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70 Gallon Woodagumi

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plantbrain

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2 Aug 2007
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Strictly speaking, all iwagumi displays use rock as the hardscape.

But applying this concept to aquariums and the carpeting plants is a stretch already, but the method works very nicely and dramatically.

One of my biggest complaints is the lack of high grade rock in the USA, while ?I can buy it from an ADA vendors, the cost is prohibitively high given the amount of materials I like to work with.

The weight is often an issue also. Larger pieces can weigh up to 50-70 kg.
I have a lot of wood and the Manzy tree is very interesting in the stump bases that protect the tree's from frequent fires. These burl bases are very interesting and rock like in character.

ResizedDay170GalWoodagumi.jpg

This uses only HC and this is day 1. I'll try and give weekly updates on this.

I still have a rock on one piece of wood to weight it down. They HC got a little melted that I got, but should be fine.
I will switch the lighting this week weekend coming up to an ATI 6x 39W with a dimmer and set the intensity to 60-75 umol on the top rear and about 50 at the lowest front section.

I will have the option to drive the light levels much higher, but ........HC trimming is not as easy as Gloss trimming.

There is no rock except for the Petrified piece I collected in this tank. It's all clay ADA AS and wood and plant.
 
Tom,

Looking good already. I wonder why you say HC trimming is harder then Glosso as I find it pretty similar, the difference would be that after trimming pieces of HC get everywhere :)
This should not be a huge problem with HC only tank though.
I cut HC almost to the substrate level and after a week or so you have a new carpet again. I managed to keep it like this for around one year or so. It became a bit more problematic when Eleocharis has spread all over my tank.

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Tom this woods actually look better to me than any of the stones a saw in iwagumi tanks. The idea is just magnificent.
 
Ive thought about trying this a few times but just cant find any suitable wood :crazy: .

Looking really nice, be lovely once the HC grows :)
 
Aquadream said:
Tom this woods actually look better to me than any of the stones a saw in iwagumi tanks. The idea is just magnificent.
Click to expand...

Well, I think there's some debate there, but to me they are just different. Some stones are very smooth and lack texture, but possess strong essence. I like these types of stones the most personally.

I know where such stones are, but I have simply not gone to get them and pull them out of the river.
Each color and texture can impact a very different feel, some work and make a nice effect better than others, but it's like comparing different styles of music, it's very hard to do.

I do think these match well with the sediment, some do not like it because they are so close, but that is often what one finds in natural streams, but I've found white sand against dark rocks in planted systems often also.

Still, once filled in, the bright green of HC against the dark deep red/brown color of the burl, which is different than the branch wood(darker), this will make a dramatic contrast. A nice high res shot and I might even use my flashes :woot:

I have a full Canon MKII system with all L lens and flashes, macros, tripods etc, but rarely take nice shots of tanks, guess I should do a few nice shots at some point. Sort of lazy there.

I use to collect petrified wood in streams, but donated the collection to a museum about 15 years ago.
Too heavy to move around etc.
 
schraptor said:
Tom,

Looking good already. I wonder why you say HC trimming is harder then Glosso as I find it pretty similar, the difference would be that after trimming pieces of HC get everywhere :)
This should not be a huge problem with HC only tank though.
I cut HC almost to the substrate level and after a week or so you have a new carpet again. I managed to keep it like this for around one year or so. It became a bit more problematic when Eleocharis has spread all over my tank.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's a bit like netting duckweed.

I had 2 meters worth of HC in the past. But it only lasted 3 months till we left for a week and the power went off for 4 days and temps where over 40C.

Toasted every bit of it, I manged to save 40% of the fish though and about 50% of the plants.
Other weedy species can cause issues, many add hair grass to such scapes, and there's a good reason I did not in this tank:)

Riccia and moss are others that can cause long term issues.
I want/seek long term nice original designs that stand the test of time.
So something I might keep for several years vs 1 year or less.
 
Added the ATI lights, they are awesome.
The marketing claims are in fact, actually correct, this is a first for a light maker.

I get 50% more light vs the TEK fixture which is a pretty good fixture.

This tank now has 400umol at the water's surface at 14 inches and at 36" 120umol.

I can run the lights as follows:

0-25% for 2 hours
25-100% for 2 hours
100% for 1 hour
100-25% for 2 hours
25-0% for 2 hours

9 hours total, but the energy use is about the same and little lower vs the 120 W LED system I run for 10 hours on my reef.

Since I have the dimmer function and controller built in, and the cost is a little less than a decent LED system, this is a good deal really.

Spread and intensity is better overall.
I need to run the bulbs at 100% for 50 hours for burn in so the tank should grow quickly this week.

Then modify the light function control thereafter.
 
Those peices of wood are amazing, I always thought An Iwagumi in wood would look stunning
 
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New light is really intense according to the meter, better spread etc.

Plants have not really done much, but they will in a week or so. No algae, plenty of shrimp ready if there was, maybe 40-50 shrimp.

120umol of light at the lowest regions, 400umol at the top about 40cm away from the soruce.
So the light is REALLY cooking.
 
Looking good Tom, really nice use of wood. What are the dimensions of the tank? Looks quite deep but not so high.
100x60x45cm or something similar?
 
I love the look of this and can't wait to see it grown in! Although I've seen pictures of some stunning (what I now know are!) iwagumi lay outs I prefer the look and feel of wood. Beautiful!

Viv
 
Mark Evans said:
This really is quite clever from a hardscape perspective Tom. well done :clap:
Click to expand...

Ain't got rocks.........but gots plenty of wood.

Well, that is not true...........I just have not gone out and searched much for rock, I did in the past, but it was for petrified wood only. CA and NV are excellent for various rock types.......I've been more privy to wood though.
 
Rabb.D said:
wow nice concept... i got a question might sound trivial... but how do you keep the HC rooted from the get go?
Click to expand...

1/2 in, 1/2 out when planting it.

Most of the root/strands etc are under the ADA aqua soil. Then they root and start to creep everywhere.

manzigumidec15.jpg

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