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ADA Mini M + Solar Mini Set Iwagumi

Alex Papp

Member
Joined
26 Mar 2018
Messages
130
Location
London
When ADC was able to sell more high-end and fancy stuff, they had some small ADA tanks in the shop. When they moved to Balham, some of those old displays were/ are being taken down... replaced with aquaone tanks :banghead::banghead:. Anyway... Now I got a tank and light for £50.

Tank: Mini M
Light: Solar Mini
Filter: EHEIM Classic 150 filled with siporax.
-lilly pipes: Influx mini by Calaqua, Jet pipe by Aquarebbel
No heater.
CO2: Ruwal regulator on 600g dispoable welding with Aquario Small diffuser, using my judgement for the right amount (ofc with a drop checker when livestock is added)
Cabinet: I made it with MR MDF
Substrate: ~6l of Tropica
Hardscape: Re-using some mountain stone from my 70cm IAPLC tank. (that one is being replaced by a 90-p)
Planting: tall Eleocharis, small Eleocharis, Eriocaulon cinerum (from an old TC cup, probably will melt.)

Ferts:
-None for the first 2-4 weeks.
-Then some Flourish daily.
-If I have fish by then, probably stick to the flourish or change over to my K, K+Fe, K 3x weekly schedule.
-If I have no fish in the tank then Seachem N+P once a week+ Flourish :)

Maintainance
-Lighting 5 hours up to 7 over 3 months
-Water changes daily, for 2 weeks, then bi-daily for a bit and then 3 times a week. Going to keep it at 2/3x week as it's little and an Iwagumi so vulnerable to algae.
-Filter: change floss and clean pipes when I can be bothered... 2-4 weeks.

This is my first Iwagumi, so any advice on preventing algae is welcome. Bit worried about that.
 
Any questions fire away...
 

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Nice little tank, I have one also on a shelf for about 5 years lol I am so scarred of that light (27w) for such a small tank lol
Looking forward to see how you handle this one might get me tempted to start mine also!
You going to need to pump a lot of CO2 into this tank.
 
Looks great and great kit, think i would add more plant mass to try prevent algae as looks quite lightly planted.

Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
 
I am so scarred of that light (27w) for such a small tank lol
Not too worry - ADA naysayer experts will assure you that ADA watts are only low energy watts :lol:

(ADA Aquascapes
- only use “easy” category plants
- only require low flow and low CO2 bps as the ADA branded LEDs and T5’s and old Solar lights are all low intensity and hardly any light at all :cool:
- no controllers are supplied with ADA lights, see above
etc)
 
so any advice on preventing algae is welcome
As @Deano3 mentions, I’d add much more Eleocharis mini, also perhaps some fast growing stems that will be removed once the E min carpet fills in
Also perhaps a floating plant - Tropica now has the the “red root floater” available again
https://tropica.com/en/plants/plantdetails/Phyllanthusfluitans(028TC)/22848

H zosterfolia - also available in 1-2-Grow and perhaps the fastest weed ever, it tends to root shallowly or very fine roots so is easy to remove
 
Nice little tank, I have one also on a shelf for about 5 years lol I am so scarred of that light (27w) for such a small tank lol
Looking forward to see how you handle this one might get me tempted to start mine also!
You going to need to pump a lot of CO2 into this tank.
I am scared also! Hence the very low liquid fertiliz
fertliser use. Also, the light came with an old bulb (I'm using the new one) so I could switch over to that as its a lot dimmer. Might be too dim though? We'll see how it goes.
About the CO2 yes I will... This bottle lasted 6 months on my "low tech" 45cm tank. I doubt it will last past 2 months on this.
 
Looks great and great kit, think i would add more plant mass to try prevent algae as looks quite lightly planted.

Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
Its one pot of Eleocharis, yes. There is a bit more than you think because I planted it too deeply I think (scared of floaters).
I was going to add some of my Persicaria sp. 'Sao Paulo' anyway, might add some floating plants, I have Salvinia and Phyllanthus already in another tank. We're overrun with Pistia at the shop, might take a few of those home...
 
Not too worry - ADA naysayer experts will assure you that ADA watts are only low energy watts :lol:

(ADA Aquascapes
- only use “easy” category plants
- only require low flow and low CO2 bps as the ADA branded LEDs and T5’s and old Solar lights are all low intensity and hardly any light at all :cool:
- no controllers are supplied with ADA lights, see above
etc)
I can only hope you are right- or else my tank will be full of algae pretty quickly. Going with the low nitrogen ADA style dosing that might help. However, flow is quite high. The 150 is quite a powerful little filter, I'm restricting the flow slightly with a tap. Does flow encourage algae in the ADA way??
 
As @Deano3 mentions, I’d add much more Eleocharis mini, also perhaps some fast growing stems that will be removed once the E min carpet fills in
Also perhaps a floating plant - Tropica now has the the “red root floater” available again
https://tropica.com/en/plants/plantdetails/Phyllanthusfluitans(028TC)/22848

H zosterfolia - also available in 1-2-Grow and perhaps the fastest weed ever, it tends to root shallowly or very fine roots so is easy to remove
I'm not going to add more Eleocharis, I'd like to see it all grow in from one pot. I get fed up with greenaqua using so many plants!! But in terms of some weeds to put in there thanks for the advice. I'll find some H. zosterfolia and some kind of floating plants.
 
I can only hope you are right- or else my tank will be full of algae pretty quickly. Going with the low nitrogen ADA style dosing that might help. However, flow is quite high. The 150 is quite a powerful little filter, I'm restricting the flow slightly with a tap. Does flow encourage algae in the ADA way??
No, sorry, that was purely sarcasm

ADA plants very heavily, lots of water changes (think 90% daily rather than 50%), algae crew from early on, lots of carbon in filters at start, potassium K water column dosing (Amazonia is nitrogen (ammonia) loaded) etc etc

(Loads of videos etc on ADA site, just takes some wandering about)

As you’ve gone with Tropica substrate this will change the game somewhat

If you want to begin with a single pot of Eleocharis mini etc, I’d’ve also gone with a dry start to increase plant mass before flooding ... at this point, get those auxiliary plants :)

Soft acidic water (or RO remixed as per Green Aqua, Jurijs mit JS etc) will also help plant/algae conundrum
 
I would do soft water, but I can't be bothered to walk with 10/25 kgs of water for 40 minutes a few times a week. If I can get the water changes down to oncw a week (might be possible with R.O.) maybe I'll use RO.

I thought about dry start but I was excited to get it started, now I feel like I should have done that because when the amanos move in they'll have a fun time moving my soil.:mad:

Might add some purigen to mitigate diatoms (has worked for me before) and the further algae issues they can cause. Can purigen be used instead of carbon or do you need both?
 
If I can get the water changes down to oncw a week (might be possible with R.O.) maybe I'll use RO.
By then you should be past the most challenging algae period so stick with tap :) - it’s so much simpler

I’d choose smaller shrimp and Clithon type snails in a tank this small (those Amano girls will be like Giants :lol:)

Purigen is fine, whatever works for you is grand
 
Hi all,
Here is some progress. I haven't added carbon or purigen, nor added any floating plants. Not because I'm trying my best to ignore you all, but I didn't have any chemical media on hand, and my floating plants in my other tank have traces of duckweed on them 🙄. I have some hygroyza aristata but I think that will go too crazy!

Still doing water changes everyday. Added 0.1ml of flourish the day after. Probably will do this 2-3x a week. It contains everything... Even N+PK. most nitrogen will be coming from the soil atm anyway.
 

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Quick update- still havent added carbon, or other plants😬😬.
Got some small amanos yesterday to eat some of the diatoms. Now down to 3 waterchanges a week. @LondonDragon I think you should set yours up! Minimal algae problems so far.
Also, dosing a small amount of easycarbo everyday+ NPK or Fe+Micros (flourish) after every water change.
 

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maybe final update... a little bored, thinking about a blackwater (borneo?) or sulawesi biotope

fish: oryzias latipes gold and platinum
 

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Oh damn you bought one of their ex display tanks eh. Ngl I was thinking of buying one but some of the prices was like 300-400 fully set up that has moss in it already
 
Oh damn you bought one of their ex display tanks eh. Ngl I was thinking of buying one but some of the prices was like 300-400 fully set up that has moss in it already
Hehe I used to work there, and I got it in a chaotic time during the summer so it was £50. I would never pay their stupid prices for set up tanks. Now you go in there and it looks like a maidenhead full of Aquaone dry tanks. ew.
 
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