Spyke's 40B Iwagumi + DIY ADA(ish) Stand

[spyke]

ok...so this is just a start of this journal, But this is my first atempt at an iwagumi scape in my new 40b, and with a ADAesque stand that i built myself.

ok, so here is the data so far...

start date: 1-26-10
size: 40 gallon breeder
substrate: 2x 16lb. new fluval stratum (this will be good to try out, Ill review it as i go)
decorations: rocks (think it's lace rock)...which hopefully doesn't effect the chemistry
flora: hc & glosso (growing immersed)(for the fist time ever).
future fauna: possibly some CRS and hopefully I will find some rare tetras or cyprinids at my aquarium club (MO aquarium society! woot woot!)
I could also use my cherries and scissortail rasboras as testers when i fill it up in a few weeks....

ok that's it for now, more info later, i just want to get this journal started.

[SpankyMR2]

Looks great!!

Patti

[slicebo123]

whole setup looks great.

One thing: wayyyyy too much water. you want the leaves exposed as much as possible for gas exchange. if you let it stay like this, everything will turn to mush or die off. trust me. i understand the limitations of slope and trying make sure the roots can reach the water. but you're better off siphoning out the water till its just at the soil line (my current dry-start tank has algae growing in tiny pools of water at the front--really nuisance). just use a spray bottle to water the plants if you're worried they're not getting sufficient moisture.

hope this helps.

[PinoyBoy]

Nice hardscape and the stand looks well built. Any info on light, filter, CO2?

immersed: submerged under water; growing under water.
You are growing your hc and glosso immersed. But if you want to grow them emersed, follow slicebo123's advice.

[spyke]

yeah, I already fixed that problem, i recognized that, and that the hc was turning yellow cuz my house is too cold...and probably cuz it was submerged ....and immersed, emmersed...you guys figured it out...it's a dry start tank, so there is no water except for just under the substrate....

also once it gets filled I want to put about 5 b. japontica in the back corners to give it more diversity.


ok more data

light:quad blub t5ho i think it's 128 watts so about 3 watts per gallon
filter:fluval 305
co2....umm as of now it will probably be DIY Co2 and/or excel

and i will use ferts
I use both rootmedic micro and macro solutions...not in any real regemented way(on my other tanks) but it's pretty regular. So i will do the same for this tank too.

[PinoyBoy]

Just a heads up, might be a bit too much light. You should check out Hoppy's thread:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/li...t5-t12-pc.html
Your light is "too high" based on the table on his 1st post, don't know how accurate that is.

Good luck and we'll follow this journal

[spyke]

this about 3 wpg usually works out alright for me, it's the same on my 29 gallon I have 96 watts on it, but one bulb is actinic, but that's for the colors of the fish. If i have too, i can do that for this one too. That's also the reason I bought this big of light is because i heard that glosso needs this much light.

[spyke]

just looked at my glosso...i'll put an update pic up soon...but it's growing like mad..and is like 3 inches tall and is starting to grow out runners more. yay, it's working (slowly)

[spyke]

here's the update....

glosso=great!
hc=...poop...half is yellow and dying...but the other is green and growing, so...it's ok, just going to set me back, that's all.

[spyke]

UPDATE!!!

here is my 3.5 week update, the glosso is going super, i've even trimmed it and moved some around to fill in quicker, and even have started a little side project, growing a carpet of it now in a clear tupperware under my small tank rack.
But, I'm at a disadvantage getting this really going, the HC is sad, it pretty much died off due to being too cold, submerged, and...i don't know. So i think it would have been a week away from filling if that hadn't happened. But as you can see from pics, things are better....

ok so does anyone think that I should fill it now...or keep letting it grow emmersed? I'm getting antsy, and want to get it cycled and put some crs in it...

[AzFishKid]

Wow that glosso is growing like a weed!
Nice hardscape too. I really like it.

[spyke]

thank you...i worked quite some time on it....with limited resources...being the rock...or lack of time and money for cool rocks...but hey, it works, and CRS will love it i hope!
yeah, and i'm thinking that the next plants come in at my store, i'll grab some more HC and plant some more, and make my wait time less.

[spyke]

UPDATE!!!

umm, so filled the tank, it's been a week exactly and the growth is unreal with minimal ferts and no c02.

but, i also have a cyano infection. so i'm treating with less light and eurythromyicin (can't spell it) to combat, it should be gone in a week and i'll start to trimm it up, which i should do to the glosso right now it's covering the whole scape.

and as soon as i filled it up, my fluffy cat ebony just stared at the water coming out of the filter for like...20 minutes...silly cat.

and as you can see my only inhabitants to test things out is the pair of cherry barbs...which i think i'm going to do a cherry farm with this tank. Have a huge school of cherry barbs, oto cats, amano shrimp and cherry shrimp ( be it black, yellow, red, fire red...whatever, just neoc. het sp.) but maybe yellow but the painted reds would be nice with some hot cherry barbs...

[sewingalot]

I don't know how I missed this the last time! I like the combination of HC and glosso. If I could ever get glosso to lay flat for me, I'd try that. Are you worried about them trying to take over one another? Ebony is a great supervisor! Is that a Maine Coon? Looks like it from the picture, but I can't tell.

[msjinkzd]

looking good <just as an aside, you have the start date as 1/26/10>