Iwagumi Critic Please

hi everyone, this is an attempt at the infamous style that is known as iwagumi!

please let me know where i might be going wrong? go easy mind... ... this is only my second setup for a planted tank.

the stone is not actualy stone its slate.

tank size is 300l 120 x 40 x 70.

ada power sand special, aqua soil malaya. iron bottom, bacter 100. also in power sand.

i plan on using gloso or hc, not sure yet. hair grass riccia...usual suspects really.

thanks.

mark! p.s i should be doing a full journal

Awesome!! ill look forward to folowing this post

eric

thanks eric, here's anothere version.

i've just thrown them around because there extremley heavy! the placment of the smaller stone are no where near... its the big ones im interested in at the moment.

i hate rules!

ok this is the 3rd try. i've put a new stone to the left. moved the 2 gig ones left slightly.

i've photoshoped the imgage (reflections etc...) just so you only see the rocks! i reckon its getting closer to the final thing. i've sprnt hours on this and it's not as easy as amano makes it look!

Generally you only have one large rock which is the dominant rock, the others are smaller and so are subordinate to it, unless you have lots of rocks, say over 7 when the eye can cope with more larger rocks. Also try and have them groups in odd numbers, I.e. 3 on left 5 on right, single ricks tend to look out of place. The first photo, the two large rocks are to central, off centre placement works best.

For me the second photo is closets, you just need one more rock on the right to bring it to 5 and two small rocks on the left so you have 3.

If you want the two largest upright rocks, have more smaller ones and grade them more, i.e. have a few mid sized and lots of smaller ones.

It is all however up to the person doing the placement and often you will be guided by your eye more then you will following any rules, so its just a case of trying lots of different placements until you find one you like and that your eyes like looking at.

Hope that helps.

Sam

thanks themuleos,

im taking in what your saying. i've updated again taking into acount what your saying, and yes it starting to work a little better.or am i starting to go a little stone crazy? lol

i reallly want these to like right before i plant.( obviously )

the odd no.'s work too. what do ya reckon?

and yet another one. this time just 1 set instead of the 2. i think this one is working the best for me so far.

as alot of these slates are more flat than round its dificult to create the illusion of roundnes, if you get my drift.
anyway please let me know what you think. try and imagine everything green.... with algae

saintly said:

and yet another one. this time just 1 set instead of the 2. i think this one is working the best for me so far.

as alot of these slates are more flat than round its dificult to create the illusion of roundnes, if you get my drift.
anyway please let me know what you think. try and imagine everything green.... with algae

View attachment 51249

Click to expand...

that's deffo the best one so far!

thanks esfa. at last i think im getting somewhere.

since the pic ive flatened the right side aqua soil so its level

I agree with Esfa, that one looks great!

saintly said:

and yet another one. this time just 1 set instead of the 2. i think this one is working the best for me so far.

as alot of these slates are more flat than round its dificult to create the illusion of roundnes, if you get my drift.
anyway please let me know what you think. try and imagine everything green.... with algae

View attachment 51249

Click to expand...

This one looks pretty slick.

I like this one too. For me, it should look like the rocks exist in that space naturally, they shouldn't look like they've been placed.

Good work. Look forward to the finished product, just be careful with the initial planting. This type of setup often falls prey to algae problems because of the lack of plant load not balancing with the nutrients being supplied.

llj

thanks guys & gals. this is the one i shall use then. Brill.

its been set up for 24 hours now and it still looks good ( no water)(or plants)

once you start arranging stones it becomes adictive to try and better the previous attempt. as you can probably tell, i was clules but after a few comments and and reading an aqua journal with amano rock formations this is what i came up with.

i've manipulated the aqua soil as to give depth, rise and falls & the odd minor stane adjustment. this is as its going to stay.

now to order the plants... im not looking forward to bill for that one!

the substrate alone was well over the other side of £200!

thanks again.

i'll start a proper journal soon. do i add to this one or start again?

Yep have to agree, that rock work looks best and like Llj says, looks the most natural which is the key. The size variation works well too.

Sam

Keep adding to this journal, it will show how the tank has develpoped, a great hardscape BTW