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Tom's Mini M

Re: Tom's Mini M - Otos and Shrimp - Pictures!

I've just ordered a 24w Phillips 6500K compact T5 from Lampspecs to replace my current 18w T5. I've noticed that the lower parts of the stems are pretty scraggly. I used 24w before on this size tank, with good effect so I will do it again. Also, I'm wondering if the current light is responsible for my struggling HC particularly on one side. The 'bad' side is the one at the end where the bulb fits into the holder, and probably doesn't get as much light. The longer 24w bulb will give a better spread of light.

Oh, and these Amano Shrimp are nightmares for spreading my Aquasoil all over the sand!
 
Just some pre and post trim photos. Had a good clearout this morning, trimming all the stems and tidying the HC. The HM on the left had more or less completely melted, so I have re-planted with trimmings from the other side. Hopefully this time it will grow a bit better. I've had to re-tie some of the moss too as the cotton dissolved and strategically place it to try and stop the Amanos from pouring the Aquasoil all over the sand :thumbdown:

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Tom
 
I think so more or less. All 'flat' diatoms are gone now, and the HC is looking a little bit better on the left now. Still has hairy diatoms though. With a bit of luck, the HM will take off and I will be able to replant the tops nicely to fill out the area on the left a bit. The trimmed HM on the right already has new tips within two days, but the Rotalas are slower with no new growth yet. I've just had to re-tie some more moss too the stones again after the old cotton dissolved. I've used polyester cotton this time!

The main noticeable difference since upgrading from 18w to 24w of light is that I am seeing pearling for the first time - and masses of it. The lights are due to go off in 30 mins, and the water column is full of O2 bubbles rising from the stems and tenellus.

Tom
 
Yet again the HM is melting away. Every time I trim and replant the decent top halves, as soon as it's replanted the bottom melts away again and I'm back to square one. I don't see where it's going wrong. As far as I can see, the dosing is fine. Everyone else seems to be trimming their hairgrass fine too, but mine is just rotting it's way back to the base as soon as it's trimmed, which attracts a whole load of stringy diatoms.

I've started to see some BBA on the wood too, but I'm pretty sure the fish can't cope with any more CO2. I'm already dosing 1.5ml Excel on top.
 
Hi Tom,

I'm pretty much a noob here but as a general picture I got after lots of reading maybe you should consider giveing a step back and lower your light (18W)? More light = more co2 + more ferts.

Does this make sense?

cheers,

GM
 
Hi Tom,

Do you test your CO2 levels? What's your fertilizing routine?

Cheers,
Mike
 
Thanks GM, yes that would make sense. The algae is well under control at the moment even though it is still there. I have increased the CO2 very slightly but will keep a close eye on the Otos. The main reason I increased the lights in the first place was firstly that the lower Rotala stems were pretty bare, and secondly that I thought it could be a reason that the HC on one side wasn't as good, but that probably wasn't the cause.

Mike - I had a drop checker in there for quite a while, but it just stayed yellow the whole time (apart from going red after not rinsing it properly! I used 4DKH water. If you look at Amano's similar size tanks in the NA World books, he uses double my lighting and half my CO2 levels with higher plant mass! Unless his figures were put down wrong.

Ferts are now:
2ml Spezial N
2ml Flowgrow Mikros
2ml Brighty K
2ml Step 2 (for what it's worth, I'm sure it can't hurt)
0.9ppm PO4
1.5ml AE Carbon (Excel)
and then 3 drops of Green Gain after the daily water change

Cheers,
Tom
 
Tom said:
Thanks GM, yes that would make sense. The algae is well under control at the moment even though it is still there. I have increased the CO2 very slightly but will keep a close eye on the Otos. The main reason I increased the lights in the first place was firstly that the lower Rotala stems were pretty bare, and secondly that I thought it could be a reason that the HC on one side wasn't as good, but that probably wasn't the cause.

Mike - I had a drop checker in there for quite a while, but it just stayed yellow the whole time (apart from going red after not rinsing it properly! I used 4DKH water. If you look at Amano's similar size tanks in the NA World books, he uses double my lighting and half my CO2 levels with higher plant mass! Unless his figures were put down wrong.

Ferts are now:
2ml Spezial N
2ml Flowgrow Mikros
2ml Brighty K
2ml Step 2 (for what it's worth, I'm sure it can't hurt)
0.9ppm PO4
1.5ml AE Carbon (Excel)
and then 3 drops of Green Gain after the daily water change

Cheers,
Tom
Click to expand...
ADA's tubes all produce much lower levels of par than you'd expect for the wattage. There's a test of the mini solar's and the par is 20-35umols at the substrate.
 
Tanks looking lovely Tom, very green and clean.

Interesting to see how your hc is going after the dsm, I'm attempting the same on my opti nano.

Sorry if you been asked before but have you found using the dsm to be worth while? With the old growth die back ect did it actually help? In theory it should because the root system is there, its spread, the leaves just need to transition.

Cheers
 
nayr88 said:
Tanks looking lovely Tom, very green and clean.
Click to expand...

You ought to see a closeup! :rolleyes:

A week or so after I filled it, the HC still looked great. Since then, the left hand side has been awful and is still nasty, but the center and right sides are lovely. It's really odd. I probably won't use DSM next time. The tenellus was very bad adjusting too. I don't know how it can be done with no issues, but some people manage it.

Yeah the roots thing is the theory, and from that perspective it worked (with the exception of Crypts), but the rest of it didn't fare so well.

Tom
 
Your suffering classic diatoms and ammonia release mate. That's what i reckon anyway.

I've gone through the exact same thing in the last 2 tanks.

Water Changes and then some mate. Daily!

dont let it beat you, as it's a fine tank mate.
 
Thanks Mark :) All diatoms on the rocks have now gone completely so it must be the struggling HC that is releasing ammonia rather than in the water column from the Aquasoil. Hopefully the HC will sort itself out soon enough, but it's a right pain! Also the Lilaeopsis is having the same problem I think. It hasn't started growing yet, so it might have to come out to simplify things.
Been on daily water changes since flooding and I'll carry on with that.

Thanks again :)
 
Isn't it a little bit too much PO4 added? How much water do you change daily? How big is your tank? (I'm sorry but I'm not familiar with ADA aquariums). I'd also dose some Epsom salt, Mg did wonders in my low tech tank, last week all the plants were struggling to survive now they show real growth. Hope it helps.

Cheers,
Mike
 
It might be overkill yes, but I just didn't want anything to be deficient! I was advised to dose 1 ml to give me 0.45ppm, but I just thought what the hell! The water change is 50% or thereabouts, which is almost one bucket. Total volume is 20-25 liters. Thanks for the advice re: Epsom salt, I will have a look into it and try some. I'll update when I've got some and keep a close eye on and improvements.

Thanks :)
 
Update - Decided to do something positive to make some improvements, so I ripped out all the Lilaeopsis I could find. Oddly, the only parts that had grown were heavily shaded, and the rest had gone nasty. I also separated the tenellus and re-planted it more evenly. Had to remove a lot of HM that disintegrated when touched. The Rotala is also very raggedy too, but hopefully after the next trim it will be a bit better.

Made a right mess, then did a 75% water change and re-dosed. Will do the filter tomorrow. Apologies for shocking pictures, I really couldn't be bothered after that!

Let's hope it improves things a bit, I'm not having a 4th tank in a row beat me.

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Re: Tom's Mini M - rip out and try again

Really surprising that you have so many issues with it. Everything should be good acording to your specs.
Good luck with it ;)
 
Re: Tom's Mini M - rip out and try again

Hi Tom, hopefully the Mg dosing will make the difference if not then you have enough in your tap and have to have a little more patience until things settle down. :)

Cheers,
Mike
 
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