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Thatgmc's Mr. Aqua 12g Long "Smokey Oolong Mountain"

27K views 81 replies 27 participants last post by  Mikeygmzmg 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello! Well that didn't take long. Only after 3 weeks back into the aquarium world, I have decided to start another tank. I visited a LFS that was under new management recently and fell in love with the 12g Long by Mr. Aqua. I am going to do a Iwagumi style tank with HC. This will be my first ever Iwagumi style tank. Here is a brief equipment and fauna/flora list. Pictures are coming soon.

Tank:
- Mr. Aqua. 12g Long

Stand:
- Ikea Besta Bookcase

Lighting:
- AquaticLife 36" 2 x 39w T5HO (1 6000k + 1 6500k)

Filter:
- Eheim ECCO 2232
- Cheapo Lily pipes

Landscape:
- ADA Amazonia I & II (about even ratio)
- Seiryu Stone (most likely)

Flora:
- Hemianthus callitrichoides
- Blyxa Japonica

Fauna:
- Celestichthys margaritatus (Galaxy Rasboras)
- Some kind of shrimp that is not RCS


I am going to start this baby off emersed. It'll be my first emersed grow but i want the HC carpet completely covered before I fill this baby up. I have a few concerns I was hoping some of you might be able to answer.

Is my lighting too much for a 9.4" deep tank?

If so should I replace a bulb with a 18000k bulb?

How hard is it REALLY to keep an iwagumi setup with HC trimmed? I can imagine a bunch of loose leaves and roots flying ever where.
 
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#9 ·
looks nice. I been working on an iwagumi with this tank for awhile now (same plants you can see link in my sig). Finally getting some HC spread but i have had to battle some algae. The worst thing for me so far is cyano/bga. I have a 2213 on the tank but there just always seems to be some areas that dont get the flow you want and others that get almost too much. I am running furcata rainbows in it so they like the flow but with out the filter on full blast its hard to make the water hit the end. Before i go chemical to fight the bga im planing on getting a small powerhead and point at the trouble area. I read good flow will usually get rid of the stuff.

Also a heads up with this tank it needs like daily topping off. It has soo much surface area for such low gallons that water evaporates really fast. Temps swing really fast too i vary from 73F-74F at night to 81F during the day. I think the swing would be better if i had a better heater but i dont have the mula for an inline and i haven't found an affordable small heater for the tank other then my 5 dollar hang on one.

I would have done immersed if i had thought it about it more because my HC is growing so slow. BTW thanks again xmas_one for the hc!
 
#10 ·
OiZO, I just peeped your tank. It looks good! I like the scape very much. One thing I am worried about is algae. With so much light I'm running on this bad boy I have been considering turning it into a hard SPS reef tank. I might just sell the light and buy a T5NO fixture :( Thanks for the top off tip. I will definitely be looking into a good 2nd hand heater before I fill it up.

Hey xmas_one... got any more HC? ^___^
 
#18 ·
hey guys... finally received my bag of amazonia today so i filled this puppy up. This is my first iwagumi tank so be nice... any criticisms are welcome :)






So.. im probably going to need another bag of amazonia before i can start planting. The ends of the tank have barely half an inch at some places. I miscalculated the amount i needed and should've just bought a 9 liter bag :( If any of you guys are local to me in SOCAL and have extra amazonia they can spare, please let me know. I will pay you for your troubles :)
 
#19 ·
i think it would look better if you turned the second rock from the left the opposite direction and put the first from the left in front of the two middle rocks.

it may look different in person but it seems like the rocks kind of flow to the right, which would be fine if the arrangement wasnt in the center of the tank, but it feels unbalanced. im not great at aquascaping but i am an artist and it just doesnt "feel" right if you know what i mean.

just a suggestion feel free to ignore me :)
 
#22 ·
Thanks for the link. I just ordered another bag of amazonia because i was a bit short on the ends of the tank. Ill buff up the mound when it comes :) I need to prop up the Oyaishi a bit. I kind of feel like my Soeishi is a little too big too. Haha!

BTW sorry for the crappy pictures. Im using my blackberry. My camera wont be back until later tonigt
 
#23 ·
Finally added more substrate to the tank. I added MR. Aqua soil to it though. I couldn't wait for another bag of ADA to come in so i just went to an LFS near me to purchase a bag. I actually walked in looking for a new pair of metal tweezers. I left with a bag of soil and no tweezers haha. I also got a nice aluminum spray bottle from CVS. It was kinda pricey but i like the way it looks, kind of got that ADA metal look to it. I also got a small pot of HC from my LFS. The place is called A+ tropical fish if you guys are in the area. Great group of guys and they have some pretty good stuff that you would otherwise have to order online.

Im expecting a pack of HC from xmas_one soon too. Thanks again man!

Let me know what you guys think of the scape. Its still early so i can still move stuff around. One concern one of my friends had was that it looks a little too centered. I made the slope on the leftside a little more slanted but this picture is prior to that change. Im still waiting on the camera so i can take some better pictures. These are all from my bb tour. Thanks for looking!





 
#24 ·
Looks great!

I have the same GLA version of the tank and still deciding on the light. I'll wait and see how your works out so I can decide. LOLOL

Did you decide on a filter yet?? I'll be getting an Eheim 2215, it will have more than enough flow for the tank and you can play with the quick disconnect taps to adjust the flow.
 
#25 ·
Hahah smart choice. I kind of went overkill on the lighting lol. But defiant's tank is running the same lights and says his stuff is doing fine. I was going to go cheap and buy the azoo mini canister. It looks like the Tom rapid's filter but everything is more solidly built. I've already spent more on this tank than i originally planned so i dont know if i want to shell out another $100 for a filter. Heres my price list so far:

Tank - $70
Light- $110
Mr. Aqua Soil + ADA soil - $55
Seiryu stones- $50
----------------------------
$285 no fish no co2 no filter... FML

Oh well. I have a buddy in HK right now. I asked him to look for fishtank gear while hes over there. Last time he came back with bomb stainless steel utensils and diffusers for cheap. Now i need to determine a good Co2 and fert regimen.
 
#34 ·
Great. Ill be leaving the lights on the majority of the day now.

I am having one problem though and i dont know if its because of my T5 lights. But, the leaves on the newly planted HC seems to be turning somewhat yellow. Does anyone know the reason for this? Its been like 3 days and some of the HC that i planted the first day have maybe 10% of the leaves turn yellow.
 
#38 ·
This may help your lighting questions...

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/97622-par-data-selecting-t5ho-light.html

With good reflectors, you want one T5HO bulb about 17-18 inches from the substrate in order to have medium high light. The light intensity will increase rapidly as you go towards the fixture (ie, as plants/substrate get taller).

You can see from the chart just how much light T5HO can put out. I used to run a similar fixture to yours at a height that gave me well above "high light" PAR, and at first things were okay. Eventually fate will catch up to you though... my aquarium turned into hair algae heaven. After reducing the lighting to one bulb and fiddling with the height, my algae problems went away again.
 
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