# Mythin's other ADA 45-P



## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

So I got a second ADA 45-p now, One was being used as a shrimp tank, but at the moment it is just empty, thinking about adding Taiwan Bee's to it. Anyhow I saw another 45-p being sold locally and decided why not. I have been wanting to do a dutchish nature style tank. I have done iwagumi, and nature style before, I didnt want to do go full dutch, because I like some of the aspects of nature style. 


Equipment list:
ADA 45-P (45cmX27cmX30cm)
Eheim 2236 Canister filter
10# CO2 tank
Victor VTS 450D Dualstage Regulator with Dual manifold
Archaea Slim-Pro LED 45cm
GLA 50mm atomizer
Newest ADA Amazonia, which apparently dropped the "NEW" title, and its just called Amazonia again. 

Plants (so far):
Rotala Mini Butterfly
Micrantherum umbrosum "monte carlo" type-3
Rotala Indica True
S. Repens
Rotala Colorata
Rotala Mexicana Goias 
Crypt Parva
Heteranthera Zosterifolia
Lindernia Grandiflora
Ludwigia Sp. Red
Didiplis Diandra

Initial Planting:










Not the best picture (gs4), but I need to order a new memory card for my dslr. Im interested in seeing the growth rate for monte carlo, Tom Barr says it grows fairly slow, if it grows slow and stays compact, it could be the perfect foreground plant because HC is a PITA to maintain long term. The Amazonia was only cloudy for about an hour before my filter cleared it out, it does leave this very fine annoying line of dust all around the edge where the top of the water meets the glass, but ive just been able to wipe it up with a paper towel easily. 

The Achaea slim-pro seems to put out a decent amount of light, I will just have to see how it grows plants, but its rated at 7000-8000k light spectrum, and has 135 LED's @ Luminous intensity: 1400mcd or 17.60Lm per LED, I dont know what that really all means, but I think this puts me close to med-high light to high-light. It definitely looks to my eyes, dimmer than what I have over my other 45-p which is a 20" 40W Current USA Power Compact, but I guess what my eye's see, and what the plants can absorb is a different story. I will just have to wait and see how this archaea turns out.


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## Mike00726 (May 23, 2011)

Looks pretty sweet so far.:thumbsup:


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

That's a great start!


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

A little update a week later. Added the new eheim skim 350, seems really nice so far, no more biofilm, additional water flow, and it also acts as a co2 reactor for me, because i put it near my diffuser. 

Got some new plants in, but due to the heat and shipping delays, they all perished. Careful ordering plants this time of the year, especially in the south, its probably too hot even for priority shipping at the moment. 



















my favorite angle.










What deficiency is causing small leaves on my r. mac mini butterfly? Needs more Potassium?


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

My rotala butterfly is weird, half of it is green and small, the other half is nice and big beautiful leaved and red.


































Top down view, love my skimmer.


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

So I got most of the rotala mini butterfly coloring up red now, but i did notice I seem to have 2 different types of rotala mini butterfly









If you look at this image, you can see one has smaller leaves, and more pointy leaves. This is consistent with the whole plant, even after multiple prunings. The one with the more pointly leaves is slightly harder to turn red, i.e. will turn green more easily (unstable mutation?). The one with the slightly larger more round leaves, gets red more easily, and seems to not ever go all the way green, staying a kind of brownish color at the worst. The red on the fatter leaved version gets a lot deeper red too then the smaller leaved version (at least in my tank.)

Are these 2 mutations, 2 different phenotypes?


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## Bserve (Nov 4, 2012)

I think it's different phenotypes, that's pretty cool.


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Wow the plants have grown in beautifully!


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

i experienced a similar thing with the rotalla butterfly, after it shipped and i got it planted, some of the leaves went green, small, narrow, though once i did my first trim a few weeks later with it established, and conditions were right, it grew back red no problem. So i think once it goes green if probably wont revert back for that for that particular node, but new nodes and off shoots should be red.:thumbsup:


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## travelvice (Jun 21, 2013)

@mythin - 

I've seen this directional nozzle on your setups before and with my recent Eheim purchase I'm keen to figure out where you bought it:


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

Ach1Ll3sH33L said:


> i experienced a similar thing with the rotalla butterfly, after it shipped and i got it planted, some of the leaves went green, small, narrow, though once i did my first trim a few weeks later with it established, and conditions were right, it grew back red no problem. So i think once it goes green if probably wont revert back for that for that particular node, but new nodes and off shoots should be red.:thumbsup:


What im talking about is slightly different, I have 2 different plants. One with pointy smaller leaves, it turns just as red as the other one. The other one has bigger more rounded leaves, and turns red slightly easier, but I have gotten both of them red now. 

This looks a little closer to what I am talking about here:










I believe I have Rotala Macrandra Mini Type IV and another form of Rotala mini butterfly, one with pointier leaves (I dont think what I have is type V like in the picture). 




travelvice said:


> @mythin -
> 
> I've seen this directional nozzle on your setups before and with my recent Eheim purchase I'm keen to figure out where you bought it:


Hmm, i'm pretty sure this came with my eheim 2236 (ecco), I bet you can just order it by itself if you look up replacement parts for the 2236.


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## travelvice (Jun 21, 2013)

Interesting -- yes, that's the one:

Eheim 4004600, Swivel outlet


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## samee (Oct 14, 2011)

Very cool thing about the mini, Im going through the same thing (if you want to pain yourself, you can go thru my journal about it). I thought it was because of my lights, but then Im growing all sorts of plants in my light. I really hope they go back to red for you.


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

Just shipped off a ton of plants, just did its first major trim. Who ever bought my last plant package got hooked up and got about 70 stems of rotala mini butterfly instead of 20, and I decided to get rid of star grass and rotala walichii just because they grew a little too fast or in stargrass' case way too huge. 








Moved some rotala mini butterfly type IV onto the left side, and gave all the butterfly on the rightside a very dramatic haircut. The roots have been established for a month and a half now so it should grow back into a nice bush im hoping. 








Monte Carlo digging its way under itself and the substrate. 








































Just regular old rotala rotundifolia. It grows really big in my tank and is easily one of my best looking plants. For something so common, its a wonderful looking plant.


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## samee (Oct 14, 2011)

True indica looks really good, although it looks too similar to rotala sunset. Id rather have the sunset  Your setup would give the sunset its true colours.


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

Added some new inhabitants to the tank. Dario Dario and Sphaerichthys vaillanti aka Vaillant's Chocolate Gourami. I really love these guys, I got 5 of them, and they weren't cheap. They are still juvenile so not showing their full colors yet. This species actually has reverse sexual dimorphism, meaning the females are actually more colorful than the males! Not only that, but they are mouth brooders, and the male's are the ones that do the mouth brooding, pretty interesting. 

















Pictured below, Male on left, female on right. 









Pretty sure I have 2 boy badis', I got the least colorful one (the one in the foreground) hoping it would be a female, but alas, I think its just a very sub-dominant male. 









Here is what the vaillant's look like when in breeding season. Female in front, male in back.


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## pandacory (Apr 18, 2011)

Pretty sweet!

Do the gouramis show any aggression to each other? Are they shrimp safe?

Any trouble housing these with the puffer?


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

pandacory said:


> Pretty sweet!
> 
> Do the gouramis show any aggression to each other? Are they shrimp safe?
> 
> Any trouble housing these with the puffer?


They actually recommend to buy them in minimum groups of 6, I only got 5, but I have 3 females and 2 males. I also have 3 sparkling gourami's and 2 badis in the tank, as well as 8 otos, 1 amano shrimp, and 1 hillstream loach. Everyone gets along fine, all the gourami's are perfectly peaceful towards each other, and the badis just taunt each other and ignore all the other fish. I moved the puffer to his own tank so I wouldnt risk him getting nippy on the gourami's, he is a little monster.


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

Some updated shots:
















I love how regular old rotala rotundifolia looks. I have a few really super red stems of colorata that are looking nice as well. 









Vaillants Chocolate Gourami - this is my dominant female.


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

Just an update of the current scape, new lighting soon!

crappy cell pic


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

How do you like your Archaea LED? I have seen the at AFA but have only seen one other member using it. They aren't cheap but they definitely are not expensive. Considering one for one of my tanks in the future due to it's small size. Just wondering your thoughts. Tank looks fabulous.


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

talontsiawd said:


> How do you like your Archaea LED? I have seen the at AFA but have only seen one other member using it. They aren't cheap but they definitely are not expensive. Considering one for one of my tanks in the future due to it's small size. Just wondering your thoughts. Tank looks fabulous.


I didnt like it, it didnt put out the right spectrum, nor enough light for my taste, i went back to my 40w power compact 20".

I think its good for medium-low light, not high light.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

mythin said:


> I didnt like it, it didnt put out the right spectrum, nor enough light for my taste, i went back to my 40w power compact 20".
> 
> I think its good for medium-low light, not high light.


It was going to be for my low tech but my complaint with my current LED is it's the wrong spectrum. I know the Archaea is better than what I have, has a better spectrum, and lower profile but I think the size I need is $80-90ish so I will likely skip it. Thanks for the information.

Again, beautiful tank.


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

Just updating since its been a while, mostly a tonina / Syngonanthus tank now.


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

Bit of an rescape and added / removed some plants. 



















Also finally started growing some dwarf riccia submerged to see how its gonna do, so far so good, it might actually grow a little faster submerged over emersed.


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