Okay, so I originally bought a 20L to give an iwagumi setup a try. Long story short, I was unsuccessful. And now that I am about to move, I've decided to just tear down the 20L. I had a string of bad luck, and I firmly believe that it was a bad batch of Eco-complete that caused it all. At any rate, I'm not willing to recreate it in the same tank. Call it superstition, but I'm convinced that things happen for a reason, and I just wasn't supposed to have a "long-style" iwagumi.
So I went out and bought a 10g yesterday! This will be my current iwagumi project. I took the rocks out of the 20L and smashed a few of them so the scale would be better for a 10g, and this is the hardscape I ended up with:
Please excuse the reflections, it's just that I don't have a light over the tank yet. Once I actually get this tank up and running, I'll take some better pics.
The substrate I'm using is some old Eco-complete from my first 10g that was killed because of a clado infestation. I'm
hoping here that, since the substrate has been dried and untouched ever since the tank was dismantled, there are no problems lurking within. I found a bunch of old plant weights and snail shells while I was rinsing it, but otherwise everything looked good. I gave it a shot, because I didn't want to buy any new substrate.
Wish me luck!! I really want the beauty and simplicity of an iwagumi tank in my home...