The Rock is dead

[ikuzo]

hello
i'm working on a new project and it's going to be an iwagumi tank measurement will be about 24 gallon with 36 watts of lighting. the plant is going to be all hairgrass, maybe some other plant but none that i can think of right now that suit along nicely with hairgrass with that medium amount of light. any sugestions?



this will be the only rock in the tank. don't know what kind of rock is this. i bought this 24 lbs rock from a local gardening supplier. too bad there's no other smaller rocks that are the same type, so i guess it's gonna be a single rock tank. the rock's measurement roughly is about 20x20x20cm, is this too large for a 60x40x40cm tank?

please feel free to tell me what you think...

thanks

[styxx]

hmmm...good question considering I'm having some of the same challenges in my tank. I think that it is a good size but you certainly wouldn't want anything larger than that! I love the appearance, although I don't know what color substrate you are using, so I would humbly suggest keeping to a color that contrasts well to this rocks color would be a good idea.

[ikuzo]

hello styxx1. i will use black sand as my substrate (as always). i'm thinking brown, black, and the green from hairgrass will look good. the background will be black.

as my stone's shape is pointing to the right, i will put it slightly to the left where the slope rise to the back then sloping down to the right.

maybe it's HLD but i'm kinda worried if the 36 watts of lighting aren't sufficient to grow hairgrass optimally.

[styxx]

Originally Posted by ikuzo

hello styxx1. i will use black sand as my substrate (as always). i'm thinking brown, black, and the green from hairgrass will look good. the background will be black.

as my stone's shape is pointing to the right, i will put it slightly to the left where the slope rise to the back then sloping down to the right.

maybe it's HLD but i'm kinda worried if the 36 watts of lighting aren't sufficient to grow hairgrass optimally.

Well that's a good point, I'm not sure if it will be enough. Hairgrass has very thin leaves, thus the surface area for it to grow isn't high and therefore it really requires a higher intensity light. I'd always recommend more light and then you have much more flexibility to use it or not where appropriate...

[JenThePlantGeek]

That's a very interesting looking rock - to me it almost has the texture of a brown paper bag crinkled up into a ball. I'm looking forward to see what you do with it!

[ikuzo]

i think i just rip off some of Ben Grimm's (The Thing, one of the Fantastic Four) skin... lol.

Well if i can find the right equipment for this setup soon, i will setup the tank at sunday.

edit : can't find a 24 gallon tank. bought one with 60x30x36cm measurement (16 gallon) instead. oh well.

[LordMaximo]

I have been hitting the local thrift stores and collage swap meets.
You can always find tanks at most these places on the cheap side.
We have rocks like that out west in the low land hills, they are everywhere.

Maximo

[MARIMOBALL]

A 16 gallon tank is close to the ADA 60P. When you add the rock and sand your tank will be around 12 gallons. 36 watts would = 3wpg you can maybe get away with growing dwarf hair grass, but it will be slow. If you already have the light then just use it. I would suggest at least 65watts. I usually get the highest wattage I can when setting up a tank because it gives you more plant options.
For example I have 24w PC on my 3.5gal nano, 96w T5 HO over my 18gal 60P and ill be setting up a 5gal with 36w soon.

[styxx]

Originally Posted by MARIMOBALL

A 16 gallon tank is close to the ADA 60P. When you add the rock and sand your tank will be around 12 gallons. 36 watts would = 3wpg you can maybe get away with growing dwarf hair grass, but it will be slow. If you already have the light then just use it. I would suggest at least 65watts. I usually get the highest wattage I can when setting up a tank because it gives you more plant options.
For example I have 24w PC on my 3.5gal nano, 96w T5 HO over my 18gal 60P and ill be setting up a 5gal with 36w soon.

agreed. that sounds about right Marimoball...

[ikuzo]

hello everyone, thanks for the comment. unfortunately i already have the lighting system and decided to go with it.

the rock


sloping the base fertilizer and the sand took a lot of patience


cloudy


after everything is running


next project will be building the fans and providing CO2. like always, suggestions will be appreciated a lot. thanks for looking.

[Ryzilla]

wow.. That large rock looks fantastic.

[Subotaj]

Not sure about the middle.
Too symmetric to me.
May be in the right side/corner.

I think it will be really nice aquascape.

[ikuzo]

I put the rock slightly to the left as it's pointing towards the right. if only i can find similar smaller rock i can do a lot better with the scape

I also tried to slope the sand at extreme angle but it's too hard to stop them from falling, i can only hope that after the hairgrass is filling in it will look a lot better. this tank consumed about 25 portions of plant.

[sNApple]

maybe some blyxa right behind it? i like it

[ikuzo]

as for blyxa, i tried to grow them before but has no success yet. i suspect the hardness of tap water here is the culprit. but there are hairgrass right behind the rock. viewing from the left side is nice also, i'll post sideview later.