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Custom 25 gallon Iwagumi setup

7K views 40 replies 12 participants last post by  BeastlyFern 
#1 · (Edited)
Planted and Filled Jan 23,2020:



March 9,2020



Starting my first planted tank so thought I would share my setup.

I used to have a SPS dominated reef tank of about the same size but with a sump. Unfortunately after it started to really take off at the two year mark I had to break it down for moving. Was a really hard choice and I have always missed not having it.
I decide this time I would go for a planted tank as the maintenance will be a little less as there is no need to mix salt water.

Old Reef Tank:






New Planted Tank:

-Custom low iron rimless tank with 10 mm glass (25 gallons 24" W x 15 3/4" H x 15 3/4" D)
-Ikea cabinet with high gloss door as stand

Lighting:

-Kessil a360x Tuna sun with spectral x controller

Equipment:

-Ehime pro 4+ 350 filter
-VIV glass lilly pipe and surface skimmer
-MP 10 powerhead

-Aqua labs dual stage regulator [strike](turned out to be broken so I hope to get a replacement from the store)[/strike] Was replaced by store.
-5 lbs co2 tank
[strike]-In tank glass co2 diffuser[/strike]
-DIY co2 reactor 18"

-Jabeo automatic dosing pump
-DIY glass water bottle dosing reservoirs
-DIY glass dosing tube holder

-200 w hydor inline heater

Substrate:

-ADA power sand
-ADA substrate additives
-Tropica soil
-Torpica powder

Plants: (Tropica 1-2 grow cups)

-Hemianthus callitrichoides (Baby tears) cuba smaller (cup) x 6
-Hemianthus micranthemoides (Monte Carol) (cup) x 9
-Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini' short grass (cup) x 3
-Helanthium tenellum green (pygmy sword) (cup) x 2












Will be setting this up as a Iwagumi style tank with Seriyu stone.
I have planned my hardscape in a sandbox the size of my tank, just waiting until after a vacation over the summer to fill the tank so I will be around for the settling in process.



 
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#4 ·
Thanks very much.

Stocking plans as of now:

Fish:

-A school of 15-20 neon tetras
-A couple of shrimp and some snails to help with algae control

Plants:

-Mostly Micranthemum (Monte Carlo) and Hemianthus callitrichoides (Cuba) for the carpet

-Eleocharis acicularis (mini) transitions between carpet and rocks

-small amount of Helanthium tenellum green (pygmy sword) for scale shift against the Eleocharis acicularis (mini)

-Small amount of fissidens fontanus on the rocks



very nice and organize. I too changed my 25 cube from a reef to planted tank. Still have my 375 gallons reef tho
Thanks, I like to keep things as neat as possible. Oh man that is a nice sized reef tank, I do miss mine but can't go back there for a few years at least.
 
#5 ·
Had to wait on this tank for a long time because I was way to busy with work and having to travel but now I finally get a chance to plant it soon and filler up.

Hardscape before planting:







All the plants waiting to get planted. Just need to get my Ro filter setup up and running tonight and tomorrow will be the day to plant and fill. :smile2:

Plants:

Hemianthus callitrichoides (Baby tears) cuba smaller (cup) x 6

Hemianthus micranthemoides (Monte Carol) (cup) x 9

Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini' short grass (cup) x 3

Helanthium tenellum green (pygmy sword) (cup) x 2

Heteranthera zosterifolia (cup) x 1

 
#10 ·
Please make sure that IKEA cabinet is reinforced before you fill it with water.
- Are you using metal or plastic legs?
- Do NOT use plastic legs.
- Make sure metal legs are supporting the side panels. Your top panel (counter top) is supported by side panels and the weight needs to be transferred to the floor by the legs.
- Do NOT rely on the bottom shelf to support 25 gallons of water.

I would also internally reinforce that cabinet by attaching (minimum) vertical support posts (1x3 or 1x4 hardwood or pine) on 4 inside corners (to transfer counter top weight to the legs) and a diagonal cross piece for any lateral movement/shake.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Metal legs for sure and they are placed under the side panels. They have a 2.5"-3" x 1/4" bolting flange on the top that rides over the the side panels.

The back panel on the stand was reinforced with 1/2" plywood sheet across the back with comer brackets to help with and rocking.

A top panel was glued and screwed to the top of the cabinet and the edges rest on the side panels.

I did not put any bracing in the corners as it seemed fairly stable and I wanted to keep the top shelf. I had it filled for testing for a month and nothing moved. Maybe I should consider this.
 
#13 ·
Nice setup.

A couple of things from my experience in case your not aware of them:

If that's an active substrate like ADA Aquasoil, make sure you follow water change guidelines (50% every day 1st week, every other 2nd and then at least one per week.

The Seiryu Stone will increase KH significantly. Some plants don't like that, so the water changes will be important for that as well (as long as your tap is low)

Keep lights on a very short cycle (4-5 hrs max), if not you will make the mistake many do by dealing with algae after it already starts instead of preventing it in the first place.

Use carbon and/or Purigen in the filter until the plants and bio-filter mature.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for the tips.

I am running tap/ro to keep my kh lower to start but will keep an eye on that. I read about this a few weeks after buying all my stone. I really like the look if it so will make sure to keep up on that.

The soil is Tropica, they only suggest a water change ever 2-3 days at first but will make sure to do that.

I have the lights set for 6 hours so maybe I will dial it back a bit more.

Was thinking of running some carbon so I will run out to get some and maybe purigen as well.


You have a amazing tank by the way.:thumbsup:
 
#22 ·
Thanks

Right now I am only running it for about 4-5 hrs.

Colour %: Intensity %:

10-------------- 25 1 hr
30-------------- 40 1 hr
55-------------- 40 1.5 hr
30-------------- 25 1

Then about an hour before and after with very low intensity like 1 % with some orange or red for a little morning dusk effects.

So far really happy with the light but it is early days.
 
#25 ·
With an iwagumi setup, where you have limited plant mass and you need to good light to reach most high-light carpets your better off with a shorter photo period in the beginning anyway. If you have a long photo period and you dim the lights too much it won't grow the carpet, but will grow algae.
 
#30 ·
Wonderful setup and scape.
I like the Kessil light and its rather small housing.
I used to have the A360 (the first version) in my reef tank and it was difficult to get good PAR measurements, mainly due to the shimmer effect I think.
They did grow coral, so I am sure they will do well with plants as well.
 
#34 ·
Full tank shot 15 days:



So far it has been going well. No real algae to speak of yet, keeping up with water changes every two-three days. Lots of growth and started pearling fairly heavy in the middle of the day. No signs of it here because this was taken at night, just turned on the lights real quick to get a snap.

Had a mishap with the rock space, the larger leaning rock fell over when I was cleaning it and uprooted some Monte Carlo in the back. I was able to get everything back and it is much more stable now. Glad it happened early on before I had shrimp or fish to worry about.

Waiting for another week or more before I trim and start fertilizing, want to roots to hold the plants as much as possible before a chance uprooting anymore.
 
#36 ·
Finally got around to taking another full tank shot. Have done about three trimming since I started the tank.
Everything is grown in really well, There are two small holes in the carpet. I cut out an area that got too dense between the timings.

Just added another cup of Helanthium tenellum 'Green' to the back wall on the right.
Once it all grows in I will have a nice swaying row of tall grass (mp 10 on really low reef-crest)for my shrimp to play in.

-Have 6 Amano shrimp
-20 Rili shrimp (red/white and orange/white type)
-One bumble bee snail

Waiting to order about 20 Neon Green Kubotia Rasboras

Full tank shot:



One of the Rili shrimp:

 
#38 ·
I am currently battling an outbreak of brown algae. I assume diatoms as it is easily removed and not hairy or stand like. It has taken over the entire tank and I think that I will need to replant. I have no idea what happened as the tanks had fully cycled months ago and I am not getting very high nitrate readings at all. I am also using a mix of ro and tap 50/50 and I don't think that silicates from the tap should be much of a concern. My city water report list them at around 1.25-1.88 min to max.

My tank had been growing great, with tones of pearling and lush green growth on the carpet. I am adding co2 and dosing thrive all in one.

It did start to slowly happen after addition my fish but not sure if it is related as my nitrates are never really that high. I have 20 green kubotai rasboras, on snail, 4 amanos and about 15-20 rili shrimp

Any ideas on how to solve this would be helpful. I think at this point I just need to rip our all my carpet and clean the tank as much as possible on a large water change and fine some fast growing stem plants until I can re balance my tank. I have been putting this off as due to Covid it might be hard to get a few plants locally.

Here is a before and after, I did a huge cutting to try and reduce it but it just came back after a few days.







Thanks for any suggestions
 
#39 ·
What are other parameters like? Phosphate for example?

Also are you adding anything else, like pH buffers?


Edit: I've run into this before and sadly was never able to resolve, though I suspected it was related to tap silicates so your experience rules that one out.

Edit: Wanted to specify that for me this happened after attempting to go iwagumi, and I gave up rather quickly. Rooting for you, because with no algae this tank looks amazing. Selfishly I would really like my own mystery resolved as well.

Sorry for ridiculous edits...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#41 ·
What are other parameters like? Phosphate for example?

Also are you adding anything else, like pH buffers?
Only adding thrive all in one and co2. My p04 was never going over 0.25-0.5 which from what I understand could be low. But the plants were growing like gang busters. I did think it could be silicates but based on my city water testing and the fact that I am halfing it with ro I don't think that could be the casue. Unless my rocks are leaching lots.

Bump:
Sorry to see it detoriating so quickly. It might be better just ripping the carpet off and getting a fresh start, still using the cycled substrate, however if it was me I'd try and just add the stem plants straight away to see if that will roll back the algae. Not saying it's better but it's certainly easier to try it that way, another benefit being to keep some of the biomass from the carpet.
That is what I was thinkning of doing but not sure if I had to just rip our the entire to try and remove the diatoms. The carpet is stil trying to grow even after be trimmed almost to the soil line. I see pearling formin over ares in the late afternoon still.
 
#40 ·
Sorry to see it detoriating so quickly. It might be better just ripping the carpet off and getting a fresh start, still using the cycled substrate, however if it was me I'd try and just add the stem plants straight away to see if that will roll back the algae. Not saying it's better but it's certainly easier to try it that way, another benefit being to keep some of the biomass from the carpet.
 
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