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| Dragon stone iwagumi |

Akua.

Akua.

Seedling
Joined
26 Nov 2016
Messages
5
Location
Belgium
Cheers everyone. I've been in the hobby for 3-4 years slowly learning. This is my third iwagumi in the sence that stone is the only hardscape. I've grown a succesful minimalistic iwagumi with seiryu hardscape over a year ago in a 45 cm nano aquarium. Always loved the look and feel of this minimalistic style and wanted to create it on a larger scale this time.

Tank: Juwel Rio 125 (filter removed)
Filter: Tetra Ex 600 Plus + Koralia Nano 900
Substrate: Tropica Aquarium Soil Powder + Dennerle Starter Tabs
Hardscape: Dragon stone
Lighting: Iquatics Aqualumi 4 tube | 4 x 28W T5
CO2: Pressurized 2kg bottle, nothing fancy on the glassware

Over the course of several days, i created two hardscapes:

One

ndrinm.jpg


Two

ehki3d.jpg



Which do you prefer? All tips, inputs and thoughts are welcome.


Thanks for reading ;)
 
I prefer the drama of "One"
- you might play with it a bit more, especially the far right, back stone
Much depends on your planting as color, texture, light will affect the perception - looking through water is also very different, sometimes I prefer my hardscape in water, but it often highlights my "mistakes" :wideyed: :oops:
 
Number one, and as alto said, the stone on the far right needs adjustement, otherwise it looks nice!
 
Thanks for your insights everyone!

Today i rebuild the two main stones from layout One and went on from there, this is what i came up with.
Girlfriend isn't to keen on the high slope to the far left, however, i think once it's planted with HC it will give a good sence of depth.

25p7axu.jpg



Plant-wise i'm still a bit on the fence. Was originally planning to go HC only with maybe some dwarf hairgrass accents. But maybe some (red) stems behind the main stone could add to the drama.
Also not sure yet on what to do plant-wise in the valley in the middle.

Totally random picture of my 30cm low tech desktop cube i set up a week ago. Used plants from juwel scape i tore down and hardscape i had lying around. Plan is to use it as a RCS only tank.

2zg99w6.jpg


Thanks for reading! :cigar:
 
Good evening all,

Due to starting my new (first) job and the hollidays i didn't have time to post updates.
Tank is somewhere between 30 and 40 days old now, not sure.


2j1pnh2.jpg


qsnpdt.jpg


Everything is going nicely, never had such an algae free tank start-up. However, last few days i noticed some green spot algae on the hardscape. I reduced lighting intensity back to : 6 hours total ( 1.5 hours 56W - 3 hours 112W - 1.5 hours 56W). And i increased Phosphates a bit in my EI formula.


Also i noticed some brown stuff on my stem plants, which looks like brown algae but it isn't. Hopefully someone can help me identify what this is and what causes it?

s2e96q.jpg


I also noticed very little of my HC leafs showing darker edges / brown residu of some sort. I have searched extensively but cannot find out what this is or causes it. Someone?

sfjeqp.jpg



Thanks :)
 
An amazing start and fantastic update. I'm not sure why but the soft, dark edge on one HC leaf is suggesting to me the start of bba. I'm sure (and hope) I'm wrong but I've been plagued in past scapes.
 
The browning is start of BBA and/or diatoms.

Basically lower light intensity levels or add shrimps and or Ottos that may eat it.

If diatoms, frequent water changes, plant wiping/cleaning and will eventually go away.
 
Akua. said:
Good evening all,

Due to starting my new (first) job and the hollidays i didn't have time to post updates.
Tank is somewhere between 30 and 40 days old now, not sure.


View attachment 102254

View attachment 102255

Everything is going nicely, never had such an algae free tank start-up. However, last few days i noticed some green spot algae on the hardscape. I reduced lighting intensity back to : 6 hours total ( 1.5 hours 56W - 3 hours 112W - 1.5 hours 56W). And i increased Phosphates a bit in my EI formula.


Also i noticed some brown stuff on my stem plants, which looks like brown algae but it isn't. Hopefully someone can help me identify what this is and what causes it?

View attachment 102256

I also noticed very little of my HC leafs showing darker edges / brown residu of some sort. I have searched extensively but cannot find out what this is or causes it. Someone?

View attachment 102257
Click to expand...

Looks really nice! Hopefully I'll be able to come up with something similar!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for all the input everyone, much appreciated!

This evening i confirmed it is brown algae, as BBA would not come of the leaves with light rubbing that easy.
My followup question is now: why do i get diatoms/brown algae 6 weeks after setup with a mature filter ?

Also i reduced light intensity a bit + upped PO4 a week ago, yet GSA keeps increasing slowly. Atm it is only on the rocks, not on leaves or glas/filters so i don't really mind. But i want to understand why.
The tank receives a fair amount of direct sunlight for a few hours in the morning. Could this be the sole source of the GSA?
 
Akua. said:
Thanks for all the input everyone, much appreciated!

This evening i confirmed it is brown algae, as BBA would not come of the leaves with light rubbing that easy.
My followup question is now: why do i get diatoms/brown algae 6 weeks after setup with a mature filter ?

Also i reduced light intensity a bit + upped PO4 a week ago, yet GSA keeps increasing slowly. Atm it is only on the rocks, not on leaves or glas/filters so i don't really mind. But i want to understand why.
The tank receives a fair amount of direct sunlight for a few hours in the morning. Could this be the sole source of the GSA?
Click to expand...

Sunlight is might be the cause. You cannot get rid of it completely but can put it under control by golden algae eater (not recommended) or golden longfin pleco or nerite
 
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