Iwagumi and Dry start method

[Wills]

What kind of hair algae is it? Green, black brush or staghorn? None of them are easy to deal with tbh I have them all in my tank and I just cant get rid.

Black brush and staghorn grow in the same conditions as plants so if you do well with plants you do well with algae... the only thing I've found that sort of works but not perfect are my stiphodon gobies, they eat the microfauna that grow in the algae and eat the algae in the process.

Co2 is always a really dangerous thing its a pressurised gas that we are using in a controlled way. Were you hurt when it exploded? When you say explode do you mean it burst out at you or part of the regulator or cap burst etc?

Colin is absolutely right above - it will gas off naturally but be very careful in enclosed spaces. If it ever leaks you know because the canister will frost over and if that happens open all the doors and windows.

Wills

 

[Barry Tetra]

it burst out at you or part of the regulator or cap burst etc?

Yeah, out of the regulator and the canister also froze itself

 

[Colin_T]

You will be fine Barry. As long as you didn't get frost bite from the CO2 freezing your skin, there is nothing to worry about. If you inhaled a heap of CO2, chances are you wouldn't be talking to us now.

 

[Barry Tetra]

@Wills
look how much my Helanthium tenellum have grow (in gravel too!) after I moved them to a grow-out tank. I might start doing Iwagumi again!

 

[Wills]

@Wills
look how much my Helanthium tenellum have grow (in gravel too!) after I moved them to a grow-out tank. I might start doing Iwagumi again!

View attachment 148378

Wow! That’s awesome well done looks really good and in the picture not that different to hairgrass really. You could turn that to iwagumi just clear some areas of plants and add the rocks just make sure you add height or do something like add tall stems or floating plants for cover for the fish in a sparse iwagumi fish can get stressed so if you want to keep fish in there long term (eg a couple of months) I would add something in to create a bit of cover.

Wills

 

[Barry Tetra]

Wow! That’s awesome well done looks really good and in the picture not that different to hairgrass really. You could turn that to iwagumi just clear some areas of plants and add the rocks just make sure you add height or do something like add tall stems or floating plants for cover for the fish in a sparse iwagumi fish can get stressed so if you want to keep fish in there long term (eg a couple of months) I would add something in to create a bit of cover.

Wills

Glad you like it and thanks for recommending me this plant.
I replace liquid ferts dosing with Osmocote capsule every 2-3 inches square and got a really good result as I don’t have algae anymore.

I’m pretty sure lemon tetras are okay in sparse iwagumi though, I have them breeding 2 times now, unfortunately 26 fries were killed by various aquatic bugs. https://www.fishforums.net/threads/lemon-tetra-fries.476569/

Also, I saw you have stainless inflow and outflow in your planted tank. I want to know if it rust or not long term?

 

[Wills]

Glad you like it and thanks for recommending me this plant.
I replace liquid ferts dosing with Osmocote capsule every 2-3 inches square and got a really good result as I don’t have algae anymore.

I’m pretty sure lemon tetras are okay in sparse iwagumi though, I have them breeding 2 times now, unfortunately 26 fries were killed by various aquatic bugs. https://www.fishforums.net/threads/lemon-tetra-fries.476569/

Also, I saw you have stainless inflow and outflow in your planted tank. I want to know if it rust or not long term?

That all sounds great Barry Yes I have stainless inlet and outlet, no visible rust at all - proper stainless steel shouldnt rust ever though, if its an alloy coated with an effect that might be a different story but on this set no problems. I just think it looks better than the plastic kits you get and the glass kits look nice when they are clean but if you run them for a week they look awful and while the outlet is easy to clean the inlet is quite tough really.

Wills