Aweeby's 5.5g iwagumi

[Dollface]

Get more support stones than you think you need, they really come in handy.

[aweeby]

I have the rest of my stones now... and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to place them without interrupting too much. agh. what a mistake. next time i'll be more patient. When I placed the big stone a few weeks ago, I tried to move some of the stauro with little success, they melted promptly. the good thing is that new plantlets are popping up everywhere. Maybe that was like the equivalent of a trim for them.

And 4lbs seems to be nearly thrice as much as I needed. I'll save them for something else i guess. (Maybe this is where the multitank syndrome sets in) Any suggestions? I'm not too satisfied with the placement ATM.



I ditched the single cfl fixture for now, there just was not enough light on that thing.
Rigged up some brooder lamps with two 26w (excuse the K differences), but they'll be gone when I flood this thing.

[Fishly]

Originally Posted by aweeby

Off-topic, but what did you use to draw this?

[aweeby]

It's ballpoint pen and watercolour. i'm a cheater, can't control the water enough to go w/o ink overlay. ironic.

[aweeby]

oh right. have to update. that's what I came here for.
i changed the hardscape around some yesterday, but i'm still not super happy with it. :/
I'm too busy to defog that tank now though. It's not too drastic though, so...

[aweeby]

Ok so, this is going to be a red rili tank. After getting them for a dollar apiece, and seeing as they are pretty much as un killable as RCS, I decided they'd be a good choice. I got 10 plus some extras from jimko last week. They for now are hanging out in some breeder boxes I rigged up in my 55g.

When I get home tomorrow and am once again, allowed to stare at this thing for a bit, I'll have some pics up.

I rearranged my stones a bit, added a small one in, planted some hydrocotyle sp. japan and made the mound a little higher. The stauro didn't take very well to the rooting about, so a bunch melted. No problem though, since there's little plantlets popping up everywhere. HC is filling in nicely, but I promised myself that this thing won't see water until school lets out. arghhh can't wait!

[aweeby]

fts



comparison shot

[aweeby]

another update. It's almost filled in! The lilaeopsis is taking a while though. I have hydrocotyle japan and sibthorpiodes in there, both are doing fine but I think I'll put some more japan in when I've got time and rip out the sibthorpiodes altogether.




Interesting how the side where i separated individual stems of HC is going nuts, whereas the clumped HC side is slower to spread.

Angry rant: I traded some plants with another member to try and get something for the background of this tank, but USPS has gone and lost it. ARGHHH. It's not here today so I know that whenever they do decide to finally deliver it after sunday, I'm going to be looking at a baggie of rotten plants. Joy.

This is the second time this month they've screwed up on delivery. some times I just want to collectively kick the entire USPS in the shin. But that's not going to get me my packages any faster, so I'll refrain for now.

[aweeby]

Also, this tank officially has been removed from the apple of my eye. Replacing it is a MINI-S setup I got last week from bryfox. 2 hour bus trip was TOTALLY worth it.
here are pics because who doesn't dig sexy low iron tanks and high clarity glassware?








though I will need to take off some of those hard water stains eventually.

[Geniusdudekiran]

Same as my setup, love it!

[aweeby]

thanks, and I'm seeing your tank all over the place now days, it's looking awesome. i absolutely cannot wait to set mine up. summer needs to hurry up and get here already. I keep on mentally slapping myself in the face to keep myself patient. I'd much rather screw up in a beaten up old LFS tank than in a tank of the gods.

[muntwo]

cool scape!

[aweeby]

thanks! When I was doing my research, I came across your tank no small number of times. Yours is probably one of the best low tech nanos I've seen.

[FlyingGiraffes]

Nice new stuff! Bet you're drooling all over it.

What happened to the old tank? It was looking nice.

[aweeby]

Originally Posted by FlyingGiraffes

Nice new stuff! Bet you're drooling all over it.

What happened to the old tank? It was looking nice.

Thanks! The original tank is still kicking. I still haven't had the time to coax it into submersed. School needs to end already. -_-

I really want to get started on the rimless. You're right. The thing is practically overflowing with drool. I had to cover it with a sheet so I don't get distracted while I cram. Lifted the sheet to find this:



Heck, if I had to live in glass box, I'd live in an ADA one.


Anyway.
I'm thinking of putting some Mini pellia or fissidens on the rocks to add a bit more character. I have a few starters, but they didn't travel so well, so we'll see. I also ordered some nano glass diffusers and drop checkers for these two tanks, and a zoomed 501 for filtration. All I need now is a paintball cartridge and we're all good for flooding.