GLA 6g Rimless 36-L - My First Iwagumi Inspired Scape Journal

[Green_Flash]

Swet setup, all the colors look great.

[Brian_Cali77]

Originally Posted by Mike00726

Would you recommend hanging the light instead of attaching it to the tank?

Definitely hang. The lighting might be too intense sitting on the rim. I was getting some major hair algae and GSA, despite my light being suspended. I hope you're running co2.

[Brian_Cali77]

Thanks Andrew and Green Flash!

[Brian_Cali77]

Week 3 Update (23 days since planted):

Wow!!! I was away for like 6 days and I came home to this today:


Things were getting a little hairy around here! LOL

Well it's been over 3 weeks since I planted. With the exception of some hair algae, everything is moving along pretty nice. The Ludwigia sp. Red has grown pretty long so I snipped the stems and replanted them to thicken the red bush. The pygmy chain swords were shooting runners trying to invade other areas, so I snipped them off and uprooted them. Too bad I'm losing all the tall blades on the PCS which are getting replaced with smaller compact growth.

To remove the hair algae I used a toothbrush and gently brushed it off the plants. I twirled as much of it as I can to take it out in clumps. I then used some tweezers to pull away the algae that was hard to get to. Lastly, I spot treated with h202 and did a PWC, in which I gave my tank a nice healthy dose of Excel.


Here's my tank from day 1 to show a contrast of what 3 weeks of growth looks like:


And the tank as it is today with most of the algae removed


Here's a close up of the HC, carpeting in better than anticipated... Who's needs DSM anyway??? haha:


And some more pics for the heck of it






Thanks for stopping in and reading!!!

[bitFUUL]

Such a great looking tank! Loving the photos!

[Brian_Cali77]

Thanks bitFUUL. I checked out your signature links and you got some nice tanks as well. You have quite the operation under the 'grow' link. And the whole mango dither fruit comments was hilarious on the 12L. I really wanted to grab a 12L from GLA but too bad they're all sold out now.

[beedee]

Wow, great photos and i love the variety of color you got going on in there! That hair algae almost looks pretty in a weird way, it was so flowy! haha.

[Green_Flash]

Does the sand move around much?

[Brian_Cali77]

Thanks beedee! I'm just glad it wasn't too difficult to remove.

@Green_Flash - the sand hardly moves. If anything, the stratum substrate rolls off the slopes a bit on to the sand. I just take my tweezers and pick them back up to drop on the slopes. I just have to take care in pouring water back in on my PWC's to not disturb the substrate.

[wetbizquit]

this looks amazing! good work and nice setup, totally wallpaper worthy

[Brian_Cali77]

Thanks wetbizquit... I noticed that you started a wallpaper thread.. I think I just might make a wallpaper out of it for fun. But since this is my first iwagumi-style tank, I haven't really named it... I've never named any of my tanks but that seems to be the trend here on TPT... Any of you guys have suggestions for a name of my tank? LOL...

A silly name like "Hodgepodge Paradise" comes to mind.. Since it's a mix of flora and not really adhering to true iwagumi principles of like 1 or 2 species of flora (i.e. DHG and HC). That might be too corny so I don't want to over-think it nor do I want a name that sounds too serious.

Help get creative here... TY!

[Brian_Cali77]

Ahhh... I think I got it... I looked up Cove because of my little corner of sand and saw "A Sheltered Nook" as a synonym. I think that fits since it has a nook between the rock and it is "sheltered" in my office... Dang, I think I'm over-thinking this.. but I'll roll with that for now. It's Iwagumi Deconstructed

[loucas6290]

what is the exact length of the light fixture? im really interested but my tank is the 18" long and i want to know how it would fit

[jnaz]

That HC really took off. The tank is coming along nicely.

[Brian_Cali77]

@loucas - the fixture is 16"... You can get the 24" version or if you get the 16" you'll have to hang the fixture as the docking legs will not extend that far. But they'll definitely slide inward so the 24" might be good. I look at this with a couple of negatives either way (which aren't that bad)... if you go 16" and hang it, you might not get good lighting on the ends of your tank. If you got 24" and place it on top, you might have extra light spilling over on the sides... not sure though?

Archaea Slim-Pro makes a 17" fixture (just one inch shy of your tank's length). I'm not sure if the docking legs can be pulled out just enough to make up that 1/2 inch on each end. Worth taking a look... http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?m...nm9nn18k5n8k15

@jnaz - Thanks for the compliment! This was my first attempt at HC and I'm really glad it's carpeting in. I've noticed in my research that the preferred trend is to use the DSM. However, to me it was just tooooo boring so I hoped for the best and I'm quite happy that I opted to grow it submersed.