My First Iwagumi?!

[shookONES]

Madness must be spreading through the air with all these MFK'ers going the route of a planted tank. I resisted the urge for quite some time before finally buckling down and setting up one of my own. This thread will document my first foray in the world of high tech nano planted tanks.

 

[shookONES]

I've always loved the look of ADA tanks, but the price tag always had me turn the other cheek. When I discovered ADA's distant cousin, Do!aqua, it was a wrap. I went ahead and ordered a Do!aqua Mini-M and began to burn the midnight oil.



I picked up the light at Home Depot. The reviews are stellar, and the price can't be beat. 27w of 6700k lighting for $20...I was sold immediately.

Iwagumi has fascinated me for years, so that was the route I chose with this little nano. I found the seiryu stones locally on another forum and it wasn't long until I had the final hardscape ironed out. Substrate is ADA Aquasoil Amazonia powder type.



With a ton of equipment on order, I found myself with the opportunity to give emersed growth a shot. I picked up some HC at my LFS and got to planting. I mist daily and cover the top of the tank with saran wrap. Here's the initial planting, photographed on 09/05/2010

 

[ceejayt2k]

Great looking tank..coming around nicely! planning on adding fish?

 

[shookONES]

Some details about the setup...
Lighting - 27w 6700k Hampton Bay desk lamp
Filtration - Zoo Med 501 canister
Substrate - ADA Aquasoil Amazonia powder
CO2 - ADA disposable

andddddd onto some more progress pics

09/08/2010


09/10/2010


Here's where the project stands today, 09/19/2010. The tank has been moved to its final resting spot. I'm planning another 7-10 days of emersed growth before the tank sees water.

 

[shookONES]

One thing I'm most excited about with this project is finally having a suitable environment to keep and breed nano life. CRS will be the focal inhabitants of the tank. I'm going to grab 10-15 to get my colony started and keep my fingers crossed for reproduction. I've also been debating keeping a small school of Celestial Pearl Danios in the tank as well. However, with shrimp as the focus, this idea is still in the air. I hear baby shrimp make tasty snacks for a lot of fish . Should I go against my better judgement, I'll be sure to give the CRS a few weeks of worry free living in hope that the breeding gets underway and the colony beefs up a little bit before the fish arrive. Either way, stay tuned, as this project is in full swing and will be update daily.

 

[izzy_here]

You will find (especially in a nano) that it will have to be fish or shrimp. I keep a few species of dwarf shrimp and the only fish that ever worked is an otocinclus cat. And I really dont trust them all the way yet.

 

[jcardona1]

sweeeet! nice to see more folks coming to the planted side hope those pricey ADA co2 refills dont put a hole in your wallet!

 

[FishKeepingNoob]

That's a cool little tank so far.

 

[thebestincali2000]

very nice

 

[SkySouza]

I've always wanted a shrimp tank. Gave it a shot in a 29 gal and it worked alright. Tank mates were cardinal tetras and lemon tetras.

Then I tried it again when I moved this time in a 55 gal with guppies, cardinals, lemon and black phantoms, some zebra danios and dwarf gouramis. This time no luck. The 45 CRS were gone with in two months.

I'll have to check up on this thread and see if your fish/shrimp combo works cause I'm wantin to try it again