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My 2nd iwagumi

flygja

flygja

Member
Joined
12 Mar 2008
Messages
1,260
Location
Penang, Malaysia
Seeing as the first one was a failure, I decided to tear it down and start a new one with some new rocks I collected while on holiday. Anyway...

60 x 30 x 36 cm
Eheim 2215
DIY LED lighting 6 hours per day
Pressurised CO2 through an inline reactor at ~2bps
EI dosed with ADA Green Brighty Step
Cooled via twin 80mm fans

Here's the hardscape. I couldn't find the plants in time, so had to fill it up and put my fish back in. This was about 6 weeks ago.
DSC08918.jpg


Planted some HC all around. HG behind the main rock. Japanese hair grass in between the rocks. This was about 4 weeks ago.
DSC08935.jpg


And this is what it looked like last weekend.
DSC09120.jpg


Overall slow and steady growth. I never had success with HC before so I'm quite happy it. The HC doesn't root very well though. It grows nicely and spreads, but the original clump of roots don't grow deeper. So I sometimes end up floating bushes of HC. HG is really slow... slower than HC. But I think it might be because the light is blocked by the big rock.

Having some problems with GSA on the rocks that I need to scrub with a toothbrush every 2 weeks or so. My lighting unit's dimmer is busted, so I can't control the intensity of the lighting. Very little GSA on the glass though, which is a first for me. I think its probably because LEDs are directional, so less light spills onto the glass. Getting BGA now and then on the left and rear glass.

Photographing my tank with LED lights is really difficult by the way. The light doesn't spill through the back glass, so most of the time the background appears gray as you can see in the 2nd pic. In the third shot, I stuck on a piece of embossed book wrapping plastic to the rear glass and it helps to catch some light.
 
This I like, a lot. I hope you fight off your algae, it's a great scape!
 
Very well done indeed, i'd love to have this at home.

The HC looks really healthy, the rocks are of a different style to usual and in a not so typical composition but it all works really really well. Nice one for thinking out of the box!
 
Thanks for all the great comments guys.

Themuleous said:
Out of interest, how do you find that skimmer on the filter intake? Is it noisy at all?
Click to expand...
Hi Sam, it's mostly quiet. When the water level drops though, the "suction" at the top increases, so there may be a sorta slurping sound. It's easily fixed by rotating the stick to adjust the suction. If only it wasn't completely black and ugly... :lol:

Garuf said:
This I like, a lot. I hope you fight off your algae, it's a great scape!
Click to expand...
Currently running out of ideas actually. CO2's turning the drop checker almost yellow. I could reduce the lighting period to 4 or 5 hours, but I'm afraid of it having negative effects on the plant growth.

For those with experience in HC, do you know why my initial clumps of HC don't root deeper? The runners are quite deep. It's really hard to trim these HC bushes, I do end up uprooting whole bushes instead!
 
I've only ever planted HC in individual strands which don't seem to suffer the same issue as you describe. This takes much longer to plant but tends to give a more even coverage than planting lots of small clumps.
 
that looks great David :thumbup: .
guess those koh lanta rocks passed the acid test then ;) .
 
Thanks Nelson! Was really glad they passed the acid test. Can't imagine 40 kgs of stone being used as... well... stones in the garden! :lol:

Nry, I was too lazy to plant HC stem by stem, so I planted them in clumps. Looks like I'm paying for my laziness now. I'm hoping the runners grab deep so I can finally trim the clumps without fear.
 
What a lovely looking setup,i like the overall layout,i feel its nice to something that looks good to you,i hope you sort you algae issues out,

regards,
john.
 
When the time comes, don't be tardy giving the HC a prune. I found that leaving just two weeks longer than I should have meant the bottom started to die off, by which time it was too late and I had to replant the lot. A little trim, often is the way to go with HC for longer term scape's.

Sam
 
Loving the rocks :D
 
Episode 1 - The GSA Menace

This is what the rocks look like after 2 weeks.
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DSC09136.jpg


The "green side" is strong on this one. So I end up scrubbing the rocks with a toothbrush every 2 weeks, which is not fun at all. The GSA shows up a lot more because my rocks are mostly pale in colour. Anyone find it funny that the oto is totally at the wrong spot?!

But wait, there's a sequel...

Episode 2 - Attack of the BGA

Now I'm starting to get loads of BGA also!!
DSC09288.jpg

DSC09289.jpg


Begin the BGA wars have... I think its mostly down to the tank having quite a lot of detritus stuck in the HC. I have rinsed out my filter, but I didn't clean the hoses and connectors, so I'm guessing thats where the gunk is coming from. And also probably a lack of flow.

So I bought one of these to help fight the invasion
DSC09290.jpg


I'm also thinking the reason why the hairgrass isn't growing at all is down to lack of nutrients and CO2 there, so I have the Koralia Nano point at its general direction.

I also bought 10 Amano shrimps and 5 Cherry shrimps but all I have are 2 Amanos. Accidentally gassed my tank with too much CO2 one day and had 2 fish and 2 shrimps jump out. Might have been more as my cat could've snacked on them.

I hope it isn't a triology...
 
How noisy/quiet is the Koralia?

I'll be interested to see how the new pump affects the algae on the rocks - I get the same covering and mine need a good scrub every 4-6 weeks. I've found the pouring boiling water over the rocks then leaving them soaking in hot water whilst I do a water change helps shift the stuff more easily, but it soon returns.
 
The Koralia is pretty much completely silent when its submerged under water. It's quite expensive compared to standard powerheads but I hope its worth it in the long run. I don't think it'll get rid of the GSA on my rocks though. That's most probably due to too much lighting, which I cannot control right now because the dimmer on my LEDs is dead. It'll probably help with the BGA.

I really don't wanna remove the rocks to clean off the GSA either. Most of the rocks are buried under the soil and removing it will probably uproot much HC too.
 
Check me out. I got my mug taken with Amano himself!
20101128__DSC5613_994_1000.jpg


He was really funny and modest during the convention. He started off showing older pictures of his expeditions to the Amazon, Borneo and West Africa. His style of photography is so extreme that when he found something he liked, he'd ask the pilot (of a small Cessna type aircraft) to switch the engines off so they could glide around with minimal vibrations. He had the plane's doors and wheel covers removed.

During the tank set up, he also made some funny comments. Best was when he was evening out the soil using the ADA Sand Flattener. He said he usually uses a triangular ruler. He even brought it and showed it to us and it was a bog-standard one found in geometry sets. But then he commented that the local ADA distributor won't be happy if he used his favourite ruler, so he used the Sand Flattener instead.

True master! :thumbup:
 
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