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George's One-Pot Iwagumi Challenge

Sounds like you spent nearly as much time on this as on a heavily planted setup.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
 
zanguli-ya-zamba said:
Mate I am struggling with HC, never had success with it. maybe Hydropiper could be an alternative.
Click to expand...

Just to make it clear. Tropica Elatine is not Elatine. I wonder how many people get confused by this :) I know George pointed this out in the journal, but people still keeps talking about Elatine :)
I would just drop the plant package to avoid this....

For plant hardness my order is the following: (nr1 is the hardest nr3 is the easiest)

1. REAL Elatine Hydropiper
2. HC
3. Micranthemum Monte Carlo (Large pearl grass)

So you're in the middle, but Monte Carlo need light! Which you might need a little more with HC too, otherwise the result will be the same as with the HC :)
 
Hey George!
A new scape again. Wow! Are you fired after your looooooong mission? :)
Just kidding mate. Always nice to see when you're into a new project.

1 pot.... hmm what's next? A single plantlet? :)

Micranthemum is really a good amount in the 1-2-Grow box. I love this plant. :)
 
viktorlantos said:
Just to make it clear. Tropica Elatine is not Elatine. I wonder how many people get confused by this :) I know George pointed this out in the journal, but people still keeps talking about Elatine :)
I would just drop the plant package to avoid this....

For plant hardness my order is the following: (nr1 is the hardest nr3 is the easiest)

1. REAL Elatine Hydropiper
2. HC
3. Micranthemum Monte Carlo (Large pearl grass)

So you're in the middle, but Monte Carlo need light! Which you might need a little more with HC too, otherwise the result will be the same as with the HC :)
Click to expand...

Hi Viktor thanks for your precisions mate :thumbup:. Good to know.As you said for sure there is a lot of confusion if it is branded on this name.
Do you have a pic of the real Elatine ?

George can't wait to see this scape fills with Monte Carlo !!

cheers
 
Real elatine hydropiper with super dense small root and hard leaves

u9uqe4et.jpg


Lets continue this discussion in another topic to not hijack the journal :)
 
Hi all,

So this is what I'm currently looking at... The cover glass I had made for me by my local glazier. It's optiwhite and toughened.

_MG_3568.jpg


As mentioned earlier, I'm running the DSM for a few days to establish root growth and prevent floaters after filling.

Photoperiod is 12hrs at 100% with the tiles 10cm from the surface. PAR will probably be over 250 at the plants, which is insane lighting in a regular planted tank filled with water! But because this is DSM, the plants have so much CO2 available to them, and the substrate is very rich, so they should give fast and healthy growth - hopefully!

There has already been noticeable growth in just 48hrs, so I've trimmed off the new growth and re-planted the cuttings to increase overall coverage...

_MG_3565.jpg
I

I'm away from home all next week so I figured I'd keep the DSM going during this period. There's no way I could ask or trust anyone enough to do the big daily water changes I always do with a new 'scape, so by running the DSM it's maintenance free, but the plants will hopefully continue to thrive.

This will also provide me with a lot more plant biomass to help out in the early stages where algae is most likely.

So, not a very exciting update, but an important one to give you guys an idea of how my One-Pot Iwagumi Challenge is progressing. :)

Cheers,
George
 
looking good cannot believe you have trimmer and re-planted cuttings already, that's great I have never done this but will in future as makes sense looking forward to next update after you week away, we will be itching to see progress George :D

Dean
 
Youll come back to a nice dense carpet by the end of next week George.
If this works out well just think how much you'd save on plants on future scapes ;)

I know in newly set up scapes its the norm to do daily water changes due to the ammonia build up etc but with the substrate being kind of damp would it not kind of be mineralizing which in turn reducing the amount of water changes needed when flooded?? (Just a random pop up in the head thought)
 
Hi all,

So I've recently returned home from a week away, and am pleased to see that there's been more noticeable growth with no perceivable dramas. The Micranthemum "Monte Carlo" has been sending out horizontal runners from most plantlets.

_MG_3590.jpg


I'm hopeful that the roots will have secured themselves sufficiently into the nutraSoil to allow for the immediate stocking of Amano shrimp. We shall see...

I don't usually add livestock right away into a new set-up, due to the ammonia from the soil. However, around half of this soil was from my previous scape, so will help minimise any nasty spikes.

This will also be backed-up by large daily water changes and the mature filter that's been running a holding tank housing some red-eye tetras and shrimp - to be added soon.

Because a lot of the soil is old, it's effectively like a sludge, and so adding water can cause a major mud bath. So for this reason I add the water extremely slowly using an airline...

_MG_3593.jpg


_MG_3595.jpg


More pics coming soon... :)
 
Hi all,

It's been 24hrs after filling and all seems well with only a couple of floaters. The water is a little cloudy due to the CO2 mist.

_MG_3620.jpg


The red-eye tetras don't suit the aquascape IMO, with their silver-grey bodies blending in with the rock work. Potential replacement would be the classical cardinals or harlequins.

_MG_3604.jpg


_MG_3602.jpg


I'm changing 50% water daily for the first week, then 50% every other day for the second week, then 50% every third day for the third week. Dosing 2 squirts of Tropica Specialised per day to start with, then upping as the biomass increases.

CO2 is one bubble per second, coming on 2hrs before lighting.

Lighting is 7hr photoperiod but only 50% intensity at 40cm above the tank, with 100% for 3hrs burst in the middle of the photoperiod.

Hopefully the shrimp will help to keep any potential algae in check.

_MG_3621.jpg


I've also added 250ml of Seachem Purigen into the chemical cartridge of the Fluval G which anecdotally helps to prevent diatoms - a very common problem in new set-ups, especially with soil. I'm thinking the Purigen helps to remove any ammonia spikes that usually trigger algae. Thanks to Ian Holdich for the tip! :)

So now it's just a case of maintaining the tank and watching the plants grow - hopefully trouble-free!

Longer-term I'd like to be able to grow the carpet quite deep towards the rear and keep it trimmed in a topiary-like fashion between the rocks at various heights to add interest to the layout. In a similar vain to Viktor's classic HC-only Iwagumi from last year. :)
 
George!

Great work and a refreshing approach that clearly demonstrates that you don't need to spend masses of cash on plants to get an effective aquascape.

I have a pot of Eleocharis mini, would you mind popping over and helping me split it into individual blades of grass :wacky:

Andyh
 
Great challenge George! Interested to see, how long it will take to form a carpet from one pot! In inert substrate it grows, but not that fast, as when used with active soil, at least for me.

The hard scape is very nice! Definitely another winner!
 
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