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NeilW's 30cm Iwagumi - 'Mono'

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

I want to like it more than I do, I can see why everyone is singing its praises, but for me it looks very unnatural. The 'lines' (strata) on the different rocks don't follow each other and the one at the back is facing in the opposite direction. If this was in natural water course the stratum would all follow the same lines of erosion. That aside, I think this will be negated once the plants are in
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

Actually too good, I wouldn't go with standard hairgrass in the front if you're going to use any I'd suggest the belem or sp japan variety as it stays much smaller. That or not use it at all. I can't wait to see this come to fruition, I'm jealous to the extreme, I wish it were mine.
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

Excellent nano :) wants me to do something more now with my current nano! I should have nicked the Dragon Stone Steve purchased at LV last weekend lol

Looking forward to seeing this progressing, keep us posted and congrats :)
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

ghostsword said:
Neil, no issue. I am not planning any trim, but got lots.. :) can easily take half out, they are all connected on a single stem, so easy to pluck it out.

Let me know when you want them, I can pop a couple on a envelope and send it to you.
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Lovely, much appreciated. I'll give you a shout when I start the green fingered bit.

saintly said:
Man, this is a brilliant hardscape..... I just had to say it again 8)
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Thanks again Saintly! I just wish I had your crazy plant and camera skills to do it justice :oops:

JamesM said:
Indeed man, that's awesome!
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I couldn't have got any ideas to work through trawling through mountains of rocks at the local fish shops so you were just the bloke to speak to! :thumbup: Thanks again bud.

Jase said:
I want to like it more than I do, I can see why everyone is singing its praises, but for me it looks very unnatural. The 'lines' (strata) on the different rocks don't follow each other and the one at the back is facing in the opposite direction. If this was in natural water course the stratum would all follow the same lines of erosion. That aside, I think this will be negated once the plants are in
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I agree the strata is out, the main stone should have the point angled towards the back left, made me scratch my head a bit when I was setting up. The smaller stone on the right at the back I may take a look at and twist 180° to go with the grain of the rest of the strata. That was the one I wasn't sure about. What do you think?

I can see what your saying but I'm not fussed about the main stone being out, in nature 'odd' stones do exist for various reasons. I'll keep telling myself that anyways :lol:

Thanks for your feedback :thumbup:

Garuf said:
Actually too good, I wouldn't go with standard hairgrass in the front if you're going to use any I'd suggest the belem or sp japan variety as it stays much smaller. That or not use it at all. I can't wait to see this come to fruition, I'm jealous to the extreme, I wish it were mine.
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Thanks Garuf :) . I was going to go for the dwarf version. Did you know where I could get hold of some of the grasses you speak of? Also would they be OK to use low-tech?

LondonDragon said:
Excellent nano :) wants me to do something more now with my current nano! I should have nicked the Dragon Stone Steve purchased at LV last weekend lol

Looking forward to seeing this progressing, keep us posted and congrats :)
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Thanks for your kind comments LD :D Would Steve have been very happy if he went home Dragon Stone-less? :lol: I hadn't seen Dragon Stone before I set this tank up but its very nice stuff!
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

Hmmm. No I'm not sure they'd be suitable. The only place I've seen the hairgrass I said is on the aquaspot lists. I used to have some that I got from Ed Seeley. A very pretty plant but I'm not sure it's low tech suitable.
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

Garuf said:
Hmmm. No I'm not sure they'd be suitable. The only place I've seen the hairgrass I said is on the aquaspot lists. I used to have some that I got from Ed Seeley. A very pretty plant but I'm not sure it's low tech suitable.
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Thanks for the suggestion anyhow. Maybe I'll not use the hairgrass, it doesn't do great in my current non CO2 setup - I get a lot of brown die-back. Maybe just go for the Marsilea Hirsuta mixed in with the moss stones in the foreground?
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

I would personally suggest you go mid tech and dose excel, that way you open yourself up to more species. M h takes a very long time to carpet like gloss does unless planted extremely densely from the off your left with a very low biomass and it looks a bit unsightly.
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

Garuf said:
I would personally suggest you go mid tech and dose excel, that way you open yourself up to more species. M h takes a very long time to carpet like gloss does unless planted extremely densely from the off your left with a very low biomass and it looks a bit unsightly.
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I didn't want to use liquid carbon as I don't think my shrimp were happy with it. They stopped breeding. I also wanted to have some coral pelia on the big rock and liverworts aren't keen either :thumbdown: Bit of a shame as you say it would open up more possibilities.

Just tweaked a couple of the stones on Jase's advice, I think I've cracked having the strata all the same direction (apart from the main stone)

img1639ax.jpg


img1637.jpg
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

Looking at your planting plan, the crypt wenditti tropica will be far too big. The plan will also give an odd shape, personally I'd use just c. parva and hairgrass, needless to say you would keep the moss stones.

Also, coral pelia is supposed to be a moss according to Tropica. I don't know about shrimp and excel, never had much luck with shrimp in Stokes water, its such a great scape I personally wouldn't let the live stock ruin it, that's just me though.
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

shirmps do not care about liquid carbon once adapted. start with 1/4 dosage and increase it weekly, good luck
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

bogwood said:
Just read your journal for the first time, very enjoyable. You certainly have the eye for creating a impressive scape with the rocks alone. :thumbup:
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Thanks very much for your kind comments. Thats great to hear you enjoyed having a look through the journal. I try and keep it up-to-date for my own sake as a diary, but I always like having a nose through other peoples journals as its just nice to see how people go about things differently and their inspiration. :thumbup:

Cheers,
Neil
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

Maybe you could reduce the number of the rounded pebbles, I feel that they are overpowering the shattered dragon stone
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

Mortis said:
Maybe you could reduce the number of the rounded pebbles, I feel that they are overpowering the shattered dragon stone
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I can see what you mean there, I hadn't noticed. I think I'll reduce them at the front, cheers :thumbup:
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

Got hold of this little critter today;
img1804aq.jpg


My intention is to improve the genepool for the new set up so they don't become hill-billy :lol:. I walked in to a local shop today to find they have a new shrimp specific setup which is basically 5 barebottom nano's (one containing S grade CRS :thumbup:) fed from one massive sump. Was surprised to see in the sump was a marine style refugium but with Amazon Frogbit instead of macro algae! Genius way to showcase the shrimp I thought.

Just been musing what moss to tie to the stone to form a loose carpet. I was after something that grows compact and 'tight' almost like the terrestrial stuff. I would love to go all out and get mini pellia for the whole tank but my pockets are too short :thumbdown: Fissidens was another thought but I'm not a fan of the 'repeating' leaf shape so was thinking maybe Christmas as it seems to grow flat, or found this stuff;
http://www.aquashrimps.co.uk/products/Mini-Spiky-Moss.html

Any suggestions in my quest for the holy grail of moss would be great :thumbup:

Cheers,
Neil
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

I like the mini-spiky moss. Moss for me seems to go the brighter the light, the more compact the moss. T
 
Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - "Mono" [Hardscaped 29/04/10]

TBRO said:
I like the mini-spiky moss. Moss for me seems to go the brighter the light, the more compact the moss. T
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I think your right, I think the true moss will be more rewarding. After a bit more research it seems the Marimo is either very slow, unpredictable or just ugly. Thanks for the quick reply T.
 
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