be a fun little tank.


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

Geniusdudekiran said:


> So cute!! What kind of cories are they?
> 
> Ah, I see. Good point, regarding the scale.


Corydoras pygmaeus


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## nightshadebel (May 3, 2012)

it looks great so far.


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

The pygmy cories certainly won't be the centerpiece, but so far I love them. Nano tanks are all about the details, and I can't help but sit and watch the little guys swim around every time I look at the tank.


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

I received my Anubias nana 'petite' this afternoon, and added to the right of the driftwood as planned. Here's the tank now (excuse the floating stems once again):










I also found a good deal on some cherry shrimp at my LFS, so six of those were also added to the tank:










The water is a bit hazy, probably because I stirred everything up a bit when I removed the wood to tie on the anubias, but the tannins from the wood seem to have been taken care of. The next step is to add some riccia or moss on stones around the wood, and then introduce a school of Boraras brigittae.


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

I need some C. pygmaeus now! For the Mini S!


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

Those pygmy Cory are adorable!! how big do they get?

"People who don't like bacon can't be trusted. - NWA-Planted"


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

Geniusdudekiran said:


> I need some C. pygmaeus now! For the Mini S!


Do it! They seem like a very underrated little fish. 



NWA-Planted said:


> Those pygmy Cory are adorable!! how big do they get?
> 
> "People who don't like bacon can't be trusted. - NWA-Planted"


Everything I've read says 3cm or so. Mine seem pretty young.


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

I see a couple in my future...

"People who don't like bacon can't be trusted. - NWA-Planted"


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

While doing my weekly water change today, I noticed my first berried shrimp after seeing some mating activity over the past few days.










Other than that, the layout hasn't really changed, but there has been a good bit of new growth on both the moss and the bolbitis. A dozen B. brigittae from msjinkzd will be arriving next week, and I'm going to try and get around to adding the riccia/moss stones as well. Also, I'm starting a small emersed/wabi-kusa setup next to this tank in my old Mini S, so the floating stems will end up there for now.


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## DanW11 (Apr 3, 2012)

Great looking tank! Congrats on the berried shrimp, nice shot of it too. I can't seem to get mine to do the nasty, might need to start piping some Barry White into the tank to set the mood.


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

DanW11 said:


> Great looking tank! Congrats on the berried shrimp, nice shot of it too. I can't seem to get mine to do the nasty, might need to start piping some Barry White into the tank to set the mood.


Haha, wish I could help. This is the first time I've paid close enough attention to cherries to actually notice them mating/carrying eggs. My fingers are crossed for the babies to survive and continue multiplying. If they do well I may try CRS or CBS, or add some nicer cherries.


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

Here's a little preview of the emersed/wabi-kusa setup in the Mini S. I'm not quite happy with the full shots yet because most of the tank is empty and the aquatic plants don't look great yet, but I did put together some little wabi-kusa experiments using terrestrial plants from my backyard. The balls are just organic sphagnum moss wrapped with cotton thread.


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

Here's a quick phone shot of the wabi-kusa tank. Most of the balls feature Bacopa monnieri, but there are a few other plants mixed in including the terrestrials from my yard. Once I get some extra growth I will probably make some larger ones with several species.










As for the M, my Boraras brigittae will be arriving tomorrow morning and I'm expecting some Riccia in the next day or so. Extensive photo update forthcoming :smile:


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

The fish arrived safely! I did my best to get some macro shots, but they don't stay still enough to get anything great. I love how active they are though, and since adding them the corys and shrimp seem to be out more as well. 





































The corys are growing, and their stripes have darkened










Berried shrimp antics










The Christmas moss is slowly inching its way above the water line.










I also tied and placed the Riccia stones, and hopefully will be able to get some full tank shots this evening.


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

I ended up busy yesterday evening, but here are some lazy phone shots of the tank with the new Riccia stones. 



















The original leaves on the bolbitis aren't doing great at this point (especially looking at my original pictures), but all of the new growth seems healthy and green. If that doesn't work out I may explore some other background plant(s).


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

The Riccia stones will look amazing once filled in!


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

A bunch of my rasboras have jumped out over the last few nights, so it looks like I will either be adding covers to the tank or getting rid of the little guys


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## SaltyNC (Jun 26, 2012)

I didn't know they were jumpers. I keep a cover on my tank, but I've never seen them streaking toward the surface. Your tank is looking good, and your boraras brigittae coloration looks good. Sorry you lost some.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

sorry to hear you lost some to jumping. The tank has had some amazing progress. Kudos!


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## orchidman (Dec 15, 2010)

looks great! i love the anubias petite along the bottom! and is that riccia on the stones? it looks great! cant wait to see it progress! i love those corys im going to have to get some for my nano! they are so cute!!! 

i just did some WK with the same plain sphag mall you did! i would love to compare photos!


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

Geniusdudekiran said:


> The Riccia stones will look amazing once filled in!


Agreed, and the growth has been ridiculous so far. Its all filling in nicely. 



SaltyNC said:


> I didn't know they were jumpers. I keep a cover on my tank, but I've never seen them streaking toward the surface. Your tank is looking good, and your boraras brigittae coloration looks good. Sorry you lost some.


Yeah, I honestly expected that the corys would be the ones jumping with their wild swims to the surface, but so far they've all stayed in. I'm looking into some cover options but the protruding driftwood makes it a little more complicated. 



acitydweller said:


> sorry to hear you lost some to jumping. The tank has had some amazing progress. Kudos!


Thank you! 



orchidman said:


> looks great! i love the anubias petite along the bottom! and is that riccia on the stones? it looks great! cant wait to see it progress! i love those corys im going to have to get some for my nano! they are so cute!!!
> 
> i just did some WK with the same plain sphag mall you did! i would love to compare photos!


Thanks! The plant on the stones is indeed riccia. As for the corys, they are great, active little fish. You'll be pleased with them too, I'm sure.

I'll get some photos of the WKs this weekend. I trimmed the stems and replanted the trimmings yesterday to try and increase the plant density. I also want to add a few more species to them when I get around to it, and maybe do a larger one. How big did you make yours?


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## orchidman (Dec 15, 2010)

windfish said:


> Agreed, and the growth has been ridiculous so far. Its all filling in nicely.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


the sphagnum balls are between golfball and tennis ball size i would say. closer to golfball though. i did three and i experimented with different plants and different plant densities. each one is unique i can post pics if you want


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## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

Geniusdudekiran said:


> The Riccia stones will look amazing once filled in!


+1 on this. Just keep them trimmed or they will pull off the stones.


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

I've been having a lot of problems with this tank over the past two weeks. All of my cherry shrimp kicked the bucket (about 1 or 2 shrimp died every day for a week), as did 3 of my corys (also about one per day for three days). I've since stopped dosing everything, reduced the amount of CO2, and upped my water changes temporarily. I don't know if I'll ever figure out what caused the deaths with so many variables, but everything seems to have stabilized at this point. I suspect it had something to do with the absurd amount of snail eggs in the tank- they were EVERYWHERE and none seemed to be hatching. Maybe the decay caused an ammonia spike that the filter couldn't handle? 

Otherwise, the tank looks great. Riccia has already been trimmed twice, and I just cleaned up the moss. I also added peacock moss to the rightmost branch and lower driftwood to soften it up a bit. Pictures coming soon. I'm currently playing with the idea of replacing the sand with Aquasoil or Stratum and trying out some stems and carpet.


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## deleted_user_17 (Jun 14, 2012)

Sorry to hear about your losses :/

Look forward to seeing the updated photos


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## windfish (Dec 2, 2007)

After a few weeks of neglect, I finally had some time to work on the tank. The riccia was removed, and I added some slate in the foreground and three of my wabi-kusa behind the driftwood.


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