ADA Mini L: Iwagumi X-2

[Francis Xavier]

The Return of X!

Hey guys, it's been a while. I won't waste time here explaining the ins and outs of the day to day toils that accompany a lethal combination of class, work, and the new MMO Aion. Instead, I'll just get down and dirty and right to the goods:







It's been a slow 3 months or so in terms of growth - definitely the slowest I've seen since going Nano. In fact, the dry start method has been toiling and despairing this time around, however, the guns have been stuck too and there -is- progress! I just filled up the tank yesterday in a fit of "oh to hell and high water with this, I'm fillin her up."

On the bright side, the HC that was salvageable from the trip up to Seattle was a very, very tiny amount, and is actually getting on it's feet. I can't say much the same for the remainder of the Micro-sword though, as it's pretty much just stayed at it's two nodes, taking it easy, not really accomplishing much, probably sending me a message to the effect of "If you're going to play Aion all day, I'm just going to sit here too."

This tank is definitely a game of patience, due in part to the mechanics of the aquascape, and due in part to my failure to realize the sheer amount of intoxication Aqua Soil can leach into poor unsuspecting emmersed growing organisms...on another note, in a testament to pest-snail survival skills, THERE ARE STILL some pest snails that have survived all the way from Texas over the course of about 5 months of no beneficial conditions. My prayer right now is that basically over the course of the next two weeks algae doesn't explode, so that I can try to find some nerites or Amano's in the Seattle area to add to the tank once it's cycled to handle the problem...Hair grass, I'm looking in your direction.

On one final note, I'm currently working on a super sekrit project that I think you all will enjoy immensely. It may or may not be ready for it's big debut soon, stay tuned folks!

P.S. - I've had the song "guess whose back, back again" stuck in my head since starting this post.

[Dollface]

Francis

It's good to see you and your iwagumis back. I'm kind of surprised of how little the UG has grown, I had a 3/4 full carpet by 3 months in a much larger tank. I wonder if aquasoil really does leach so much into plants as to inhibit growth.

As a side note, this tank it making me want to set up my own iwagumi soooo bad.

[Francis Xavier]

Hey Doll! hisashiburi ne? (by the way, I loathe typing in romanji, but I can't recall for the life of me if you read hiragana/katakana). I'm glad this tank inspires you! It means a lot coming from a critic such as yourself!

Yes, I too have been disappointed at the lack of growth in this tank overall - but basically yeah, Aquasoil has been known to leach toxic levels when it's fresh, which is why they recommend daily water changes for the first week or so. However, I didn't realize this until after it was too late, and this is probably one reason why the "fill for a week, drain and emmerse grow, then fill again" method worked so well for me in the past. I may have to purchase some more HC to speed up the growth.

[Dollface]

It has been a while, I'm glad to see you're still around. (get on the chat, do it!)

I've never really grown plants emersed in aquasoil in a large scale before, I've been using potting soil wich works very well, but I'm setting up a proper display tank with aquasoil, so I might have to give the 'fill, drain, fill' thing a try.

[CL]

YAY. I'm glad you're back. I was missing the iwagumi master.
I still love this tank. The scape is top notch

[Francis Xavier]

Thanks CL! I'm still patient enough with this scape in my belief that it will be stunning when grown in.

By the way, I'm so going to save that quote for future use one day.

[Ugly Genius]

Tank looks great, X! (Welcome back, by the way.)

The UG's growth was slow, wasn't it? No matter. We're not in this game because we require instant gratification.

I think when it grows in, this is going to be a very nice tank. I like the angled void in the center left. The focal point to me is not your rocks -- which are very nice -- but the space between them.

[Francis Xavier]

Thank's UG! I totally agree on the spacing in the tank bringing it together, something about the spacing makes you just want to stare at it more, I can't wait to see it grown in.

[trigun808]

one of my all time favorite tanks! keep it up!

[Francis Xavier]

Thanks for the compliment, Trigun. And believe me, I have no intention of slowing.

[mgdmirage]

Beautiful scape!

[Francis Xavier]

Thanks for the compliment mgdmirage!

While I hadn't intended on making a photo update so soon, as I was walking by the tank after lights off I couldn't pass up -attempting- to get this shot right:



While you can't really see it in this photo, plant growth has indeed picked up since filling. Now it's just the 'pray algae doesn't break out yet' stage. This does remind me that I need a translucent background of some sort though.

[Francis Xavier]

An Aquascaper's mess during a water change / adjustment session tonight:

[CL]

What's that extra tank ya got there? A mini s?

[Francis Xavier]

Yes, it's my ole Mini S. It's currently stuck in Limbo as I decide what kind of rock layout it should keep, so I ended up transferring some of the dying hair grass to the X-2 to add plant mass.