• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Shoshi Scaping

Seedling
Joined
13 Mar 2021
Messages
17
Location
UK
14/03/2021

Hi everyone, I have decided to start this journal in order to document the process of my new iwagumi aquascape. This journal will also tie into a school project that I’m doing called an EPQ. An EPQ is worth 50% of an A-Level and is essentially an essay or artefact on any topic you’d like to write about; and of course I just had to choose aquascaping.

I thought that I’d start off this thread by saying who I am and what my goals and plans are for it… I'm known as 'Shrimplet Scaping' on Instagram and I fell into the aquascaping hole just over a year ago. Since then, it’s been a never-ending hobby of mine and has become one of my biggest passions. In April last year I decided to start an Instagram account due to enjoying aquarium photography as well. I’ve loved every minute of having that account and have met some amazing people along the way, not to mention the amount of inspiration it’s given me.

The reasons behind starting this thread are to keep track of all the steps of creating this specific aquascape but also to inspire some people and to help educate people on the hobby. Originally, I was going to just mention parts of my project on my Instagram page but then thought why not share the whole journey publicly too! (This journal won’t be the actual artefact for my EPQ but will help me to form the main basis of the actual thing)

My aim for this iwagumi is to apply everything I’ve learnt so far about aquascaping and to stretch my scaping ability. I’ve never done an iwagumi-style scape before but did some research into them and found them to be fascinating so thought I’d attempt to create one myself. In this journal, I’ll include everything from filling and planting the tank to what hasn’t gone to plan, all the way to the end product. I look forward to documenting the journey of this scape and hope that some of you will come along for the ride too :)
 
15/03/2021

Thank you for everyone’s support so far! I can’t wait to get this project rolling..

I thought I’d start with showing how the hardscape has changed over the last few weeks (including my initial idea as a digital picture using the Scape-it website).

In chronological order:
07435859-5CB2-4A7D-B604-D67F40C68422.png
44E3328D-7608-4854-A897-F14DABB99BB7.jpeg

E455894F-CA6B-4A15-81E5-0ADAE1C3074D.jpeg
07E59192-E8DB-4A16-8211-A1726B999DFC.jpeg
0A8A954A-2F2F-4C73-8AF5-B8943CCA4857.jpeg
293C6BB8-9755-4734-B465-FDEA7483FCFF.jpeg

With this being the final hardscape design:
35B23221-3925-4B8E-ABF7-0B9C3BE22C3D.jpeg
 
18/03/2021

I filled up the tank yesterday evening! Unfortunately we encountered our first problem, the seal wasn’t on the filter properly so it started to spray water everywhere 😑 it’s all fine now but was pretty stressful at the time.

Here’s the tank whilst being filled with RO water..
6F983003-1265-40B8-B54D-53BCD704E480.jpeg


I’ll post some more photos later when I’m home as I forgot to download them onto my phone from my camera 🤦‍♀️
 
Here’s the full process of filling the tank up with some better photos! I will explain the filtration in a future post.


The tank is now in the process of the Dark Start Method; I’ve never used this method before but am curious about it. My thinking is that the new soil would have leached all its ammonia and the pH would’ve stabilised by the time I add plants. It also gives the beneficial bacteria time to colonise inside the tank instead of just in the filter media (I’m using cycled media in the filter to speed things up). I’m interested to see whether this method is necessary or even helps at all, maybe it’ll stabilise things so much that there will be a less nuisance algae?! We can only hope 🤞
B71B8640-470A-4F52-99AC-C66446546A05.jpeg
2F3F7AC3-81B0-4C5C-8F7E-5E3C3F198C15.jpeg
8907214E-D4B2-4177-BF77-2E17D9E5AC3E.jpeg
51F30B6C-02D8-48BE-85F0-56863DFB9BFA.jpeg
F69F02EE-8905-4ABD-B0A6-63417466FD77.jpeg
 
Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of updates recently.. the reason behind this is that my idea has completely changed. Instead of creating an iwagumi, I'll now be creating a nature aquarium. My thinking behind this is that I'll have much more to write about and it'll be good to start from scratch so I can record my ideas from the beginning (suggested by my EPQ teacher/supervisor). I'm going to create a new journal but I'll definitely still use this one in the EPQ to show how my thought process has changed. I'll try to link the new journal once I've created it; thank you for all the support so far :))
 
Back
Top