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ADA Mini M (Low Tech) Betta luck this time...

Looks nice and jungly,any fish planned?

The idea was for a betta splendens, kind of why the missus agreed to let me have a 2nd tank and set it up in her office!! :D lol Plenty of time to think about things though (i'll tell her we need to see baby shrimp before any fish go in...)

This was a part of my inspiration...

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That looks awesome. Never seen pogo helferi look that good lowetch though :confused:

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Gave this tank a little bit of attention last night as i've been meaning to get some measurements to Tim for some nice acrylic pipes for it for a while now! So i gave the filter a clean and moved it round the side. This meant i could remove the red card at the back which I think gives it a fresher look.

Trimmed the Juncus which has been up at the surface a while now, was a shame as the top leaves were starting to turn a lovely reddish brown but had to snip them off. Everything else in there is looking very green & healthy and the tank is running very well with minimal input.

I have the light on 6.5hrs a day and now do a couple of water changes per week, maybe one every 5 days (40% or so), but it's no bother, and I splash a couple mm macro ferts 2 or 3 times a week. I put a single remaining zebra nerite snail in here from my hi tech (they didn't like it in there) who seems to work the wood, glass and suction cups well for me ;) lol.

I knew there were some baby cherry shrimp for a couple of weeks now but didn't realise until the filter was off for a while last night how many there were, I counted at least 15 of them but they were zipping about all over the place so probably a few more! Is it sad that i find it quite exciting?? :D

Anyway, all good so far :)

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Cheers,
Rob
 
It's looking awesome mate, and congrats on the shrimp. Their obviously very happy in there.


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Thanks Lee, this little tank is really making me swing low tech for the new 80cm tank... lol
 
Not much change with this, except i'll have to get in soon to thin out the tennellus, it's rampant stuff! Everything else doing well. 20 minutes maintenance weekly - it really is a pleasure!! :D

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One of the shrimplets, I have about 15 of them all growing on nicely :)

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Cheers,
R.
 
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This is looking lovely and healthy mate, I'm back home as of Friday with a week off to follow so I'll get those pipes done and posted out to you next week.

Thanks Tim, it just annoys that I set out with a plan then seem to lose all idea of structure but meh, i'm happy just to have baby shrimps, green healthy growing plants with minimal input and (ssssssh....) no algae! :)

No worries on the pipes, thanks for updating me on them :)
 
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bloody plants always surprise me and do there own thing

Yeh lol, the tennellus has surprised me most, it's the only 1-2 grow pot that has ever done something for me lol, and even when i planted it i wasn't convinced. I can see a few pots been put in my bigger tank when the time comes! 'easy carpet' lol :D
 
Rob, this looks fantastic well done. Its a lovely garden in there. My tanks are looking terrible at the mo. Moving house takes a lot of effort!!

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Cheers guys. Sounds a nightmare moving Ali, surely you can pop the mini m under your arm though when empty? lol.

You'll get em back mate, doesn't take long. After turning everything down on my hi tech roma it looked rather sad quite quickly but now it's settled it's all starting to pick up again at a nicer pace :)
 
Been a month since last updated, this little tank really does look after itself although i'm itching to get in and have a decent trim and perhaps move some stuff around, yet the problem is that everytime i embark on such a task i usually make a complete cock of it so have left this one alone pretty much as i just like how it looks. Will have to thin out sometime though as Juncus/Didiplis are way taller than the tank and the tennellus is all over itself. Have added a stem of Ludwig sp atlantis from main tank and done away with the salvinia which didn't like an increase in flow/surface movement.

Still looking very healthy, no algae and my red cherries are doing fine, no losses for a while now after losing 4 of the original 5 i bought for this :( the umpteen baby shrimp are now a cm long and getting better at hiding lol

Tim very kindly made me some acrylic pipes and they are giving an exceptional flow in the tank, and look great too :)

Maintenance is 15 minutes a week, about 30% water change, bit of EI, occasional glass clean etc.

Anyway, here it is

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Thanks for looking :)
Rob
 
Sooooooo......

Big changes in this tank, although ultimately I don't feel it will end up that much different longer term...

I was on the verge of ripping this down at the weekend, i'd already (2 weeks ago) removed almost all the echinodorus tennellus and quite a few other plants that have gone into the hi tech Roma.

However, we went to our local MA on Saturday morning as i needed some bits n pieces and we ended up looking at the bettas (again!).

Anyway, I did pull the tank down on Saturday evening, all plants were removed the shrimp caught and popped in my large bucket with a heater for the evening. There were about 15 red cherries plus a few more tiny teeny ones. Of these, all but 5 adults were given to a mate, I kept 5 back for myself.

The tank was completely emptied and scrubbed clean. I was going to use straight black gravel this time, as i think the Coulmbo Florabase aquasoil that was in there is fantastic stuff but I personally found it hard to work with. I compromised in the end and put a half inch layer of used aquasoil back down and then covered it with black gravel, best of both worlds then! ;)

I kept the piece of wood with the microsorum mini and Bolbitis attached. I moved the wood forward so i can access all panes of glass for easier cleaning than before.

I replanted the few tennellus plants I kept in here before I filled it. There are other plants to still go back in here and i want a couple of extras ;)

Obviously the flow from the Eden 501 through the acrylic pipes would be massively too fierce for a betta, but in a stroke of genius, a spare inlet filter mesh/shrimp guard I had pushed over the outlet diffuses the flow superbly! and so I could keep the mature filter as I was about to order a HOB to try... So with flow now sorted I now needed a lid...

45 minutes of messing with a sheet of greenhouse plastic glazing, stanley knife and a dremel had a rough and ready lid made that will do the job just fine.

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The tank was also moved to the corner of the missus desk rather than a seperate unit, filter now placed at rear (i'll get a white background put on i reckon) and refilled and the 5 shrimp (& nerite) put back in. This was just after filling...

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I've put a few more stems and small crypts back in since then and I plan to get some Cabomba or similar & Frogbit as well.

Yesterday we went to get a betta. My missus dwindled it down to 2 or 3 in our local MA and when final decision time came I just walked off to let her make the final decision. She chose one, instantly named Zurg by my 3 year old son (Zurg is Buzz Lightyears arch enemy, apparently lol).

Zurg was settled in midday yesterday and had the day in a dark room with no lights and the blinds shut. He had a really good look around and spent the rest of the day finding hidey holes which he always went into when I went to check on him.

When I went into the room this morning, he came straight out to see me and i waggled my finger near the feeding hole. He came right beneath it and happily took 4 or 5 Hikari betta pellets. My missus sent me a (tosh!) first photo of him at the front of the tank early today saying he was being very brave and friendly. Seems to be fine with the lights on and i'll be adding some floaters anyway. He should be happy in his new home :)

Appears since this morning that Zurg is quite photogenic ;) lol Some 'betta' images my OH has sent me today :)

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I'll build the planting up a little more but there's enough to keep him happy in there for now.

Cheers,
Rob
 
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Carefull Rob, it starts with one Betta. And then just another small tank, and then another.
 
I'm feeling that already :) such delightful fish to watch. Although I've just seen him chase and massacre a shrimplet with no remorse!!
 
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