# Do!aqua mini m high tech



## aliclarke86 (5 Feb 2014)

Hi Its late. I'm watching The Two Towers (I put it on at 11.30 so I have plenty of time) and I'm a little tipsy  this is probably not the best time to start this journal but it looks like its going to happen.

I have bought a new kitchen tank from curvball (good man, I'm very much a fan of this guy in this hobby and out. Punk, DIY and mostly doing something good for you and your community. Sorry like I said tipsy  ) to replace my dennerle nano cube as I can't get on with the shape of it. The nano cube will take up residence in the garage room with all the other unused glass boxes I can't give up.

So as the title said its a mini m do!aqua along with a small ext filter and fluval clip on cfl 12w light.

The idea I have is for a low energy tank that I'm hoping to house some Neocaridina Heteropoda Blue Jelly's 

I have some sphagnum moss peat that I will be mixing with pond aqua soil and capping with one of the recycled name brand soil substrates I have laying around (I hope I have something black).

Hard scape is wood and rock. Redmoore root twigs and some rock......not sure what yet, I have a fair amount of different types plus I'm getting some Baltic rock in this bargain package.

I have but one concern about this venture and that is the 12w of light over approximately 20ltr/5g of water (before hard scape). So I think this may be running 2 hour on 3 hour off 2 hour on lighting giving a total of......yep, you can all count 4 hours of light BUT bear in mind that this is in the kitchen under 3 3watt led gu10 with mid day sun pouring through the double glass doors. So this will gain a fair amount of light.

The filter will also have a sock full of moss peat to aid with carbon.

Plants...... Now well plants........ I have a fair amount of microsorum pteropus narrow plantlets on the grow plus some microsorum pteropus 'mini', anubias petite, also I should be able to use some rotala rotundifolia, rotala sp. green and some pogostemon helferi. (Thanks Antoni)

I can probably split some of my buces by now as well but I will see on the room.

Ok well I'm pretty excited about this as my main tank is still in disrepair and the crs tank doesn't really need anything doing to it so I'm going to be glad to be setting up a new tank, at least it will keep my fingers busy for a few hours.

Not tried a tank with this low energy approach before so if anyone has anything they would like to add/point out please get on and let me know.

Ali

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## aliclarke86 (5 Feb 2014)

Ok so I may well have had a magic moment when this turned up and I am actually happy with this layout. Perhaps I may change the twigs around a bit to add a bit more flow to the whole thing.














Couldn't be arsed to turn the PC on to get the camera shots so phone can is all I got right now 

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## aliclarke86 (5 Feb 2014)

Shot with light, also looking at this PIC.... I'm not using this filter as it is.... Ugly. I will use my HO I have laying around.



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## Rob P (5 Feb 2014)

These tanks are ace, did my first water change on the mini m tonight, missus was like 'have you done it?' Yup 

Hardscape looks great mate, liking the twiggy'ness


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## aliclarke86 (5 Feb 2014)

Haha yeah I love the no hassle size but nowadays the biggest I have is 80ltr so not so much trouble for water changes with any of them. 

Thanks mate, I first thought I was going to moss em all up but I like the look of it as is. In fact I really like it as it is without any plants ha hope I don't ruin it!!!!

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## tim (5 Feb 2014)

Did you scape this tipsy Ali  looks good mate, really good. Acrylic pipes are easy to make for that filter, would tidy it up a treat I use them on my 12 ltr with boyu filter.


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## aliclarke86 (5 Feb 2014)

Ha no no I've done that before  spent the next morning tearing down and re doing everything!! 

You say they are easy but I don't have a heat gun or anything to help with bending, I can only find springs way too big.

......wanna make me some??  

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## tim (5 Feb 2014)

aliclarke86 said:


> Ha no no I've done that before  spent the next morning tearing down and re doing everything!!
> 
> You say they are easy but I don't have a heat gun or anything to help with bending, I can only find springs way too big.
> 
> ...


I can do mate, I'm looking to order some more acrylic at the end of the month if you can wait a little while, is it the boyu you have ?


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## Rob P (5 Feb 2014)

tim said:


> I can do mate, I'm looking to order some more acrylic at the end of the month if you can wait a little while, is it the boyu you have ?



Ah hem (cough) Eden 501 (cough) acrylic pipes (cough)


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## Deano3 (5 Feb 2014)

like the scape mate looking forward to seeing updates


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## Lindy (5 Feb 2014)

tim said:


> I can do mate, I'm looking to order some more acrylic at the end of the month if you can wait a little while, is it the boyu you have ?


OOOOH can you do me an outlet to attach to a spraybar 16/22 and an inlet with just an open end that I can put a shrimp guard over? Would cover costs plus some. I can't bend the stuff so can make a spraybar but not inlets etc. Purleeease?


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## tim (5 Feb 2014)

Rob P said:


> Ah hem (cough) Eden 501 (cough) acrylic pipes (cough)


End of the month ok 9/12 tubing if you pm me the height from the filter to the top of the tank I'll get them done, oh and you could do with some covonia for that cough mate


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## LondonDragon (5 Feb 2014)

Nice little tank Ali  you could slope the substrate a little more on the left to create a taller hill and give a little more edge. I am struggling to keep up with water changes on my Mini-m lol


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## aliclarke86 (5 Feb 2014)

Paha looks like you have a business opportunity presenting itself here mate!!

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## tim (5 Feb 2014)

ldcgroomer said:


> OOOOH can you do me an outlet to attach to a spraybar 16/22 and an inlet with just an open end that I can put a shrimp guard over? Would cover costs plus some. I can't bend the stuff so can make a spraybar but not inlets etc. Purleeease?


I can give it a go lindy will pm you.
Sorry Ali thread well and truly hijacked


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## Rob P (5 Feb 2014)

Brilliant mate! I'll pm you tomorrow to sort out what you need  ah, cough seems better


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## aliclarke86 (5 Feb 2014)

LondonDragon said:


> Nice little tank Ali  you could slope the substrate a little more on the left to create a taller hill and give a little more edge. I am struggling to keep up with water changes on my Mini-m lol


Agreed. This was only a mess around out of new tank excitement but I surprised myself and really liked what I did! I have too take it all down tomorrow to add the base layer...... Hope I can recreate it!!!

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## Curvball (6 Feb 2014)

Nice! And thanks for the kind words in the opening post, much appreciated.


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## aliclarke86 (6 Feb 2014)

OK picture time.. Phone shots as camera ran out of batteries...........















Missed a few 




Tea break!











Not too sure if I'm going to be able to maintain this lowteck.....

Cheers 

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## Lindy (6 Feb 2014)

Hell, it looks grown in already.  

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## Curvball (6 Feb 2014)

Very cool. And yes, looks like it has been set for weeks not setup this week.


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## aliclarke86 (6 Feb 2014)

Yep that's the final shot. I will be taking it down tomorrow 

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## Curvball (6 Feb 2014)

Ha ha


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## uru (6 Feb 2014)

It is very nice tank indeed. I am looking forward to see it developing in the future. May I ask few questions as I am planning to set up very small planted shrimp tank. Are you going to use any CO2 or fertilisers? Are you going to put some sort of heater in it?  


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## aliclarke86 (6 Feb 2014)

uru said:


> It is very nice tank indeed. I am looking forward to see it developing in the future. May I ask few questions as I am planning to set up very small planted shrimp tank. Are you going to use any CO2 or fertilisers? Are you going to put some sort of heater in it?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Thanks uru  I was planning on running it without co2 but I'm having second thoughts... Its very heavily planted and the light is pretty bright so I'm not sure if it will do that well. That said I have added a layer of sphagnum moss peat mixed with pond soil under the top substrate. This should in theory release carbon into water column. I have also added a bag of peat to the filter. If I need to I have a couple of disposable co2 sets and some easy carbo to hand.

Ferts initially will be about 1/10 ei unless I need to add co2 in that case I will go for full  ei dosing

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## tim (6 Feb 2014)

Looks lovely Ali, very well planted mate


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## Antoni (6 Feb 2014)

This already look great Ali! I like your hardscape and I think this will be a winner! I don't think this will be a low teck..... I have 13w over 16l of water and is doing well with 6.5h of light. Previous scape in the same tank- I had 20W with no problem...well apart of trimming too often  Can't wait for this to develop!


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## aliclarke86 (6 Feb 2014)

Thanks ant I hope I can maintain it I feel it is one of my most solid layouts to date 

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## Rob P (7 Feb 2014)

Plant list anywhere bud?  Interested to know what the instant carpet is 

edit - got it, Pogo helferi lol


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## aliclarke86 (8 Feb 2014)

Water change last night and re looked at the flow and I'm not to happy with it..... I may well upgrade... Not sure to what though as I would like it to be in intrusive but as its on the work top in the kitchen I need something short. 

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## Ian Holdich (8 Feb 2014)

That looks really good...really good! 

Nailed it.

Give us a full frontal ; )


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## aliclarke86 (8 Feb 2014)

Cheers Ian  I will get the real camera out on it tomorrow.

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## Iain Sutherland (8 Feb 2014)

nice little layout nath, will look great once grown in.  Just watch the microsorum, its a bitch for drying out!


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## aliclarke86 (8 Feb 2014)

Iain Sutherland said:


> nice little layout nath, will look great once grown in.  Just watch the microsorum, its a bitch for drying out!


Wrong mini m Iian 

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## aliclarke86 (8 Feb 2014)

I have added the top of a dennerle eckfilter as a little power head until I find a new filter with a bit mor oomph 



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## LondonDragon (8 Feb 2014)

Looks great, just the pogostemon helferi will be too big for this size tank as a carpet, hope you prove me wrong!!


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## aliclarke86 (8 Feb 2014)

Nope I agree. It will take a lot of maintaining but I'm up for the challenge. Also I'm not too sure how well its going to do low-tech I've tried and failed before......

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## Iain Sutherland (9 Feb 2014)

aliclarke86 said:


> Wrong mini m Iian


 
well thats embarassing!! 
sorry ali, was wanting to reply to this as well.  Will be watching to see how this goes Ali, i havent tried pogo helferi low tech but was on the to do list.  If you can get it growing and keep it in check size wise it will look great.
Eheim liberties are pretty  tough to find now as they are discontinued but sure do work well with low techs, especially on kitchen counters, with the added option of emersed growth out of the top of them


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## aliclarke86 (11 Feb 2014)

I have had a look for a liberty in the past and have seen second hand go for over rrp on eBay... I do have a hob but its a noisy old thing....

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## Deano3 (11 Feb 2014)

Looking great ali plenty of plant mass in there to keep algae at bay and so many mini m jurnals all of a sudden everyone getting confused lol looks great anyway looking forward to more pics

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## aliclarke86 (11 Feb 2014)

Thanks dean. The stems are starting to show some life so will get some update pics up soon 

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## Rob P (11 Feb 2014)

My Ammania bonsai in my mini m isn't looking great  lol, the echi tennellus and weeping moss inparticular seem to be doing quite well though


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## aliclarke86 (11 Feb 2014)

I really want to try ammania I hear its a tricky sob 

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## pariahrob (11 Feb 2014)

Looking good. Pogo is one of my all time favourites. I think it looks good already but as long as you keep on top of the growth it will look very special.


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## Rob P (11 Feb 2014)

aliclarke86 said:


> I really want to try ammania I hear its a tricky sob
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk



Well it will go against most peoples views but this stuff I have is tropica 1-2 grow and it's hard to plant well and then most of what I did plant has melted. Should have tried it in my hi tech first and if it did well take cuttings (although I'd imagine that would end in tears as well)  lol


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## aliclarke86 (11 Feb 2014)

pariahrob said:


> Looking good. Pogo is one of my all time favourites. I think it looks good already but as long as you keep on top of the growth it will look very special.


Hopefully I won't have to pull the whole lot up every week ha but seems as its low tech I might get away with it 

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## aliclarke86 (11 Feb 2014)

Rob P said:


> Well it will go against most peoples views but this stuff I have is tropica 1-2 grow and it's hard to plant well and then most of what I did plant has melted. Should have tried it in my hi tech first and if it did well take cuttings (although I'd imagine that would end in tears as well)  lol


People have trouble with it high tech too it seems to be one of those trickier plants but looks great once its going 

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## aliclarke86 (18 Feb 2014)

Quick phone shot. Not got time for real pics life is hectic all of a sudden. Looking hood though. Gonna add some co2 also as im wanting faster growth......yeah I'm impatient  




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## tim (18 Feb 2014)

Looks good Ali.


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## aliclarke86 (18 Feb 2014)

Oh yeah had to add a bigger heater the little one only got it to 18°c this one gets a nice 22°c still looking for a larger filter but can't decide if the Eden 501 will cut it...also looked at s dennerle mini skim filter and eheim ecco pro but don't really have money to throw away. Still no live stock. Will probably move some cherries over or perhaps some low grade crs before purchasing any others 

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## Alastair (18 Feb 2014)

aliclarke86 said:


> Quick phone shot. Not got time for real pics life is hectic all of a sudden. Looking hood though. Gonna add some co2 also as im wanting faster growth......yeah I'm impatient
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk


Very nice ali. You must be pleased mate..looks fine as is without co2 but I do know what you mean


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## aliclarke86 (18 Feb 2014)

Thanks Al. As its only a little tank I will probably end up redoing it sooner rather than later so a bit of co2 to get it looking lush before I get itchy fingers 

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## Deano3 (18 Feb 2014)

looking good mate lovely greens and thinking of re-scape already lol that was fast but might aswel get some co2 in if want faster growth


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## aliclarke86 (18 Feb 2014)

Not planning it yet but I know I will soon enough 

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## Curvball (18 Feb 2014)

Looks pretty cool - can't believe its at that state already and my system hasn't even seen water, ha!


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## Lindy (19 Feb 2014)

I think it looks great but.... Why have such deep substrate? It looks like a 5th of the tank is substrate and I think it would have looked even better without so much. It makes it look smaller while the scape gives the feel of a much larger tank.


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## aliclarke86 (19 Feb 2014)

ldcgroomer said:


> I think it looks great but.... Why have such deep substrate? It looks like a 5th of the tank is substrate and I think it would have looked even better without so much. It makes it look smaller while the scape gives the feel of a much larger tank.


I just dumped what I had left in a tub in, in hindsight I would have taken some out but I had limited time to get it planted do kind of rushed it. Had 2 hours before we had to be out for a meal and the plants had a lot of traveling under there belt so wanted to get them in some water

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## aliclarke86 (19 Feb 2014)

Also I put substrate in before the tocks and they displaced more than I imagined they would so that bumped it up a wee bit

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## aliclarke86 (19 Feb 2014)

co2 in, burnt my hand pretty bad on a dodgy can though 

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## Nathaniel Whiteside (19 Feb 2014)

Looking really nice mate. At least you know your good with pogo  helferi!! Which quite a few Can't


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## aliclarke86 (20 Feb 2014)

Still early days yet nath, plenty of time to watch it melt away 

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## Greenfinger2 (21 Feb 2014)

Hi Ali, Looking great mate  Hope your hand is better


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## aliclarke86 (21 Feb 2014)

Its not too bad thanks Roy, looks worse than it feels  

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## Lee Sweeting (21 Feb 2014)

Looking very nice Ali


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## aliclarke86 (22 Feb 2014)

Added some blyxa japoica in the back as I had too much for my other tank. Looks hood St the moment but the stemmmms will soon hide it

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## aliclarke86 (22 Feb 2014)

Don't know why so many M's...stupid phone! 





Oh and some cherries from other tank.

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## John S (22 Feb 2014)

Looking great Ali.


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## Deano3 (22 Feb 2014)

looking good mate love bylxa hope growns in well as I heard its co2 greedy  but looking very healthy and lush


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## tim (23 Feb 2014)

Looking good Ali, the blyxa will grow taller than the tank if you let it


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## aliclarke86 (26 Feb 2014)

phone shot. 
Rotundifolia has really grown, on the slope at the back some has reached the surface. R. Green has not grown as much but that is always the case in my experience. Ive not seen any algae so far so happy there 

Pogo is getting pretty big so I am going to thin it out and move some over to the signature when I do my first trim on the stems.

One of the cherries that went in is having trouble moulting, I've not had this problem before with any shrimp prl included so not sure of the best action to take, the water is the same as in my signature so I'm a bit baffled. 

Anyhow I'm going to look into diet as the signature has a lot more algae  and has been running a lot longer so I'm hoping that's where a solution lies.

Cheers for looking any input of any form welcome as always.

Ali


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## aliclarke86 (26 Feb 2014)

Just noticed the spinach... Quite an impromptu shot as I pasted  

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## tim (26 Feb 2014)

Might be the effect of the substrate buffering the water, maybe a lack of minerals for cherries.


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## aliclarke86 (26 Feb 2014)

I think you may be right. I'm going to get them on the biomax and shrimp cuisine mash up mix see if it helps

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## Ian Holdich (26 Feb 2014)

Looking good Ali, keep up the good work.


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## Alastair (26 Feb 2014)

Looks brill mate. Growing really fast too. Youll be trimming this non stop soon. 

Is that big leaf right in the foreground just some spinach for the inhabitants? ?


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## aliclarke86 (27 Feb 2014)

Alastair said:


> Looks brill mate. Growing really fast too. Youll be trimming this non stop soon.
> 
> Is that big leaf right in the foreground just some spinach for the inhabitants? ?


Yeah its growing faster than I expected! And yes blanched spinach that they don't ever want but I put in just in case 

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## Greenfinger2 (27 Feb 2014)

Hi Ali, Looking Fab  Love the spinach shot


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## Deano3 (27 Feb 2014)

great growth and looking very healthy keep it up mate


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## aliclarke86 (3 Mar 2014)

mini 1 by aliclarke86, on Flickr


mini shrimp by aliclarke86, on Flickr


mini shrimp 2 by aliclarke86, on Flickr


pearling rotala  rotudifolia by aliclarke86, on Flickr


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## Deano3 (4 Mar 2014)

Excellent growth well done


Thanks Dean


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## Greenfinger2 (4 Mar 2014)

Hi Ali,Looking great the plants are lush and healthy  Plants pearling to


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## Stu Worrall (4 Mar 2014)

Looks good and will nicely fill in


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## aliclarke86 (4 Mar 2014)

Thanks everyone, first trim is imminent. Both of the rotala are reaching the surface now and I have thinned the downoi out as was getting huge, I just moved some to my tmc. 

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## aliclarke86 (11 Mar 2014)

This has gone a bit mental of late, really need to trim and I will be on Saturday. I'm going to thin the downoi again as it is still far to much.

I will not be using this particular soil again as in the 2 tanks I have used it I have large amounts of bugs and such (Cyclops and whatnot) this would be fine if I had fish in these tanks but they are both shrimp tanks. Also the advertised buffering is not ..well, what was advertised 

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## Lindy (11 Mar 2014)

aliclarke86 said:


> I will not be using this particular soil again as in the 2 tanks I have used it I have large amounts of bugs and such (Cyclops and whatnot)


I hate to tell you but I've had those in all my shrimp tanks using ada amazonia, africana and now ebi gold. I just take it as a sign of good water quality. I might, of course, be wrong


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## aliclarke86 (11 Mar 2014)

Ha fair enough lindy thanks for the heads up. Its more the buffering I'm not too happy with. Started with a nice 6.5 but after a month only get about 6.8 I'm just going to have to stop being so cheap

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## aliclarke86 (23 Mar 2014)

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## faizal (24 Mar 2014)

Wow ali !! This is a real winner. Congratulations on a great job


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## Greenfinger2 (24 Mar 2014)

Hi Ali,Fab Your Aquascape has come on in leaps and bounds


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## Ady34 (24 Mar 2014)

Looks absolutely stunning Ali, well done mate, great job


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## aliclarke86 (13 Apr 2014)

New home for this

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## Greenfinger2 (13 Apr 2014)

Hi Ali, Fab    I would sit half way up the stairs like Kermit the frog  To Admire This Little Stunner   Best wishes in your new home


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## aliclarke86 (13 Apr 2014)

Thanks Roy, I've been sitting on the stairs a lot recently 

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## tim (14 Apr 2014)

Looks lovely in situ Ali, glad the move went well mate.


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## Mr. Teapot (14 Apr 2014)

Really lovely little tank. If only I'd get 'approval' to have a gem like this in my hallway.


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## aliclarke86 (17 Apr 2014)

Filter upgrade..... Nearly same volumm as the tank.... Ha but it is very old so has lost a lot of power and packed with media so creates a good flow  just needs so.e nice pipes now

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## Edvet (17 Apr 2014)

When will there be a tank on the stand next to it, that's the big question


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## Deano3 (17 Apr 2014)

looking excellent mate love the mini m  any nice new close ups of the tank


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## aliclarke86 (17 Apr 2014)

Edvet said:


> When will there be a tank on the stand next to it, that's the big question


Ed, that tank is going to a new home, my friend has a 1 year old girl and wants her to have a tank as she grows up so I am donating it to the hobby if you will 


Deano3 said:


> looking excellent mate love the mini m  any nice new close ups of the tank


Dean, unfortunately the move has left this neglected and although the insitu shots may look great it needs some love close up, so not really too enthused to upload any shots right now but watch this space.

Do have baby cherries running about as well so a nice thick layer of brown algae is keeping them healthy 


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## aliclarke86 (5 May 2014)

This has become an absolute state!! I has a wall of riccia across half the tank where it had got too buoyant and lifted and the stems had got so long the engulfed the surface letting no light through. The cherries loved it though. I have had 2 broods since adding 2 males and 3 females just after start up. 

I gave it a hack today and I do mean a hack, just cut anything with algae touching it and planted a bit of hc to replace the riccia (what a pita)

Will get some pics up if it recovers but I'm very tempted to tear it down! 

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## AquamaniacUK (9 May 2014)

Great looking tank.
I am went for nanos too and I can't say I regret it.
Long gone are the long water changes and maintenance hours.Definetely through with 200 liter plus aquascapes.
I really like this scape.


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