My 55 Gallon Iwagumi (56k)

[kennkh]

A few photos of my 55 Gallon, my first attempt at a generic Iwagumi style aquarium. Lots of work and lots of headaches. Details about the tank are listed below.









Aquarium / All-Glass 55 gal W48xD13xH21 (in) / 208 L W122xD32XH53 (cm)
Lighting / DIY AHsupply.com Kits, 2x 55W 7800K PC, 2x 13W 10000K, 2x variable white cold cathode
Filtration / Eheim 2217 Classic
Substrate / Quickrete All-Purpose Sand
Hardscape / "Sierra Madre" stones
CO2 / Pressurized, PVC in-line reactor,knockoff ADA bubble counter at 1 bubble per second
Fertilizer / EI Estimative Index
Water Changes / Once a week 50% tap water
Water Conditions / Water temperature: 77 degrees Fahrenheit / 25 degrees Celsius, pH: 6.5

Plants
- Hemianthus Callitrichoides
- Lilaeopsis novaezelandiae
- Eleocharis Acicularis
- Eleocharis Vivipara

Fauna
- Sundadanio Axelrodi 'Turquoise'
- Otocinclus Affinis
- Caridina Multidentata
- Gyraulus sp., Planorbarius corneus (snails)

Thanks for letting me share, I'd welcome any questions or comments.

[fishman9809]

can I say 1 thing? WOW!!!!!!!!!

[fishscale]

I think it's a nice tank for anyone, but for a first tank, this is plain amazing.

[ikuzo]

any tank with lilaeopsis carpet always amaze me. it's a difficult plant IMO. what's

[jimsuy]

very nice...

[dekstr]

Sweet stuff.

THat is one of the better iwagumi tanks I have seen!

It looks simple, but I have "attempted" iwagumi and it's definitely a lot harder than it looks. With lack of stem plants, it's really important to take care of the carpet plants to make sure they are healthy and growing well to keep algae at bay.

Definitely excellent planning and more importantly great execution!

I rate 5 stars!

[loachlady5]

That is truly inspirational. The hardscape is arranged in a very visually appealing way and the contrast b/w the two grasses is really interesting. The grass in the back is super cool - would make ChemLawn jealous and you've trimmed it beautifully. I think you might need more fish though. I don't mean a hodgepodge that would distract from the style, just one schooling species. I also personally think the snails on the rocks detract from the scene, but just MHO.

[frozenbarb]

Nice.. The backround is almost blinding. I see a screw in type fixture is that to light up the backround?

[lauraleellbp]

That's really, really nice- and a 55gal tank isn't the easiest to 'scape!

[eyebeatbadgers]

x2. The 55 is an awkward tank, being long, really skinny, and too tall for Iwagumi I thought. You have pulled it off beautifully.

[kennkh]

Thanks for the kind comments everyone.

loachlady5, I agree with you completely regarding the fish and the snails. I had originally ordered 50 Sundadanio, but I guess they don't ship very well and I only had 12 survivors. Of those 12, I lost 5 due to various mishaps. I'm still waiting for the replacements for the lost fish, but there have been problems with the supplier. The snails...well what can I say. I've pretty much given up on trying to keep my tank snail free.

Frozenbarb, a little too blinding maybe. Those are indeed screw in fixtures (from home depot). I just use them when I'm taking pictures. My camera isn't that great and it needs a lot of light for decent pictures. Those fixtures each have 30 watt 6400k spiral bulbs in them.

[sNApple]

Nice!!!!!!