Iwagumi Nano Journal

[jameshughes1989]

After the success of my 2ft planted cube I have decided to re-do my nano tank. Im going for an iwagumi style scape. I dont know how it'll turn out as I am a complete beginner to aquascaping to be honest, so im learning as I go, so be easy on me!

Tank: Aquaone cube 25cmx25cmx25cm. Due to shape, not the easiest tank to aquascape- 16 litres, approx 4 gallons.
Lighting: 9w Arc Pod.
Substrate: Unipac black sand.
Ferts: EasyCarbo and EI method dosing.
Co2: I may go DIY yeast method, undecided.
Flow and filtration: Hagen Elite mini filter. 220lph giving me a turnover of 13x+.
Heating: 50w intrepet heater. I may look for a 25w as the 50w is a bit bulky for the size of the tank.
Livestock: 10 Crystal red shrimp- Grade A
Plants: Hopefully some cuba and some dwarf hairgrass for the background.
Maintenance: Weekly 50% water change, and pruning when needed.
Decor: 1 large rock I smashed up It actually made me some half decent pieces. I have used 5 pieces and I hoper it looks okay. Ill want opinions when I get a pic up.

So the tank is already up and running, with the rock and shrimp in. There will be a delay until next weekend as I go away for 4 days tomorrow so this is just a teaser of my plan.

Now some questions,

-I understand the wpg rule doesnt apply on tanks this size but is the arc pod okay for this setup?
-Will I need the co2?
-Do the plants sound okay? Could I mix the hairgrass throughout the cuba or is it best used as a background plant?
-Can anyone recommend me a 25w heater? I seen very conflicting opinions on heaters this size.

Im hoping some the more experienced planters can advise me as im still learning as I go, so any input will be appreciated.

I hope I have made this an interesting read and start to my journal. The pics will start to go up next w/end. Any input or critism welcome, cheers.

Regards, James

 

[jameshughes1989]

Okay, time for a update and some pics. This has been a bit slow going as Ive been so busy. I havent ordered the plants yet either Any suggestions on where to order them online? Green Machine?

The scape of the rock work is complete, let me know what you think. At the mo it has got some java fern in there. They are all plantlets from my mother leaves in my bigger setup. Its a temp thing but I think it looks good.

Some pics:

Rock Work

With the java fern

And some shrimp

Excuse the quality of the pics and the state of the glass, it has since had a clean

What do you guys think? Once the planned plants are in, ill get the DIY Co2 up and running. Thats about as far as Ive got for now though Thanks for reading,

James

 

[stevereade]

Looking good, loving the scape and Crystal Red Shrimp, what temp are you keeping them at?

 

[jameshughes1989]

Hey thanks, im keeping them at 22/23 degrees. They seem to like it at that temp.

James

 

[stevereade]

Cool, I had mine at 27 and they jumped out the tank lol, will have some more one day tho.

 

[jameshughes1989]

Wow, isnt that quite warm for them? They are really cool to watch!

Maybe if mine start to breed ill be selling some

 

[stevereade]

Well I'll have some if they do, yeah I bought them, didn't research them also they were like Grade S or something like that which meant they were stupid expensive too lol.

 

[ian]

loving the rock layout, James. Are you gonna plant anything else in there? Dwarf hairgrass?

BTW it those shrimp have babies give me a nudge!

 

[simonas]

this is my first visit to the planted section!!!

Loving the tank given the space I;d like to set a tank like that up for cherry shrimp as well. I shall keep an eye on this journal

well done

 

[jameshughes1989]

Well I'll have some if they do, yeah I bought them, didn't research them also they were like Grade S or something like that which meant they were stupid expensive too lol.

Wow that was brave of you I love CRS, so beautiful! Ill let you know if they do!

loving the rock layout, James. Are you gonna plant anything else in there? Dwarf hairgrass?

BTW it those shrimp have babies give me a nudge!

Hey thanks, well the java fern wont stay in there, ill be adding dwarf hairgrass and cuba when I can source some. Im thinking of ordering from the Green Machine. The rock scape was a bit of a struggle because of the tank size and shape but im generally happy with it. I was lucky I got them shapes when I went at the original piece with a hammer!

Ill let you know too!

this is my first visit to the planted section!!!

Loving the tank given the space I;d like to set a tank like that up for cherry shrimp as well. I shall keep an eye on this journal

well done

You should pop here more often, its good fun! Set one up then bud, I know your into SW these days but a little tank like this is very little maintenance compared and worth it too.



Thanks for all the nice comments. Ill update again soon!

James

 

[Carlovel1]

Loving the rocks and shrimp

 

[jameshughes1989]

Loving the rocks and shrimp

Cheers, all the comments just give me more motivation.

James

 

[kiriyama]

Really nice tank, would really like to try something like this at some point. The shrimp look really nice, very tempting, LFS are doing more types of shrimp now so I better not visit for a while
Would like to try a similiar set up with the 48ltr fishbox once the fry are moved on, dying to get teeth into a new project. Green Machine looks like a good site, AquaEssentials have some nice sand and rocks also, unipac stuff looks good, limpopo and granite, which one is in your tank and do you know what type of rock it is ?
Nice stuff, job well done mate

 

[stevereade]

Everytime I look at this journal I want CRS's more and more lol.

 

[lljdma06]

this is my first visit to the planted section!!!

Loving the tank given the space I;d like to set a tank like that up for cherry shrimp as well. I shall keep an eye on this journal

well done

I'll shall convert you yet! Then I'll setup a SW and the mod exchange will be complete.

Back to the OP, I like the placement of the rocks. You have the idea of Iwagumi very well thought-out. The larger stone should be a little more off center, IMO, but sheesh, It's not a huge deal and plant placement can fix that. No sense in haveing 13 pages of rock placement in a thread. I have seen my share of those!

I'm excited to see this develop.