# Darkblade's ADA Mini-S



## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

So, here I am starting another journal. I tore down my 2.5g nano (that has been up for quite some time now), you can see the journal here:

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9918

The new tank's setup is as follows:

Flora:
_Blyxa japonica
Hemianthus callitrichoides_ var 'Cuba'

Fauna:
_Neocaridina heteropoda_ var 'red'

Temperature is whatever room temperature is (usually 25C)
Red Sea Nano Filter
Pressurized CO2
Light is a single 18W 6500K bulb, on for 8 hours a day

Anyway, here are the updates for the new Mini-S. Let me know what you think!

As of *June 27 2010

*Halfway filled:


Filled and planted! Excuse the equipment, I forgot to take a picture before I started putting all the equipment back in.


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## killer007 (Feb 10, 2010)

@[email protected] ADA...
you get it from US?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

No, from Japan.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Looking forward to your new tank Anthony!


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## Byronicle (Apr 18, 2009)

I think I like this one the best, but I really like the way it looks halfway filled. Looks like it can be converted easily into a Wabi-Kusa scape


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## laurahmm (Apr 1, 2010)

looks awesome... been wanting an ADA tank..sighs... experiencing tank envy! 

Where did you get the Blyxa japonica btw? 

Thanks!


Laura


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Byronicle said:


> I think I like this one the best, but I really like the way it looks halfway filled. Looks like it can be converted easily into a Wabi-Kusa scape


Thanks! I'm going for a more and more minimalistic approach. I used to think a heavily planted tank was excellent, but I'm really enjoying the empty space that a field of HC provides.



laurahmm said:


> looks awesome... been wanting an ADA tank..sighs... experiencing tank envy!


They are so much optically clear when compared to the standard glass aquariums that we can get. It really is like my shrimp are swimming in air!



laurahmm said:


> Where did you get the Blyxa japonica btw?


I believe I originally got them from Jim. I have some for sale if you are interested


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

The RCS enjoy exploring their new territory


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## jon021 (May 19, 2009)

Hey, your tank looks great, i've tried my hand with smaller tanks but they never turn out as nice as yours do. Would you mind me asking where you get those rocks? I want to redo my 3.5 gal rimless, and i'm looking for some nice pieces.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

These rocks are Seiryuu seki. I bought them from another user from The Planted Tank forums.


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

Looks good!


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Wow, that is one sweet tank. The glass is a bit greener that I'd though .. was it the flash or the camera?
It's not starfire glass is it? Or did they use the specail white glass ones?

*Never pay again for live sex! | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! | Chat for free!*


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

It is probably the camera. When you compare any normal tank to the Mini-S side by side, you can tell immediately that the ADA one is much clearer.

I do not think it is star fire glass, but it is definitely a low iron content glass that was used.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Update for *July 11 2010.* Excuse the poor pictures, I was too lazy to take a good picture.


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

what type of substrate?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Flourite black sand.


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

Darkblade48 said:


> Flourite black sand.


Haven't you seen problems with plant roots are not going into sand?

I have vallisneria with this sand and it always sends some roots to sides, not into the sand.
With time vallisneria bushes goes up and hang on roots. I think this is because the sand is too dense.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

igor.kanshyn said:


> Haven't you seen problems with plant roots are not going into sand?


No, all my plants do fine in sand, and send roots quite well into the substrate. I do not have any MTS to loosen up the substrate either.

My _Blxya _will attest to this, as it has sent many roots into the substrate and multipled quite readily. A coworker of mine also has (normal pool filter) sand, and the _Blyxa_ I gave to him is also doing very well.

My HC also grows fine in the sand substrate.


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

Thank you. 

My hairgrass and stargrass are fine with that sand. It might be 'feature' of vallisneria


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Looking lovely Dark


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Update for *July 18 2010*

Full tank shot:



The HC was really starting to get thick, so I had to prune a lot of back. I pruned a lot back yesterday, and the above picture was taken after the initial prune.

However, today, I noticed that the HC was still quite thick, so I continued to prune it back some more.

Here's what it looked like after the prune:



HC, everywhere! I also managed to knock over the driftwood.


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## camboy012406 (Jun 11, 2010)

I like the way you arrange the plants sooooo beautiful...!\ wheres the pressurize co2 coming from?? i cant see any diffuser


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

this is so awesome dark! maybe you can teach me how you did this lol


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

camboy012406 said:


> I like the way you arrange the plants sooooo beautiful...!\ wheres the pressurize co2 coming from?? i cant see any diffuser


If you go back to the first post, you'll see a picture with all the equipment in the tank. Obviously, when I take a photo, the equipment is taken out; in a tank this small, even the smallest of equipment is distracting.



brapbrapboom said:


> this is so awesome dark! maybe you can teach me how you did this lol


Drop in hardscape randomly and arrange until you are satisfied?  There really is no trick to it.


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## arktixan (Mar 30, 2010)

Amazing sir, love the tank! the growth is amazing!


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## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Beautiful and inspiring tank!


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

bumbleboo said:


> Beautiful and inspiring tank!


true that! now its making me want to get another tank for shrimps xD


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

if you dont mind, what kind of rocks did you use on here?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

I am using seiryuuseki.


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

Darkblade48 said:


> I am using seiryuuseki.[/QUOT
> 
> thats a nice looking rock, imported I believe?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Indeed, they are


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

Darkblade48 said:


> Indeed, they are


pretty well worth it imo


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

I was so inspired by this tank Darkblade. I even had made one similar to this tank lol. Ill post it when everything is ready .

p.s.

Do shrimps jump out the tank when the water is too close to the surface?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

For RCS, I have not experienced them jumping out of the aquarium. 

Under poor water conditions, however, it may be possible for shrimp to jump out due to stress.


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## Jsu (Dec 4, 2009)

I have floating riccia and i have a few amano shrimps crawling out of the tank over the riccia.


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## Fish_Man (Apr 9, 2010)

Jsu said:


> I have floating riccia and i have a few amano shrimps crawling out of the tank over the riccia.


Did they end up going back into the tank?

I had mine crawl out of the tank and I stepped on it by accident  
I also had another one crawl out of one tank to another tank


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Amano shrimp are much more prone to misadventure than RCS/CRS.


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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

Fish_Man said:


> Did they end up going back into the tank?
> 
> I had mine crawl out of the tank and I stepped on it by accident
> I also had another one crawl out of one tank to another tank


What!? Anamo shrimps are outside tank explorers? >.<;;

I was thinking of getting some but now I'm starting to wonder if I'll have one doing the lobster magnet song


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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

Dark,

Where did you find or get that branchy wood for your tank? I keep checking BA's for something like that but such a smallpiece of wood like that is rare to come by. I'd like to have a moss tree myself but BA just keeps saying check back again as they have different shipments.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

AquaNekoMobile said:


> What!? Anamo shrimps are outside tank explorers? >.<;;
> 
> I was thinking of getting some but now I'm starting to wonder if I'll have one doing the lobster magnet song


If you are thinking of Amanos, you will definitely have to ensure that there are no "escape roots" (i.e. driftwood sticking out of the tank, touching the edge of the aquarium, etc) for the shrimp.



AquaNekoMobile said:


> Where did you find or get that branchy wood for your tank? I keep checking BA's for something like that but such a smallpiece of wood like that is rare to come by. I'd like to have a moss tree myself but BA just keeps saying check back again as they have different shipments.


I purchased it off a user at TPT. It is Manzanita driftwood; I do not believe BAs carries it. Menagerie occasionally carries Manzanita, but everytime I have gone, they are giant pieces (for minimum 20g aquarium).


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

AquaNekoMobile said:


> What!? Anamo shrimps are outside tank explorers? >.<;;
> 
> I was thinking of getting some but now I'm starting to wonder if I'll have one doing the lobster magnet song


They are big, strong and jumpy bastards 
They have jumped out from all my tanks expect that one they never were in


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Haven't posted a picture for awhile, but they will come soon.

I recently pruned a lot of plants, so it will look quite sparse too.

Update for *August 3 2010*.

I cleaned my glass/ceramic disc diffuser yesterday, since it was starting to get clogged. After an overnight bleach dip with another full day treatment in Prime, I put the diffuser back in. It worked quite well, after the cleaning. In fact, it worked too well 



Ended up gassing 28 shrimp to death.


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## bumbleboo (Jun 6, 2010)

Oh no........ I'm sorry to hear of your loss.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Yeah, it sucks to lose so many shrimp all at once.

Good thing they're not SS+ CRS.

This teaches a valuable lesson: after you clean your diffuser disc, make sure your CO2 levels aren't too high


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

Darkblade48 said:


> This teaches a valuable lesson: after you clean your diffuser disc, make sure your CO2 levels aren't too high


this can be said for DIY CO2 - have an air pump on a timer to aerate the water when the lights go off


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

Darkblade48 said:


> Yeah, it sucks to lose so many shrimp all at once.
> 
> Good thing they're not SS+ CRS.
> 
> This teaches a valuable lesson: after you clean your diffuser disc, make sure your CO2 levels aren't too high


It happens.
I lost several SS+ CRS having a new bottle of mixture installed


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Ouch!

How many did you lose?


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

Darkblade48 said:


> Ouch!
> 
> How many did you lose?


I lost three of them in one morning.

But I guess that I lost more. I can see only four shrimps now and it was 10 initially


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Update for *August 14 2010*

Finally, a picture of what my tank looks like. There's a bit of green algae on the rocks, but nothing that doesn't make it look a little more natural.

The HC carpet still has yet to completely grow back in (I ripped apart the foreground and replanted a lot from the back). A lot of the _Blyxa japonica_ still also has yet to grow back in.


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

Beautiful Tank..

I was wondering how you made your DIY co2?

On 2 occasions now I would add 2 tbs of yeast to a 2L bottle and add simple syrup (sugar melted in water) then waited but nothing at 20 min...nothing at 1 hr...even 24 hr.

Could my diffuser be broken?
If i blow on a connecting tube will bubbles show in the water or are the pores too small for my breathe to go through?

I put a line into the cap and sealed it with super glue...should it have been silicon?


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

It would look great if you put light diffusing paper on the water and had a back light to illuminate the entire tank.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

I do not use DIY CO2 on this aquarium, however, to answer your question:

You do not need 2 tablespoons of yeast, 1/2 a teaspoon is more than enough.

2 cups sugar into a 2L soda bottle, and then followed by the 1/2 teaspoon of yeast is usually good enough.

If you are still not seeing production after 24 hours, it is likely you have a leak somewhere. Otherwise, there are other possibilities (i.e. you used too hot water, etc)

If you are using a glass diffuser with a ceramic disc, be aware that some will not work with DIY CO2.

You will not likely be able to generate sufficient pressure with your breath to blow through the ceramic disc. It is not a question of whether the pores in the disc are "to small for your breathe (sic) to go through".


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

Darkblade48 said:


> I do not use DIY CO2 on this aquarium, however, to answer your question:
> 
> You do not need 2 tablespoons of yeast, 1/2 a teaspoon is more than enough.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the advice dark blade.. actually in my search I found a pressurized system under $15 with paintball co2 cartridges and brass fittings at your local homedepot.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...267-diy-regulated-co2-nano-pico-aquarium.html


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

After a long hiatus, I will post a picture below.

I have been taking weekly pictures, and the aquarium is slowly getting more and more filled by the _Blyxa japonica_.

Comparing previous pictures to the current ones, I now really notice how much the _Blyxa_ has grown!

Perhaps there will be a big prune sometime this week


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

That tank is looking better all the time nice job.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Another quick picture of the RCS 



And now, to get ready for....rescaping time 



The horror!


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

hey anthony I'm curious to see the new setup. any idea on the layout design?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

I went for an Iwagumi layout this time, without driftwood.

It is my first time trying a purely Iwagumi layout, and I am still debating the placement of some of the rocks, etc. 

I will upload some pictures later when I have some time.


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## CrystalMethShrimp (Apr 27, 2010)

If you want a second opinion I can give you a hand when i come pick up the hc cuba.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Aquarium is in London. Plants are for pickup in Scarborough


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