Iwagumi attempt 01

[Mr.Manjushri]

Hi folks,

So the time has come... I'm finally attempting my first Iwagumi scape. These have fascinated me for a long time, but I've never dared to have a go at creating one myself. Iwagumi often looks so simple, but I am fully aware that it is a lot harder than it looks.

I went to the nearby forest stream the other day and collected stones of various sizes as well as gravel. Made myself a small wooden mock-up the size of the old tank I'm planning to use (30x22x25cm), and started stacking stones. In the first run I tried to create depth by layering as many stones in front of one another as possible, but it ended up too crammed.

Next I tried to embrace 'less is more', and this is what I ended up with:

Realising I needed to incorporate the gravel before I could go much further I finally decided to try it out in the tank. After much fiddling and many hours latter, this is where I am at now:

I feel like the gravel is too coarse, so will be adding a bag of ADA Amazonia powder, and maybe grading the gravel to eliminate the bigger pebbles. Otherwise I'm pretty happy with this so far, although after looking at these stones for so long I'm not sure I'm seeing straight anymore. Thats where you guys come in! Constructive criticism is welcome!

 

[Rahms]

very ominous rocks, where are you from? looks like something you'd pay £20/kg from ADA for!

 

[Mr.Manjushri]

The rocks are from a little forest stream about 60km east of Frankfurt, Germany. If what you say is true maybe I should start selling them!!

 

[Dantrasy]

The first scape is really impressive. You may want to place some of the very small rocks at the back (rather than the front) to create a bit more depth.

 

[Mr.Manjushri]

Thanks Dantrasy. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the 'less is more' approach, and not the full-packed mountain range scape like in the first picture. While it could no doubt also work, it doesn't leave much space for plants (a bit of HC and moss at most). I'm on a mission to find a happy balance between hardscape and plants, without favoring one or the other too much.
Cheers

 

[Mr.Manjushri]

So it has taken me a while to get hold of the right lamp, the ADA Amazonia powder and the plants, but finally the time has come! Here are some pictures of the progression.

 

[Mr.Manjushri]

After 60 days of dryness, the flood came. First though, a picture or two of how things grew in.

And now, finally submersed!

In Situ

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Mr Manjushri, Wonderful little rock scape nice planting too Looks like its time for a trim

 

[MrHidley]

This looks wonderful, great first iwagumi!

 

[nelly9]

Looks great, What was your regime during 60 days dry start, the growth is impressive

 

[Mr.Manjushri]

It was very simple. 12hrs of light, couple of generous mistings a day. Every couple of weeks I would add a few of drops of micro nutrients (EI) to the spray can.
Having read about people experiencing root burn and such when doing DSM with ADA amazonia, I also regularly siphoned as much water out as possible (well below substrate level), so that it didn't become a concentrated acid pool and the substrate was often exposed to air.

Funny that Greenfinger2 thinks its time for a trim - I did just that (cutting the height of the HC more or less by half) before taking the submersed photo!