# PM's Low-Tech ADA Mini M (Rescape on Page 2)



## PM (20 Feb 2013)

Hello everyone!

I'm glad to announce that after a very long time without a tank (due to moving house a lot), I have bought a flat with my girlfriend and am going to set up my old nano on my desk!

I need this to look slick and elegant, as my desk is in the middle of the main room (all open plan).

Low tech nano v1: PM's 12L Nano Shrimp Tank. Low-tech. UPDATES! | UK Aquatic Plant Society

*Advice needed:*

Layout.
I: I am thinking of anchoring the planting to the back right hand corner, with a sandy foreground which runs around to the back left of the tank.

Q: Does anyone have any good examples of this layout with nanos?

Stocking.
I: I love shrimp and snails, this is what I stocked the tank with before. Though I am wondering what other options there may be as I think people think it's weird having shrimp! (Not that bothered mainly just enquiring).

Q: Are there any fish that would do well in this size tank (and not jump out), or should I stick with shrimp & snails?

Set up.
I: I have never tried dry start mode, though I am considering it for this to mature the plants and avoid the algae. Also I don't usually have to start with an uncycled tank!

Q: Should I use DSM? Any tips on cycling? Will the plants I want to use work with DSM?

Plants.
I: I had these plants in my old tank and they grew well for me, and am very fond of them:
Anabius nana petite
Xmas moss
Mini Java fern
Round Pelia

Q: Any other "dwarf" plants you can recommend? For low tech method and slow growth (no stems).

*Tank spec:*

Tank:
Clearseal 12x8x8"

Filtration & Heating:
Newattino Plus
Dennerle Nano Clean

Lighting:
Ikea Arod LED Desk Lamp

Substrate:
Colombo Flora-Base
ADA Xingu

Hardscape:
Wood/Rock
Wire mesh

Plants:
Anabius nana petite
Xmas moss
Mini Java fern
Round Pelia

Thanks all! Paul.


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## Ady34 (20 Feb 2013)

Hi Paul,
great your getting back into it 

Have a look at George Farmers latest journal for dry start tips although given your plant list id just plant up and fill as non substrate rooting plants wont really benefit as much. Maybe the plus side of dsm would be faster growth to fill out your scape quicker....but id just buy more plants from the start and get it going 
Flora base leaches ammonia, so will help your cycling, just carry out 50% plus every day water changes for a week or two, dropping to every other day week 2 or 3, third day week 3 and then your usual routine thereafter. Remember low tech wont need large water changes, this may infact cause more issues with algae from fluctuating c02 levels. Maybe 10% per week to keep things fresh.
Question: are you using the flora base for its effect on water chemistry? if not why not just use sand throughout as your chosen plants dont need a planting substrate.

As for fish, maybe have a scout through this thread, but id be inclined to just keep shrimp and snails.
Small interesting/unusual fishes - suggestions wanted | UK Aquatic Plant Society

For an example of your layout maybe something like this from LondonDragon (Paulo) would offer some inspiration?


LondonDragon said:


> Quick update, these tanks have suffered a little with neglect, due to not having much time for the hobby lately.
> Added some new HOB filters from Eheim, the Niagara are just not good enough.
> 
> 
> ...


This is the link to Paulos Journal, these are very low tech, yet stunning nanos:
[NANO] Double Opti White - Cherry/Sakura Breeding Colony | Page 4 | UK Aquatic Plant Society

Hope that provides some food for thought.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## PM (21 Feb 2013)

Thanks Ady.

Paulo's nanos do look great. I am just going to use ADA Xingu sand alone. Have just ordered my plants - Xmas moss, Weeping moss, Round Pellia & Anubias petite.

Here's a pic of it's location and rough hardscape (mainly just soaking the wood so it doesn't float but I like how it looks actually! Sorry for the crap photo, I don't have a decent camera any more...









Thinking about what shrimp to get. I might get some snowballs, always liked them but never had any. Also 1 Clithon Corona


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## tim (21 Feb 2013)

Will look good planted up mate, snowball shrimp may not stand out against the light sand real nice shrimp though, I have a nice little colony going in my fluval edge at the moment


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## PM (21 Feb 2013)

Hi Tim, thanks. Nearly all of the sand will be covered in moss and or have overhanging plants creating dark areas so it'll look nice and dark green and lush (in time) and I reckon the snowballs will look brilliant!

Only plan to keep the very front of the sand uncovered.


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## Bufo Bill (21 Feb 2013)

This sounds ace, will be watching for some photo's (which judging from above are fine; they look very good to me)!

All the best from Bill. 


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk


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## nayr88 (22 Feb 2013)

Hello mate!
Been a while since I've seen you on the forum, good to see your getting back into it.

Your previous one was really nice so ill make sure i subscribe to this one too.


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## PM (24 Feb 2013)

^ Thanks  

I have decided that I'm going to stock only Snowball shrimp, one clithon corona, and _perhaps in future_, boraras brigittae! Or something equally small.

Thinking about getting an ADA Mini S for this, as I prefer the dimensions of the tank to what I have, and I have wanted an ADA tank for years! 

I also decided that the ADA Xingu I have, I don't like for this tank (grains are massive), it seems as if ADA Bright Sand is out of stock at TGM, I think it's been discontinued by ADA also. Does anyone have a recommendation for similar looking sand? Small grains and a variety or tones in it for a natural look.

Also I am planning to use sand only. Does anyone think I should use part flora base for water parameters if I want to try boraras brigittae in future?

Sorry about the boring journal so far, I'll have some fun stuff once I've got the info and stuff I need!

Paul


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## nayr88 (24 Feb 2013)

DO IT!!! Treat yourself to the mini S or even the mini M

A nice dennerle 9w for S or the 11w for the M. Would look smart without he ADA cost and high wattage. Well the 9w would do the mini M also I guess.

Not a boring journal at all, I always meant to start mine like this but never do. It makes for a much better read this way


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## PM (24 Feb 2013)

Thanks. I'd love a Mini M but it would be too big for my desk, so I think I will get the Mini S. I have a light very similar to the Dennerle one, though I plan on using the desk lamp, which has a single LED bulb so I get that nice shimmer too! Must keep the light low, I really don't want it to turn into a green blob of algae as I won't use CO2 or carbon. 

What do you think in terms of the sand? Can I still get ADA bright sand around?


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## nayr88 (27 Feb 2013)

Hello mate. Not sure about the bright sand. I was in ADC London and they had a type of sand I tried to remember the name but ....well I forgot it 
Ill have a look on TGM n see if I can remind myself it was really really nice too, I almost bought some just to put in the cupboard for when I eventually re scape.

Will check back with u in a bit once I've had a snoop about


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## Ian Holdich (27 Feb 2013)

Have you had a look at unipacs range of sand? 

Fiji sand looks probably the closest to bright sand. I'm using Tana sand at the moment, and that's a little bit darker than bright sand, but looks nice.

Have a look here
A New Adventure (pearling video) | UK Aquatic Plant Society


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## PM (28 Feb 2013)

Hi guys, bit of an update on my plans: I have figured out that I can use the hardware in my desk lamp and drill a hole through my desk and just clamp the lamp to that! Allowing me to get rid of the base, meaning of course, I have space for an ADA Mini M!!!! This is the only tank I will have for years in our small (but lovely) apartment, so I think the Mini M is going to be much better for me than the Mini S, as I would really like the opportunity to add some micro-sized fish to it at some point.

However, there is no way I'm using external filtration here, so I was wondering if my Dennerle filter would be okay? I mean I would only be swapping it for another internal one anyway if there was a much better alternative that was shrimp safe, but would like people's opinion on this. Still looking for the sand I want, that Unipac looks interesting, might get it but will keep looking for now, I am very picky it seems!

So after that is all decided and bought, (and I finalise/redo the hardscape as the tank will be a fair bit bigger), I would very much like to decide on fish. I won't be adding the fish for some time after setup, though I am keen to know whether they need any particular type of parameters, as I don't want to find out for example, that I should have used flora base rather than just sand when it's impossible to change without a massive upheaval of the tank!

My preliminary shortlisted fish are:

Ruby tetra - Axelrodia riesei
Sundadanio axelrodi
Boraras brigittae
Lamp eye killi - Aplocheilichthys normani
Pygmy cory
Microdevario kubotai

It's important to me that they don't eat baby shrimp, or bother them.  Also that they do not JUMP OUT! I hate it when that happens. Any other suggestions welcome!

As I said this will be my only tank so I need to try to get all my 'kicks' out of it! Plants, fish, and shrimp. All in 36cm! 

Paul


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## Ady34 (28 Feb 2013)

PM said:


> However, there is no way I'm using external filtration here, so I was wondering if my Dennerle filter would be okay? I mean I would only be swapping it for another internal one anyway if there was a much better alternative that was shrimp safe, but would like people's opinion on this.


Hi,
could you not look into HOB (Hang On Back) filters. They remove the bulk of the filtration chamber to outside the tank, but aren't as space demanding as an external.....just a thought to maximise in tank volume and minimise in tank equipment now that your going all posh with ADA   You could add a shrimp guard to the intake strainer too to be extra sure its shrimp safe  
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## PM (28 Feb 2013)

I think from the room a HOB would look more of a mess to be honest, also there is actually no space for a HOB (left monitor, behind wall, right desk lamp) and I don't like that they aren't silent. The Dennerle in a Mini M is really quite unobtrusive. I just wanted to see if anyone will respond with "no way can that tiny filter be effective in a Mini M", then I would argue with them until I was proven wrong  that's kinda how I work. Thanks for the suggestion but it must be fully internal for me. Also the Dennerle gives a reasonable flow having the impeller in the tank.

Paul


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## nayr88 (28 Feb 2013)

The dennerle filter is super SICK!!!
Love them filters


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## PM (10 Mar 2013)

Hi all,

Bit the bullet and went for the ADA Mini M, and it really is a beautiful tank. Also got some ADA Mekong Powder sand, which I prefer to the ADA Xingu I had, though mainly just due to grain size, the Mekong does have a nice natural look though. Bought a Fluval Compact 25W heater too as the 10W one a little too weak for this tank size. Here's some photos of it right now:













The size of this tank makes a big difference compared to my 12x8x8" Clearseal, I'm not thrilled with how the 'scape looks, though I have spent to much money on it already and this is the only hardscape stuff I have, and buying this stuff online is tricky at best, if you know what I mean! Have to say I really don't like the new ADA logo, the font looks like something you'd see on a drum & bass club night flyer, though TGM had run out of the ones with the old logo I believe.

So my plan is to just grow in a bunch of mosses, also want some Mini Java Fern (can anyone help here)? And just let in grow out. I'll probably think about adding the White Pearl shrimp in a week or two, and am still considering what fish I want.

I don't know whether to order a snail or two with my shrimp, or to just get shrimp and then add ottos or similar later? Any advice helpful. Feel a bit silly having such a nice tank and not doing a great scape, but it'll be kind of like a little experiment as I haven't been into this for some time, and then further down the line I will re-scape and commit to creating something really nice!

Paul

P.S. Sorry for the crap quality photos, I will get a decent camera at some point in the future.


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## Ady34 (10 Mar 2013)

PM said:


> I really don't like the new ADA logo, the font looks like something you'd see on a drum & bass club night flyer


looks like a sticker too, could you not just rip it off 
Mekong powder looks nice mind.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## PM (11 Mar 2013)

I could but I cant bring myself to do it!


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (11 Mar 2013)

Hi Pm

I run one of these with a Solar M low tech, and pretty messy for my CRS. Feels a bit  sacrilegious to be doing so. But hey ho.

Nice start, quite fond of the sand too. Im looking for some in the near future and looks like this could be the one.

Just bought a cal aqua 17mm set, and an ADA beetle diffuser ( gonna go back to standard diffuser rather than inline UP atomizer). So might have to save up for some ADA sand 

Cheers,


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## PM (11 Mar 2013)

Yes the sand is really nice  If I was using CO2 it would definitely be the UP Atomizer for me. But I'm not a fan of hi-tech, too much maintenance. Good luck!


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (11 Mar 2013)

PM said:


> Yes the sand is really nice  If I was using CO2 it would definitely be the UP Atomizer for me. But I'm not a fan of hi-tech, too much maintenance. Good luck!



I agree UPs are good at diffusing, but need regular maintenance. Mine hangs freely as well, so there is a little risk of it popping off. 
Plus sometimes, i quite like the bubbles in a corner, its nice to watch . Rather than it being 'misty' in the tank.

Cheers,


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## Lindy (11 Mar 2013)

Lampeyes jump like maniacs! I lost at least 10 before putting a perspex lid on my tank. I had to cut round all the pipes as closely as possible as any little gap and they are gone. They jump when startled and also when excited at feeding time. I've been told they will eat baby shrimp as I have berried crs at the mo but their mouths are so ridiculously small and they are a nightmare to catch so going to give them benefit of the doubt. Good luck.


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## KeyboardWarrior (13 Mar 2013)

Your tanks really nice the ADA tanks look so sweet it's a shame about the price tag once you start looking into the bigger ones! Have you settled on the snow ball shrimp for he tank or have you not decided yet?


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## PM (13 Mar 2013)

Hi and thanks! They are pricey but the 60P is a bit of a bargain (for the size at least) at about 150. Do!Aqua are much cheaper and the same apart from the fact that they use normal float glass which isn't as clear as the ADA.

Yes I am set on Snowball shrimp, really can't wait but I need the weather to warm up much more before I can order. I'm still not sure whether to get snails or ottos or if anyone has another suggestion for glass cleaning inhabitants I'm all ears!

I have been considering getting new hardscape materials but I can't find any wood I like - been through everything on TGM :-/


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## KeyboardWarrior (13 Mar 2013)

PM said:


> Hi and thanks! They are pricey but the 60P is a bit of a bargain (for the size at least) at about 150. Do!Aqua are much cheaper and the same apart from the fact that they use normal float glass which isn't as clear as the ADA.
> 
> Yes I am set on Snowball shrimp, really can't wait but I need the weather to warm up much more before I can order. I'm still not sure whether to get snails or ottos or if anyone has another suggestion for glass cleaning inhabitants I'm all ears!
> 
> I have been considering getting new hardscape materials but I can't find any wood I like - been through everything on TGM :-/



I'm currently in the planning stages of a new freshwater tank having sold up about a 18 months ago now to try my hand at saltwater. And I'm looking at something around 60-100 litres in size and I can't decide between a plain glass tank then adding my own components or a jewel tank and taking the lid off for a similar look. 150 is not to bad I guess did you buy from the green machine? 

The snowball shrimp look cool my only experience with shrimp was my old cherry shrimp tank but I don't think they are really in the same league there. As for your CUC I've not kept tropical for a while but when I did I had a group of ottos which I guess did a decent job, I hardly saw them but there was no algae either so they must have been busy when I wasn't around. For your size tank though I'd be tempted to go for a few snails so that I had more room for some kind of micro fish..


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## PM (13 Mar 2013)

That is exactly how I started, with a Juwel Rekord 60 (54L). Then I took the hood off and added T5 lighting and CO2, then removed the internal filter and added an external.

I massively urge you not to go this way, there are several reasons not to. Firstly, it's a lot more work and faffing about, then if you look at it all, it really is not cost effective as you are buying a load of stuff that you won't actually use in the end. Also a very important point is that the dimensions of these type of tanks often don't work very well as planted aquariums I found. For example the Rekord 60 is 60x30x30cm. With the substrate that really is not enough space for stems at the back IMO, a 60cm tank should be taller. The ADA tanks or similar are perfect dimensions in each size, they are great. Also the square cut glass is much nicer and if you do go ADA, really there is nothing better in terms of build quality and glass clearness. And not to mention that black silicone on the Juwels, yuck! Ultimately it's a personal choice but I find these tanks to be the best for planted aquariums, look the best, and be easily adaptable to many arrangements in terms of planting AND hardware setup. Can't recommend them strongly enough.

Snowballs are the same as cherry shrimp, just bred for a different colour. I kept Sakuras (selectively bred cherries, for brighter red) and they were great. Yes I bought the tank from TGM. You make a good point about getting snails and allowing more room for other micro fish. I have kept ottos before in my 60cm, and they do sometimes swim incredibly fast, so perhaps this tank is too small for them to be happy. Also I think they like to be kept in a least a pair if not a group.

Paul


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## dw1305 (13 Mar 2013)

Hi all,


ldcgroomer said:


> I've been told they will eat baby shrimp


I've got Norman's Lampeye, really nice fish, but they definitely eat small shrimps.

cheers Darrel


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## BigTom (13 Mar 2013)

I can think of precisely one fish (_Indostomus_) that won't eat baby shrimp given the chance... and even then I'm not 100% sure. Which is not to say you can't have a thriving shimp colony with lots of fish, you just need to give the nippers plenty of places to hide.


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## KeyboardWarrior (13 Mar 2013)

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed reply its much appreciated and sorry for hijacking your thread a little bit too, I see what you mean about paying for the equipment and then getting rid of most of it. I was also taking into consideration cost as the ADA tanks can get quite expensive so I might look into similar design but not ADA. My tank would also be in my room and on a chest of draws so there isn't much room if I wanted an external filter and I thought putting an internal or HOB might ruin the clean look (I think your tank pulls it off well because its smaller) anyway Ill have a long think and stop derailing your thread.

Ahh right I didn't know that I see there' are two main types of shrimp kept in the hobby and here are a lot more colour variations than I was aware of last time which is really good too see and defiantly something I'd be interested in learning more about. I think people recommend groups of 6 for ottos to get the best out of them but don't under estimate snails they are algae and detritus eating machines


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## Lindy (13 Mar 2013)

Why don't you look at the NA stuff from Portugal, very like ADA. look at freshwatershrimps forum.


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## PM (19 Mar 2013)

Hi all, update:






So I couldn't bare to look at the original layout, so I bought some bolbitis and mini java from TGM along with some ADA Yamaya stones and Redmoor wood. The big bare stone on top is holding the redmoor down so you can't see all the anubia, it's so buoyant it pretty much sits on top of the water surface, rather than just below it.

I did the rescape yesterday and today the water is cloudy, bacterial bloom? The water was crystal clear after the rescape, and obviously with the planting, there was no substrate moving and no dirt in the tank at all. Filter has been cycling for 6 weeks now. Also the Pelia was looking okay two days ago but appears to have decided to die in about 48 hours. To be honest all the plants look a bit worse for ware right now, even the ones I got yesterday, which I don't find acceptable, but that's another story!

Help?


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## KeyboardWarrior (20 Mar 2013)

Looks really good I'm sure once it settles down the plants will cheer up


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## Stu Worrall (20 Mar 2013)

Looks very nice. Re the pelia are you using easycarbo?


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## PM (20 Mar 2013)

Thanks, no easycarbo or similar


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## Stu Worrall (20 Mar 2013)

I was just checking as think pelia doesn't like carbo. Just wondering why it would have melted so fast


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## PM (20 Mar 2013)

Not sure, I did reattach it and it didn't seem to like it. Though it wasn't in the best condition when it arrived either, but it was alive

P.S. Your Mini M is fantastic!


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## PM (20 Mar 2013)

By the way I did do a 100% water change with the rescape to get rid of all the tanins in the water, and obviously treated the water with Seachem prime.


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## Lindy (20 Mar 2013)

Hi, did you soak the wood for a while and/or give it a boil? If not, that would explain the cloudyness. You will probably get quite alot of white fungus too.


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## PM (20 Mar 2013)

I gave part of it a boil but couldn't fit most of it in the pot.

It's looking a little clearer today, though still fairly cloudy. I didn't know that the wood could cloud the water? How?


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## Lindy (20 Mar 2013)

Bacteria, fungi? Not sure but I soaked my wood for a week after boiling and had to scub it every couple of days and change the water in the bin as it got manky and had surface scum. Wasn't pretty and that was redmoor from TGM. I still got a bit of the white fuzz on the wood once it was in the tank.


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## PM (20 Mar 2013)

I see, thanks. The things we go through for this hobby. We are all crazy!


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## PM (20 Mar 2013)

I have just noticed rather a lot of fungus on the redmoor wood, water is still cloudy, perhaps slightly improved though hard to tell.

Would should I do about the fungus and cloudy water? Will the filter bacteria take care of it once it's more mature or what should I do?

I have some ADA Green Bacter as well as Phyton Git, will either help?


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## Lindy (20 Mar 2013)

Try to remove the fungus from the wood and do water changes probably best course. Siphon water out with tubing and suck the fungus off that way.


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## PM (20 Mar 2013)

Yeah, I'm trying not to do water changes though as I need the plants to adapt properly to increase their rubisco for low tech and get healthier. Do White Pearl Shrimp eat the fungus? Or Cithon Corona snails? Because I will be ordering both at some point in the near future.


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## Iain Sutherland (21 Mar 2013)

hey, you should do daily large water changes on start up even in low tech, i currently change 75% of my new shrimp nano where there is also fungus on wood but no cloudy water.  Water with a large amount of contaminants in it will never help the plants.


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## PM (22 Mar 2013)

Hi all, here's the tank as it is right now.






As you can see the water has cleared up fairly well, I have been adding ADA Green Bacter and a little Phyton Git, just because I have it, not sure whether this helped the water to clear or not. There is still fungus on the wood and some mosses though I'm not overly bothered as I think it'll go when it's ready, and I plan to get my White Pearls and Clithon Corona soon enough. The Redmoor is still very floaty, hence the rock.

I was at my LFS the other day - Maidenhead Aquatics at Morden, and it turned out it that it was their last day of trade. It's part of the garden centre there in the National Trust park, and apparently they won't allow then to renew the lease. Typical, I just moved into the area and was really happy to find this place as they have an excellent choice of micro fish and dwarf shrimp. So I pulled the trigger and got 12 Ember Tetras while I could. I got 12 as they are very tiny and I thought they'd be more comfortable with a decent shoal.

They seemed very happy for the first 2-3 days, then I changed the bulb in my desk lamp to an 11watt spiral CFL 6400K, the tank looks much nicer in this light, though the fish look more washed out and I noticed that they seem to be hiding much more, (this is one reason I prefer shrimp, they just do what they are supposed to do)! My main issue is that they won't eat the Tetra Pro Colour I bought, I ground it up and they just spit it out. Absolutely no eating. Then I tried the frozen cyclops (as recommended at the fish store) and they won't eat them either. Any help with their diet would be much appreciated. Obviously I didn't feed them the first day and acclimated them for 90 mins and I have to say they seemed very happy for the first 3 days until I changed the bulb, not sure if that's made them less comfortable.

The bits floating in the water are the cyclops. I removed most of it after several minutes of them completely ignoring it.


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## faizal (23 Mar 2013)

Hey,..  Loving the tank. I like the ADA xingu sand that you have there,...very natural looking. Are you still running the tank with the IKEA LED lights,... how long is the photoperiod for?


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## PM (23 Mar 2013)

Thanks. I swapped the Xingu for ADA Mekong, that is what is in the pic above. As stated above I changed the bulb, though it's still the Ikea desk lamp. Photoperiod is 6 hours at the moment.


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## faizal (23 Mar 2013)

Damn  ,..I just re read your post,..okay so you are having 11 watts of spiral CFL.
I am sorry. How long are you running them for?
I don't have any experiences with shrimps so I am afraid i am not much of a use there


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## faizal (23 Mar 2013)

I think changing the lamp from LED to CSF is a good move,..especially for the plants. In my son's old non co2 tank we just had a single T8 tube which we initially ran for 6 hours but after about  a month when we started noticing plant melts  & pale looking leaves, we toned it down to just 3 hrs a day in the evening & the plants picked up so nicely after that.


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## PM (3 Apr 2013)

Hi all,

The plants are doing okay apart from the Bolbitis. It has a little algae, not much but the leaves are pretty much all beginning to decay quite badly. I am dosing as per Tom Barr's recommendations, I tested and found my NO3 very low (0ppm), so I doubled the dosing on KNO3. I have read that it's not the end of the world if readings on low tech tanks for NO3 come out very low, as I am dosing and have a fish load anyway.

Can anyone give me any tips? I have admired this plant for years, and finally got some, and it's not doing well.

Only real algae issue it on the glass, looks like a light dusting of short hairs if you know what I mean, though I don't have any snails yet to clean the glass. Got my White Pearls though


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## tim (3 Apr 2013)

hey mate nice to see you got your white pearls. ive had bolbitus in my edge tank in my signature (and white pearls ) dont dose much maybe once a week and only time its attracted algae is when it was right under the light in the center personally ive fund it will grow slowly low tech but doesnt like much light without co2. as for your glass clean it yurself dude


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## PM (5 Apr 2013)

Hi guys,

I did a big clean, glass, filter, pruned melting bolbitius and sucked out the fungus on wood. I left the water out overnight to de-gas CO2 and did a 20-25% water change.

I would like to know whether this is detrimental to the plants, as if not I would like to do this about every 4-6 weeks to keep things as clean as possible, (25% WC). Rather than Tom Barr's suggested 50% every 3-6 months. At least until the plants take a stronger hold anyway.

So would this be a good or bad idea? Thanks.

Pics soon if anyone's interested


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## PM (11 Apr 2013)

Anyone have an answer for my question above?

Any tips on why my bolbitis is failing on me?


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## dw1305 (11 Apr 2013)

Hi all,


PM said:


> and did a 20-25% water change. I would like to know whether this is detrimental to the plants, as if not I would like to do this about every 4-6 weeks to keep things as clean as possible, (25% WC). Rather than Tom Barr's suggested 50% every 3-6 months. At least until the plants take a stronger hold anyway.


I'm not convinced at all by "no water changes" for low tech tanks. I change about 10% a day, and I'd definitely look to change at least 50% a week, (probably OK as a single large change).


PM said:


> Any tips on why my bolbitis is failing on me





tim said:


> only time its attracted algae is when it was right under the light in the center personally ive fund it will grow slowly low tech but doesnt like much light without co2


It likes some flow, and I agree with Tim you may still have too much light. It does well for me low tech in very low light situations.


PM said:


> They seemed very happy for the first 2-3 days, then I changed the bulb in my desk lamp to an 11watt spiral CFL 6400K, the tank looks much nicer in this light, though the fish look more washed out and I noticed that they seem to be hiding much more, (this is one reason I prefer shrimp, they just do what they are supposed to do)!


Try some floating plants, it should make them feel a bit more comfortable.It would also allow you to use the "Duckweed index" as an indication of when to feed the plants rather than using modified EI. The plants you have are all ones which will grow on very lean feeding.


PM said:


> My main issue is that they won't eat the Tetra Pro Colour I bought, I ground it up and they just spit it out. Absolutely no eating. Then I tried the frozen cyclops (as recommended at the fish store) and they won't eat them either. Any help with their diet would be much appreciated.


Grindal worms would be my suggestion to get them feeding, they are very easy to culture and attractive to nearly all fish. Once you've got them eating the Grindal worms add other foods with them.

cheers Darrel


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