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Do!aqua Mini-M: riverrun

63K views 267 replies 93 participants last post by  benon 
#1 · (Edited)
This tank exists because I found kick-butt rocks for eight dollars at a bonsai store in Japantown. I also wanted to do another 'scape with UG.

I've used UG in the past to varying degrees of success, but I never created a hardscape that did the plant justice as I feel that a carpet of UG looks best on slopes.

So, with my eight dollars worth of rocks and a bag and a quarter of Amazonia Powder, I created my hardscape and slope.


Initially, I filled the whole tank to help me remove some Duckweed that snuck in during planting,
and to fully saturate the substrate.





Here's what it looks like now, drained.




There's too much water in the front, I know, but I'm leaving it there initially until I gauge how quickly the top portions dry out.

This tank will dry-start for the first two months. After that, I may or may not fill it. (I probably will.)

If the UG takes to the dry-start, I will probably not add CO2. This means I'll use a HOB filter and about twenty-eight watts of CF from a fixture that is dim-able -- I got it years ago from Sharper Image -- and turn the light down to the equivalent of twenty-two watts. A reasonable light level for a tank this size without CO2, I'm thinking.

Speaking of HOBs, anyone have a recommendation for a Mini-M? I like the idea of a HOB as they allow for more oxygen exchange than a canister, resulting in, presumably, a more robust bio-filter. (I'm currently on a bio-filter-kick as I feel they are the unsung heros of a fish tank.) However, I've fallen in love with the Eheim 2211s and may get one of those if you guys think the benefit of a HOB is minimal.

Also, any tips you have for keeping the upper portion of a slope saturated is much appreciated. I've got a spray bottle, but if you got better ideas, I'm all ears.

Anyway, welcome to my fifth journal in less than a year.
 
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#62 ·
Thanks, Khanh. The hardscape is still evolving, but I think I'm close to how I'm going to leave it once the UG's filled in. I'd estimate the carpet to be forty-five percent filled in. Probably another month before I can fill it.

Speaking of which...
I'm thinking of having this tank really low maintenance. (I do realize that I always say that a given tank will be low maintenance and then end up going the opposite direction. And I do realize that I also say that I realize that I always say that. But this time, despite realizing that I always say that and saying that I realize that I always say that, I...nevermind.) It'll have twenty-six watts, but hung high so as to lessen the intensity. I've grown UG without CO2 and I figure that since I'm dry-starting it and there'll be no rush to have it grow out quickly, I'll forgo carbon dioxide. I'll use a HOB filter because I want to plant a moss or some such inside it's container as it seems cool to have a tank filtered by plants. I plan to stock the tank heavily with shrimp because rockscapes are too boring without something moving inside of them.

That's the plan, at least. Fill Day is still a month away, so who knows--?
 
#64 ·
are we (as a whole with iwagami[sp?]) trying to recreate mountains or something entirely different? idk - i just got back from a mountain vacation and didn't see a whole lot like we are trying to recreate. i do love this current evolution - i guess i'm just curious as to what we are trying to achieve.

this was the closest thing i could capture on film (so to speak)



i'm definitely not trying to criticize here, just looking for answers.
 
#202 ·
are we (as a whole with iwagami[sp?]) trying to recreate mountains or something entirely different? idk - i just got back from a mountain vacation and didn't see a whole lot like we are trying to recreate. i do love this current evolution - i guess i'm just curious as to what we are trying to achieve.

this was the closest thing i could capture on film (so to speak)



i'm definitely not trying to criticize here, just looking for answers.

Is that a view from Plumas Eureka State Park? :proud:
 
#65 ·
Iwagumi is an interesting beast to tackle. Contrary to popular belief, it has a very, very wide range of things that it can represent. Iwagumi dates way way back as a cultural type of garden design used by the Japanese, and these principles all carry over to Iwagumi as implemented in aquaria. It also has ties, by nature of the type of art that it is, with Suiseki (the art of stone appreciation, and finding and displaying stones that look like objects such as mountains, animals, people, etc).

Imagine a zen rock garden (karesansui), where most commonly it has just big black stones and sand (although low-lying mosses and shrubs have been used before too). The sand represents water (this is why it is raked). The stones are harder to describe, in a lot of cases they represent islands, but most importantly they are designed to give the viewer a certain feel or impression (I know the terminology is loose at best here). As I understand it, the sand doesn't necessarily have to represent literal water such as the ocean to island example, but more importantly, represents the essence of water as one of, if not the most important elements of life and creation. So the relationship in those layouts doesn't necessarily need to be so literal as island and water. The best way I can think of to explain it right now, is that this relationship represents mountains, islands, ponds, streams, hills, in an abstract way, not a literal way. Hence the importance on the "impression" of the individual viewer, so they may reach some kind of moment of zen, I would suppose.

Now, take another example of Iwagumi - Iwagumi as used in Tsukiyama gardens. This type is perhaps less well known in the western world, but had a lot of popularity in Japan in the past 100 years or so. I remember when I was writing my japanese thesis on the subject of japanese gardens, my professor commented on learning how to make these in school when she was young. This type of Iwagumi is attempting to recreate a literal reconstruction of a famous landscape of Japan or China, as an example. The major goal in these designs is A) to recreate a real landscape B) to make the garden look much bigger than it is. Most of these gardens tend to be rather small, but look much bigger. One of the ways they do this is by planting shrubs and bushes in such a way that they block the periphery buildings, etc from view. By doing this, usually they try to capture say, a mountain in the background that gets framed by the plants to make it look like the mountain is a part of the garden, instead of far off in the distance.

These are only a couple of examples - I would suggest looking at pictures of various japanese gardens, or better yet, visiting them if you have the opportunity. These gardens probably provide better insight than looking at aquarium Iwagumi's.

The short answer to your question is that very basically an Iwagumi can replicate a mountain chain, a rocky shore, a cliff-face, rolling hills, or just about anything that involves stone. Or it can be more subtle and just allude to being rolling hills or mountains in abstract ways. Basically, the only real thing that ties all Iwagumi designs together is some very simple rules, that essentially amount to proper placement in accordance to golden rules, the existence of a main stone and supporting structure/stones (even in mountain scapes there is a main stone at the focal point somewhere, even if cleverly hidden and blended with the others), the lack of driftwood (only rocks!), and a careful selection of limited amounts of plants to accentuate the rocks (this doesn't necessarily mean that you can only have one carpet and one background plant, it just means that the rocks must frame the rocks, or magnify their presence, etc etc etc, they aren't just jungle masses more common of driftwood or non hardscaped layouts).

Hope this helps,

-X

P.S. good work so far UG!
 
#67 ·
nk. riverrun -- the name stolen from the first word of James Joyce's terribly difficult book, Finnegans Wake, in which the first word of the book, "riverrun", flows mid-sentence and uncapitalized from the last, unpunctuated and fragmented, sentence, "A way a lone a last a loved a long the", alluding to the cyclical nature of everything in which the beginning and the end are fluid and one in the same and all things go to the place from which they've come -- if it can be considered iwagumi, is only by happenstance.


I started with a forest theme in mind for this tank; low light ferns and mosses. Something easy to maintain that I could grow out slowly without CO2, high light, and the subsequent frequent trimmings.

On the way back from AFA after picking up the tank, however, I wandered into the bonsai store around the corner. There I found the rocks you see in this tank (save the one from Riven) for eight dollars. As I found them to be intriguing, the forest theme -- which would require a different type of rock and at least one piece of driftwood -- was abandoned on the spot.

It's here where I start to answer your question. (Sorry for the rambling to get to this point.)

Here's the thing:
When I'm setting up a hardscape, I don't look Mother Nature in the eye for inspiration. At least not directly in the eye. I'd estimate that my process is three times removed from the source.
Amano looks to the source, Mother Nature, for inspiration.
His vision has since been refined by all of our interpretations of his interpretations to become the tanks we see on TPT and elsewhere.
I, in turn, interpret what I see all of you do and filter it through my own aesthetic sensibilities to come up with what ever you see me create.
Three degrees of separation from the source.

I see this hobby as an art of limitations. We are limited by the size of the tank, the hardscape materials on hand, fauna, and, most felt and frustrating, flora. (After all, who in this hobby has not at one time or another thought, I wish there were a plant that grew like this and was this color.?) In this hobby, we're forced to work within the confines of these limitations and make the best tank that we can.

So it was with riverrun. I had these stones and I studied each one for a couple of hours. Relying on my experience with all the other tanks I've done, I chose the rocks I thought best suited to a single-plant hardscape. (At this point, I knew I wanted to use UG again.) Having selected the rocks, I further studied them to determine their best side and how I could show their best sides when placed all together. (This often requires that I sacrifice one stone's best side so as to better accentuate another.)

The end result was only moderately successful in that all supporting stones are too small and will be buried by grown-in UG, but I did some things here that hopefully will compensate for that. (For example, the left-hand flat rock is very wide. Where there will be little vertical rock presence, the space it creates in the carpet floor will be a cool effect, I'm hoping. Where the rock's physical presence is not as important as the space it creates in the carpet.)

It was only until after I studied all the stones, laid them down in the tank, and planted the UG that I saw that it looked a bit like waves crashing on a shoreline or water flowing down a mountainside.

Mother Nature was not even considered consciously until well after the fact.

So for me, what I'm trying to create is something that looks pretty and feels right. Both are equally important. Beauty and emotion.

As I stated earlier, riverrun is not an iwagumi. It has many of the characteristics that X described, but in my mind it is decidedly not iwagumi. Mainly because in any tank I make, I want to always reserve the right and ability to change a 'scape on the fly without adhering to rules and guidelines laid out by others before me. I do not, for example, want to be told that I broke a rule by having an even number of rocks instead of an odd number. Because truth be told, sometimes given the size and shape of a collection of stones, the even number may actually look better than the odd. I understand the concept behind having an odd number, but philosophy and beauty do not always walk hand in hand, and I would rather hold the hand of beauty.


My tanks are an abstract interpretation of nature filtered through limitations inherent in the hobby, self-expression, and reactions to tanks done by others that either inspire or frustrate me.

I think that's pretty much it. It also a lot more complicated and simple, but I've already rambled on far too long.

Thanks, and good question, pu
 
#72 ·
Hey, thanks, cl! We'll see how well the rockscape fills in once I fill it. I'm a bit fearful that some of my supporting stones are too low, but I'll cross that bridge, so to speak, when I get to it.

(Missed having you around, bro. Got worried we lost you to NaClH2O.)
 
#75 ·
Your three questions in one can be replied to with one answer. It's Java Moss.
It there half by accident, half by experimentation. I had some there in the previous incarnation of this tank and removed most of it during the rescape, but some stayed on. I'm keeping it there as I want to see what it's like to grow moss emersed.
 
#79 · (Edited)
Thanks, cl. I'm sure I'll be happy long-term that I'm at least injecting CO2. Chances are, if it weren't pressurized, I'd at the least inject DIY. So at least this is a bit easier.

Craig, I just got the Advanced System. I had vowed never to use an Advanced System as the cost of the cartridges eventually costs more than a ten pounder, but for a hundred bucks for the regulator, tubing, and diffuser, I thought why not.

This morning I added some HC to the top of the slope between the main stones as HC and UG look really good together. Usually, I would have the UG on the slope and the HC at the bottom for a waterfall of UG into a pond of HC effect. Things being what they are, however -- namely me already planting the UG on the bottom and the HC being an afterthought -- I'm doing the opposite.


I have no idea what that plant is in the lower right-hand corner.
I'll be plucking it once the tank is filled.

I think it will come out cool.
The only question is whether I can keep it alive emersed so high on a slope.

The UG's entering the explosion phase. It should be only a matter of weeks before the tank is completely carpeted.

I'm going to give some advice for growing UG:
Be patient.
Don't panic.

UG takes forever and a day to get going. During this period, expect to see an almost alarming amount of die off. This is normal. Even if you loose ninety percent of your initial plantings due to death-during-acclimation, as long as one blade of UG is living, you're going to be fine. Just keep the light on it, make certain it's got a good bio-filter to feed on, and plenty of CO2 if you're starting submersed.
I think if you go a couple of pages back, you'll see that I, too, panicked for a moment about the die-off. It does get pretty bad, but things will turn out fine.
Here's something else that I discovered:
Once UG is going strong, even if you remove it from a high-tech tank with good light and CO2 and into a low-light, non-CO2 injected tank, it will still thrive. I've had a bunch in a mega low-tech Betta tank and for months it continued to grow to the point that it out-competed almost every other plant in there.
My point is that you do not need to move Heaven and Earth to grow UG. Just patience and restraint.
And this is not me being all "I'm so good I can call a 'difficult' plant 'easy'." It really is an easy plant. What gives it the perception that it's difficult is that people panic when they see the apocalyptical die-off and make things worse by changing everything in their tanks to try to save the UG from it's inevitable death.
Let it die and it will live.



 
#82 ·
Thanks, thief. That means a lot because you've got a ton of skill and I think I read somewhere here that you're still just a kid. You and cl scare me. Just kids and pumping out 'scapes like you do. It's nuts.

In other news, the CO2 system came today. A hundred bucks for an ADA Advanced CO2 system isn't bad. A regular regulator and a ten pound tank is better, but it'll do.
This tank's still a good four weeks out from being filled, though. I want the entire substrate covered in UG and will not fill until that's finished. With the slight rescape I did this weekend, there is significantly more ground to cover. (This is the first time I've ever used the phrase "ground to cover" not as a figure of speech but to literally mean ground to cover.)
I've yet to see the UG flower. I wonder if it will.
 
#86 ·
Thanks, @marko. You've been posting in my threads from the very beginning and I really appreciate it.
Assuming I'm still working in, say, six months, I may go for a 60-P. This is all contingent on the economy not getting worse and me not loosing my job. (It's really scary now, isn't it? They say it's getting better, but is it really?)

Thanks, jordy. I am very lucky to be close to so many places with so many nice rocks.

Thanks, X.

HC's still hanging in there. I didn't plant it or anything. Just took a wad from a holding tank and plopped it on top of a mound of AS in the middle of the tank. I'd like this batch to take as I don't want to pull back the Fill Day because I had to restart my HC.

UG's doing good. I'm happy with the growth. Pretty soon the tank will be two months old. One more month is about right for when the UG will be grown in.

For this fill, I'm going to try a slow-fill process where I fill a little less than a quarter of an inch of water a day for two weeks so as to allow the UG to acclimate slowly. I want to see if this makes any difference in how the UG adapts.








Added a small frond of Mini Christmas Moss to the newly-placed left-hand rock. More as an experiment for how it grows emersed, but if it grows and looks pretty doing so, I'll keep it there when the tank's filled.
The Java Moss I have on the main rock is growing pretty well emersed. It's growing faster than it did when it was submersed.
 
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