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Please evaluate my iwagumi-ish set up - Am I doing it right?

Bobbynogz

Bobbynogz

Seedling
Joined
6 May 2013
Messages
7
Location
London, United Kingdom
Hi all,

Just registered as I'm nervous, I feel like a new parent!

I've finally (after several months of collecting the bits required in stages) planted my iwagumi-ish tank. I bought 30 pots of hairgrass, some vallis for the back, and a few other bits and pieces for variety. I just need to affirmation from more knowledgeable people that what I've done is right, and that my set up isn't going to kill every living thing in my tank!

So, starting off with the substrate. I've got a generous base layer of Tetra Plant Complete Substrate, and above that a thinner layer of CaribSea Tahitian Moon Sand.

The planting; I carefully removed the rock wool with tweezers, trying to avoid as much damage to the roots as possible. I then inserted each clump of grass into the substrate as I've seen many videos of, after moistening the substrate on a hose mist setting. Then I filled up the tank to 30%, and ensured that nothing had come loose. All good; only a couple of clumps of hairgrass unrooted. Seemed like a result! Was the preparation done right? At first, there was a tonne of pearling from the plants, this now seems to have faded out. The tips of the hairgrass and some leaves here and there are turning a yellow/brown colour, which from my research is a normal thing as they are adjusting to submerged growth etc.

Moving onto the actual maintenance and assisting the plants. This is where my worry lies. I have a Tetra Ex1200 external filters, that also has a Hydor 300W heater. Alongside this, I have CO2 fire extinguisher and solenoid regulator etc going into an inline diffuser just before the heater.

Everything seems to be working. I've got a fairly high bubble count, and it looks as though bubbles (it looks like sediment they're that fine) are coming out of the outlet pipe in the tank. (See the video below).



However, the drop checker I installed is still blue. Absolutely no change. It's a ready mixed solution done by Aqua Essentials so it should be fine. I've highlighted all of the different components in a video above. It's only a minute long so I'd appreciate it if you'd mind having a gander and seeing if I'm doing anything fatally wrong, and that what I'm seeing coming from the outlet pipe actually is CO2 and not just sediment being blown around.

Lastly, I'm dosing 20ml of Neutro+ fertiliser, and have two 45W Day & Tropical Juwel lights. This equates to 1.892 wpg.

I sincerely appreciate any help!
 
now that is a lot of hair grass! wow! firstoff - the hair grass should ideally have been segregated into smaller clumps for faster propagation to be honest. But look on the brighter side - you have enough plant mass to start off with. Second as for substrate I personally cannot advice anything as I have never used the product that you have put in. With a inline diffuser - IMO - that is a good investment, my only point of concern is - the flow in the tank - seems very low to me. reason - you have a inline heater and diffuser that reduces the flow way too much..just add a small to medium sized wave maker in the tank for water flow so that each area of your tank gets proper CO2 and nutrients and this will also help combat algae gripping the tank. lastly - drop checkers take quite sometime to show colors so wait it out..it'll come..:) and btw- that's a very nice scape considering this is your first attempt! kudos!

ohh - almost forgot for the plant tips turning yellow - it's kinda normal as most plants we buy are grown emmersed at nurseries and now they are adjusting to submerged condition and little die off is expected, but mind you this is the most critical time when algae can spread..trim off any dying/yellowing blades and keep changing water regularly and give a higher flow as I mentioned before..things should be just fine! :)
 
Thanks Zico!

I have a powerhead spare, should I stick that a couple of inches below the surface to move the surface around somewhat?
 
Tank looks great. Only thing I would point out is relating to co2. Not sure what size tank you have there but if the bubble rate you have on the video is what you are running at it looks quite low at 1bps-ish. Also, the drop checker, unless it's reflection looks like you have filled the bulb right up. The drop checker should be filled half way up the round bulb so that the most surface area is offered to interact with the gas. It's also placed in front of the outlet so won't give a reading of the overall level. If at all possible I could convert the inlet to get a spray bar along the back and as mentioned another pump. Water looks quite slow moving as it is. The drop checker would also give you a better idea if it was at the opposite end of the tank furthest away from the inlet.
 
Hi guys,

The bubble count is about 2.5-3bps. I've redone the drop checker so it's only half full, will see how it goes. I'll check on it in a couple of hours. The tank is a 180ltr.

The powerheads I have are silly. The cables are too short to reach the floor when installed, so at the moment it's useless. Unfortunately, I've been a bit of a nitwit on the circulation side of things. I hacked the spray bar pipe to pieces for the outlet, to make it more of a temporary, make shift lily pipe. I read elsewhere numerous times that spray bars are in fact detrimental to CO2 levels as the surface agitation would result in losing CO2 - so I hacked it apart thinking I wouldn't need it again.

I'll look into splicing the powerhead cables to get some more movement. I do want to avoid surface agitation ideally, as the tank is next to my bed - I don't want too much noise!
 
I don't think spray bars are detrimental to flow. The idea is to get an even flow of Co2 around the plants in all areas. Putting the spray bar about 200mm from the surface facing forward prevents too much surface Agitation. Lily pipes as I understand it need very powerful pumps to get good circulation. I actually started with a lily pipe set up albeit plastic as oppose glass and went back to spray bars. At the moment your tank is just firing Co2 enriched water in one corner. That's why the drop checker would be better in the opposing corner where Co2 is worst. If you're Ok there chances are you're Ok where the inlet is.
 
diagramjl.jpg


Hi all,

So I bought a new spray bar and extended the one I already had, it now covers the whole length of the tank (3ft) at the back. I've alternated each piece of the spray bar for better circulation, too.

As you can see in the diagram above, I've got the first, third and fifth tubes of holes are going across the surface (not creating bubbles to agitate it, but close enough to make a decent swirl), then the second and fourth are blowing diagonally deep across the tank.

Sound good?

On another note, the drop checker has now gone nice green colour and the plants are going nicely. They're growing up at the moment, but before trimming them to create runners, I want the roots to get properly settled first.
 
Bobbynogz said:
diagramjl.jpg


Hi all,

So I bought a new spray bar and extended the one I already had, it now covers the whole length of the tank (3ft) at the back. I've alternated each piece of the spray bar for better circulation, too.

As you can see in the diagram above, I've got the first, third and fifth tubes of holes are going across the surface (not creating bubbles to agitate it, but close enough to make a decent swirl), then the second and fourth are blowing diagonally deep across the tank.

Sound good?

On another note, the drop checker has now gone nice green colour and the plants are going nicely. They're growing up at the moment, but before trimming them to create runners, I want the roots to get properly settled first.
Click to expand...

I'm no expert but will the spray bar like you have it not actually slow flow. If you have one current heading down hitting the front and coming back up plus one going across the top hitting the front and going down they are going to meet in the middle and cancel each other out?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
 
I'm not an expert with the best flow either, a lot will depend on where the plants are and the height but I recently read the best option was to have the bar 200mm ish down from the top with the holes pointing horizontally forward so the water creates a circular motion round the front glass. Also trimming encourages new growth above the gravel so I guess it would do the same under the gravel so I wouldn't worry about trimming preventing root growth. If you have used a light weight substrate it might even prevent the plants uprooting themselves if they get too buoyant before the roots are established.
 
i would say - with all the heater and Co2 in the outflow line the flow was already slow from what I could make in the video that you posted..a spraybar in that flow rate..IMO it'll get slower even further! test it out a bit and visual and floatation test might be a good option I guess
 
Ah, in that case, I can't actually get the spray bar any lower down, but I'll point them all at a 30 degree angle so they're pushing water in unison. Maybe that'll create better circulation.
 
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