[nasfish]

Hi,

This is the start of a journal of my first attempt to setup an iwagumi aquascaped tank.

1. The stuff.

2. The tank. Arcylic tank, 23(L)X13(H)X11(W) inch, approximately 50 Liter.

3. The lighting. 2 X PL-L, 36W Philips 865.

4. The filter. Eheim Ecco 2232 with the usual Eheim filter media. A CO2 tank with a solenoid regulator on a timer.

5. The intended rocks arrangement. For me, it is difficult to find the suitable rocks, have to make do with what is available. :icon_frow

Starting..

6. The five ADA substrate nutrients at the bottom of the tank.

The five substrate nutrients are :
6 spoons Penac W
6 spoons Penac P
10 spoons Tourmaline BC
6 spoons Clear Super
10 spoons Bacter 100 (extra 4 spoons)

7. The Powersand (S), on top the five substrate nutrients. At the same time, keeping some gaps (1 to 2 cm) between the Powersand and both side and front of the tank. By doing this, no powersand will be visible from front and from both side of the tank.

8. Aquasoil Normal type on top of Powersand, making a slope from the back to 2-3 cm from the front, just enough to cover the Powersand. At this point the slope is around 5 cm at the back, 1 cm at the front.

9. Arranging the rocks, according to the intended layout, with the biggest or main rock first to go. Then the second biggest and so on. While doing this, I have to move some Aquasoil to the bottom of the rock, to stabilize the position of the rocks. Some changes have to be made after placing the rocks, like changing the angle of the main rock, replacing some rocks with a more suitable size etc. This process is the most time consuming, after only satisfied with the layout, then to the next step.

A closer view from slightly top angle.

10. Spreading Aquasoil Powder around the rocks and at the front of the tank mostly. By this time, the slope is 4 cm at the front, 8-11 cm at the back.

11. Planting. Hemianthus callitrichoides (HC), later, hair grass.

Done this rather quick, surprisingly, just stab the plant into the soil, 3 or 4 stems each stabbing :hihi: randomly, leaving around an inch from the tank side and front. Before and during planting, sprayed some water onto the substrate, rocks and plants using a mist bottle.

Done planting. A closer view from slightly top angle.

12. Filled the tank slowly, not to disturb the newly planted HC, and the substrate. Here, I used a small plastic container with a rock in it to hold it down, while filling the tank.

13. Removed the floating debris (twigs, floating Aquasoil etc) either using the net or just suck it out of the tank using a hose. Sorry no picture, messy :hihi:

14. Used the silicone glue, to soften the edge of the tank, not to scratch the precious Lily Pipe :hihi:

15. Although using just Ecco 2232, the water flow able to blow the CO2 mist to the back of tank and move it along the back and to the front again, woweee, what a nice CO2 diffuser.

16. A cheap imitation of ADA glass bubble counter :hihi: .

17. This is the final picture of the initial setup.

The next planned steps will be :
1. Water change (50 to 60%) every 2 or 3 days until the water is crystal clear.
2. Shorten the photoperiod to 4 to 6 hours daily. Aerate the tank for the rest of hours.
3. No fertilization at this moment, not even Brighty K. Will start dosing after the water is clear, a bit hazy at this moment, LOL.

Thank you for looking. Comments/suggestions/critiques are really appreciated.:icon_smil

Regards

 

[HoustonFishFanatic]

wow looking nice dude!!!!!!! like the rock arrangement.

 

[danepatrick]

i hate when people make these journals. it makes me want to break down my tank and start a whole new project all over again! curse you all! haha. i'm kidding. keep us updated! the layout of the rocks looks GREAT!

 

[ringram]

Yeah, that looks real good. Nice job.
So, are you going to get lily pipes also?

 

[nasfish]

Thank you for looking :wink:

HoustonFishFanatic, I am honored, your first post was to comment my journal

danepatrick, will update as often as I can, thank you.

ringram, yes, I will buy the intake Lily-Pipe, if I have some money laying around, LOL. On second thought, better to save the money to buy a better quality camera. Currently, I am using a 2.1 megapixel Sony Cybershot camera, bought over 4 years ago :hihi:

Regards

 

[HoustonFishFanatic]

hey Nasfish i really liked ur rock work. wish i should find some rock like that here. Hey and thats true, it was my first post just to appreciate ur work.
Regards

 

[FelixAvery]

nice rocks, the ehiem pipe spoils it though

 

[Nerkley]

It's a nice tank but based on some of the products you're using you don't seem very intelligent. Seriosuly, Penac? That's just offensive to planted tank hobbyists everywhere.

You dumped a TON of dollars into that tank and could have accomplished the EXACT same thing while spending only pennies. Oh well, got to keep Amano nice and rich so he can keep living the high life with his expensive wines in his mansions.

 

[Nihongo]

It's a nice tank but based on some of the products you're using you don't seem very intelligent. Seriosuly, Penac? That's just offensive to planted tank hobbyists everywhere.

You dumped a TON of dollars into that tank and could have accomplished the EXACT same thing while spending only pennies. Oh well, got to keep Amano nice and rich so he can keep living the high life with his expensive wines in his mansions.

Don't hate! Its his money he can do what ever he wants. Btw the tank looks nice!

 

[Nightshop]

It's a nice tank but based on some of the products you're using you don't seem very intelligent. Seriosuly, Penac? That's just offensive to planted tank hobbyists everywhere.

You dumped a TON of dollars into that tank and could have accomplished the EXACT same thing while spending only pennies. Oh well, got to keep Amano nice and rich so he can keep living the high life with his expensive wines in his mansions.

Sigh, idiocy these days.

 

[eklikewhoa]

I think it looks good!

I set up a Iwagumi layout recently but taking it slow with the tank since I am slowly pulling HC out of another tank to fill this one.

 

[Badcopnofishtank]

It's a nice tank but based on some of the products you're using you don't seem very intelligent. Seriosuly, Penac? That's just offensive to planted tank hobbyists everywhere.

You dumped a TON of dollars into that tank and could have accomplished the EXACT same thing while spending only pennies. Oh well, got to keep Amano nice and rich so he can keep living the high life with his expensive wines in his mansions.

-->Bemeaning a member over their choice of substrates or other set-up equipment is in poor taste. I suggest you spend your "hard earned electricity bill dollars" on surfing elsewhere.

This is a great scape with some quality products.

 

[Hypancistrus]

I didn't want to reply because I didn't want to "feed" an obvious troll (look at his post count), but in the interest of maintaining friendly conversation:

1) Look up "Penac" and you'll understand why a great many people have a strong negative response to the product (a very short summary - "magnet therapy" = Eco Aqualizer, "crystal therapy" = Penac)

2) The "keep Amano rich" argument is idiotic and definitely trying to troll people. For example, are you using Microsoft Windows? Guess you had to keep Bill Gates rich. (And so on.) Amano is definitely a very rich man, but he makes the majority of his money from big corporate clients in Japan who hire him (for BIG bucks) to design and maintain tanks. The money he makes from the sales of product in the USA is marginal (in the scope of his company) at best.

Nice tank, by the way.

 

[Color Me Blue]

I agree....VERY nice! Please keep us posted!

Ps....I like your other tanks too! 0,1,2,3,4

 

[nasfish]

Thank you for looking and the compliments and critiques.:wink:

I have stopped defending myself on choices I made on what products or equipments to use in this hobby a long time ago. FYI, I got those Penac (6 spoons each) for free after no further discount can be given by a guy I bought this packaged setup from and my continuous refusal and skepticism on the Penac usage.

But consider this : I am here to share. Perhaps with my ‘not so intelligent’ choices, we all could learn from my experiments and experiences of using this or that products, no matter how ‘rich’ I am making someone is. Skepticism is fine but without any proof means nothing to me. I need to see and experience it myself. That is the fun part, IMO.

I am also helping the guy I bought it from (and he also knew this), in a way, to see if the Penac is any good or beneficial or just someone’s poo.

Not my intention to offended anyone, I don’t know using Penac in this part of the world is considered offensive, LOL. Enough said.

Shall we move on? Talking about plants and aquascaping :hihi:.

ps : Excuse me for my english, not my spoken language.

Regards

 

[aquanut415]

nice start nasfish, tank is looking nice.. cool looking rocks!

Thank you for looking and the compliments and critiques.:wink:

I have stopped defending myself on choices I made on what products or equipments to use in this hobby a long time ago. FYI, I got those Penac (6 spoons each) for free after no further discount can be given by a guy I bought this packaged setup from and my continuous refusal and skepticism on the Penac usage.

But consider this : I am here to share. Perhaps with my ‘not so intelligent’ choices, we all could learn from my experiments and experiences of using this or that products, no matter how ‘rich’ I am making someone is. Skepticism is fine but without any proof means nothing to me. I need to see and experience it myself. That is the fun part, IMO.

I am also helping the guy I bought it from (and he also knew this), in a way, to see if the Penac is any good or beneficial or just someone’s poo.

Not my intention to offended anyone, I don’t know using Penac in this part of the world is considered offensive, LOL. Enough said.

Shall we move on? Talking about plants and aquascaping :hihi:.

ps : Excuse me for my english, not my spoken language.

Regards

and GREAT attitude.

 

[RESGuy]

Wow beautiful start to what I think will be a great Iwagumi Aquascape I myself don't bother buying all those Amano stuff but that is because I'm broke .. and 14 and have no sources from which to get money (never got an allowance) but if I had some more money that I could spend I may actually purchase ADA products because they really are quality and they look great in a tank! As opposed to the plastic and rubber products Overall great tank and I like how you showed us everything with a picture journal, those are my favorite :thumbsup:

 

[CmLaracy]

Beautiful job, great layout and placement. In fact, you have inspired me... lol
No, really, I'm turning my low tech tank into a high tech Iwagumi now!
The only ADA products I'm buying are 2 liters Power Sand Special S, 9-12(can't decide) liters of Aqua Soil Amazonia,
Seiryu Rocks, and the longer pincettes. I find their products to be very classy, and add a nice prestige look to a tank,
while still maintaining great function. For me, it being my first high tech,
I'm going to have to pass on the more expensive products like the lily pipe and crazy good pollen glass diffuser so I can focus soley on function for the money...
Those crazy cool ADA products will be for next time, maybe when I turn 15, :icon_lol: . Again, great layout!

What filter do you have on there? What are your ferts? EI Method?
Sorry about all of the questions, I'm very curious... :hihi:

 

[Nightshop]

Trolls aside, I like this tank a lot.

Alas my only sugguestion is finding something to replace the eheim pipe . . . perhaps another glass pipe?

What are you using as the white background?

 

[ebichu]

Yeah the eheim pipe is spoiling the whole tank. Break your piggy bank lol.
Very nice setup. What ferts are you planning to use ?
I like your little trick with the silicone.

CmLaracy -> He mention in his first post, filter -> Eheim Ecco 2232

Thanks for sharing.