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My first iwagami, Scabrous Peak.

Iain Sutherland

Iain Sutherland

Global Moderator
UKAPS Team
Joined
7 Jul 2011
Messages
3,744
Location
Cambridge
Hey folks, so i wanted to set up an iwagami tank for less than £100... wishful?

45x25x25 ebay special derimmed = 99p
Manado substrate £15
HOB filter £10
Light unit 2x 24w ( 1 x 10k, 1 x 7.5k) £45
Ceramic diffuser £6
Green garden stone for rockeries £3
HC x 2 pots £8
Rotalla wallichi £4.50

Total - £101.49

Just add fish :)

Sorry about the average pics, i have a canon 550d but dont know how to use it yet :lol:
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This has been a bit of a learning curve as never used stone or shrimp before.
The tank has been wet for about 3 weeks now, been pretty lucky with algae, not so lucky with hydra... ongoing battle!!
I now know that the substrate i chose is a pain as it has no weight to it and lifts with the slightest of flow. HC likes to grow on it though.
The 'green stone' i chose is too green :) it blends with the HC, they did a blue stone aswell that i will try next time.
Bare with me on the Rotalla Wallichii it just got it yesterday from TGM.
The back ground is just blue tint window frosting film, think i works pretty well as an amano rip off :) Once i learn to use my camera i will remove all equipment and back light it to see how it looks..?? What do you think?

All comments welcome.

Also just bought 5x 5 banded barbs for my 55g.... LOVE THEM!!!!! Going to get 3 more.

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My first iwagami, un named. Pic heavy

Looks good! Surprising what you get from 2 pots! Look forward to it maturing ;)
 
Re: My first iwagami, un named. Pic heavy

Yeah, have used it in a shrimp tank before without adverse consequences. I was using it to get rid of internal worms in my fish. However, I've also used it in my nano to get rid of planaria and hydra. Very effective but I did do double dose as I had nothing else living in there at the time. Hydra were dead in two days, planaria in three. Here's a guide:

http://ukshrimp.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1332

Alternatively Aqua Essentials do a planaria medication which I'm about to try in my main tank which has planaria again. Might work for hydra too, dunno.
 
Re: My first iwagami, un named. Pic heavy

Sentral said:
Looks good! Surprising what you get from 2 pots! Look forward to it maturing ;)
Click to expand...

isnt it!! i had the co2 blasting out for the first 2 1/2 weeks with both 24w lights running quite long periods. This it now seems wasnt the best idea... while the HC has grown amazingly quickly with weekly trims i now have a diatoms issue which the 3 amanos just cant deal with. I have been removing it manually with a toothbrush and taken out one bulb and it seems to be calming. Also have 15 sakura coming tomorrow from Ben M so they should help.

Snails are also something of a pain at the moment too, daily squashings and cucumber traps at night etc so i think i might have broken the back of the problem.

Got new shoots coming from the wallichii after more than a week so with a little luck in a couple more weeks it should be ready for me to trim the old stems off that are stunted. Figures crossed for lush red growth like this....?? wishful maybe :D
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So now for some advise please...

Im looking for a suggestion for another accent plant, the hairgrass i took from another tank didnt like being moved and has also stunted. I considered buying new hairgrass then thought better of it as id like to try something new... as you can see in the previous pics i left space along the back and around a few of the rocks, not too tall...?? Im pretty sure i have the condidtions for reasonable success with a high demand plant... just my skills might be the weak link :crazy:

Considering adding one large rock and removing a few smaller ones for a more traditional iwagami style... what do you guys think?? I will post some up to date pics once the sakuras are settled.

Also i have the smallest hydor powerhead i could find that runs 24/7 to circulate the co2 but the cardinals just tend to hide out behind a rock, when i turn it off they free swim in a school immeadiately? any ideas to solve this? Obviously i considered putting it on a timer to go off at night but that isnt when im looking at it :thumbdown: i cant help but feel this may also be stressing the cardinals out?

New pics once the sakuras settle.
Thanks for any imput you have....
 
Been a while before i posted on this journal, i left the plants to do there thing so i havent spent anytime trimming. The Rotalla wallichii which was in poor shape when it was delivered got infested with staghorn so pulled it out apart from a few tiny bits.
I seem to mainly use this tank to grow out shrimp then pull out the best ones to go in the 260lt.

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Looks fantastic love the shrimp too
Quick question where did you get the light from am looking for a fixture for a 45 cm and yours looks perfect
Cheers
Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
thanks mate, its not what i wanted but was a good practice. When i get bored it will get a facelift.

Light was from all pond solutions on ebay
2x 24w, its a decent little fixture for the price (£45 if i remember )

i changed out the pink bulb its supplied with to a 10k standard white T5, I have a guisemann midday to go in when i rescape. Thought it might be very high light but really havent had many algae issues, only persistent one being the green algae that i blame the rock choice for not the light.
I would recommend it...
 
Many thanks will look into it and keep up the good work
Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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