# zeldar's 10gallon semi iwagumi



## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)

Alright, I have spent the last two hours trying to figure out how to take pictures and upload them to this thread. This is honestly the first time I have used a camera in 15 years. Bear with me, I hope these pics get posted correctly.

Anyway, this is my first planted tank. It is a standard 10gallon with a cheap hood that has two screw in light fixtures. I started this tank on July 31st and the tank finished cycling a couple weeks ago since my filter was running on another tank for a couple months. Its obviously my first time with Aquasoil and its stillllll leaking tannins. The water stays pretty yellow, the pics are clear because I just drained it to add some more plants and stones and then refilled it. I have been looking for good aquascaping stones forever and finally got some from Jiddle here on SnS. I really like the stones, they aren't ADA but they look like it and I didn't have to pay the ADA price. Just today I put 10 of my RCS and 2 amanos in the tank so hopefully they will do alright. Anyway, let me get to the specs.

Tank: 10gallon with 2 screw in light hood
Light: 2x 26watt 6700k daylight CF
Filter: AquaClear 20
CO2: Hagen DIY canister with DIY bubble counter and glass mini diffuser. Going to start lightly dosing Excel to help since I only get about 15 bpm with the DIY co2
Ferts: Flourish NPK, Pfertz Micro
Substrate: ADA Amazonia I
Hardscape: stones similar to ryuoh/seiryu
Plants: HC, Riccia, HM, dwarf hairgrass, lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Fauna: presently has 10 RCS and 2 amanos, will soon add 5 S+ CRS and 5 CBS, also add 10 boraras brigittae and either a nerite or assassin snail

My HM died off quite a bit since I took it out to rescape. So the pics you can't see it at all but it will be in front of the stones, so I'll keep it trimmed pretty low. The HC has only been in the tank less than a week. As you can see the Riccia has been in there a while and is growing like crazy. I know its not a true iwagumi since I have so many plant types but oh well I'll see where this tank goes and make changes if needed. Let me know what ya'll think I should do to make the tank better. Any suggestions and critiques are appreciated. Now to the pics.

Full tank shot









Left side









right side









side view









RCS









Well, the rocks look a little small to me. Maybe once the background plants grow it won't look so empty in the top of the tank. Also, I don't really like how the rocks are positioned, it needs to be more natural. Please give me some ideas of how to make this scape better.


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## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)

i repositioned the rocks a little better and added a small one in the back between the middle rock and the one on the right.


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## murdocmason (Aug 17, 2009)

looks good man, I'm on my first attempt at a planted tank and might i say its no where near as elegant as yours lol, whats your dosing schedule?? also for your DIY Co2 did you mean you have 15 ppm if so how much excel are you adding in addition to the DIY Co2? also whats your photoperiod? and honestly your scape looks great man you should let it fill in I'm sure it will look closer to what you want once its all grown in and you dive in and do some trimming to make it look good =) keep it up man your doing great according to the thousands of threads and pictures ive read and seen xXDOCXx


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## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)

I appreciate it murdoc. I just started dosing the other day. I found a seachem dosing chart online and have started to follow that. I think its like a "squrit" of micro three times a week, N P & K like twice a week but on different days. As for the excel, I am going to start with 1mL a day and see how that goes. I mainly need it for algae control but the extra carbon can only help the plants.

For my co2, I don't really know what ppm means. haha I just have 15 bubbles per minute. It will be a little higher the first week of the diy mixture but then drops down to 15 or so. I have been making a fresh mixture every 11 days or so. I thought it should last longer than that, but the bpm will drop below 10 after 11 days. 

My photoperiod is 8 hrs a day. Yea, I think the scape will look better when the background plants fill in, it just looks so bare in the upper half of the tank.


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## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)

I decided to take out the middle and right stone and replaced them with some larger ones. They seem to fit the tank better. I'll get some more pics up this weekend.


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## murdocmason (Aug 17, 2009)

pics definately man, as for the Co2 what I was saying is that most DIY setups will produce around 15 ppm Diffused Co2 without to much help which is a good level for DIY in a tank like that since your also dosing with excel I would say you have a nice amount of available carbon in there for the plants, now for a little comparision in my 29 gallon I have a DIY setup in a gallon jug with another 1 litre T'd in, and I would say I'm putting out about 30 bpm or 1 bubble per 2 seconds and I dont have enough Co2 lol so just to kinda throw that out there but mine also decreases over the course of two weeks, what mixture for the yeast are you using also are you using brown sugar or white, baking soda or not? also with the glass diffusers they require alot of pressure to flow right so maybe that is cutting down on your bpm since it requires so much to push it through, I've had that problem before but with a clogged powerhead sponge that I use as a diffuser since I'm running DIY and not pressurized but yea get pics lol cant wait =) OO yea photoperiod sounds great just be sure to keep it like that algae hates controlled light cycles since they are a opportunist organism
xXDOCXx

P.S as for ppm it ='s parts per million used mostly to describe the amount of a soluable solution contained in aquariums Ie.

No3=1.45 ppm
Co2=30ppm
ect ect and so on =)


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## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)

Time for a couple updated pics. Changed two rocks for a couple bigger ones. I think the new rocks make the scale seem better.

As you can see, water is pretty yellow. Its been over a month and a half and still leeching tannins. Its getting old. I can't do daily waterchanges anymore because the shrimp don't seem to like it. I've lost two cherries and the water parameters are fine so I'm blaming it on all the constant waterchanges. Alright pic time.

full tank









stone close up









HC


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## murdocmason (Aug 17, 2009)

well my tank is going through the same process but mine is due to Co2,ferts,light regime being out of whack but now I run pressurized Co2,with timed lighting,weekly W/C atleast 25% so I think my biggest thing was my schedule for my tank was outta whack , but hopefully your tannins clear up those things really kill the tanks inner beauty lol but hey its a learning process and maybe someone with more knowledge will chime in and state some good advice for ya =) 
xXDOCXx


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## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)

I added 6 SS/S+ CRS and 6 S+ CBS to the tank on Thursday. I got them from a dealer in California for a great price, the 12 shrimp for $55 shipped. If you want to know his email send me a PM, they were great people to deal with. To my amazement I have not lost any. I need to get some pictures up but I don't have a camera so I'll have to borrow a friends sometime.

The pH is still reading too high at 7.6. I don't understand why its so high when I have Aquasoil. It used to be 6.5 but somehow raised to 7.6. The shrimp don't seem to mind, hopefully.

This weekend I ordered 10 boraras brigittae, 3 assassin snails, and 2 nerites from Invertz Factory. I won't put all the snails in this tank, prob 2 assassins and maybe a nerite if algae gets bad.

Plants are showing decent growth. It seems like the HC is spreading finally and the riccia is crazy. I trimmed it a couple weeks ago and it needs another trim.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Looking good. Activated charcoal will take the tannins out for you.


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## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)

is activated charcoal the same as activated carbon? I just replaced the carbon in the AquaClear and it hasn't cleared up much at all.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I think it's the same thing. It should work. Maybe there is just so much to absorb that it will take a while.


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## mythin (Sep 2, 2007)

If you're still having tannin problems, I had the same issues, literally 24 hours with a bag of purigen in my hob cleared it up.


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## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)

Yep still having problems with tannins. I threw the purigen bag back in a couple days ago. Still yellow. 

Well, the riccia was coming off the stones they were tied to so I decided to pull all of it. I want to replace it with glosso, so if anyone has some for sale, I'd love to buy it off your hands. 

All my shrimp are still alive. with a pH of 7.6. I don't know why its staying so high but since the shrimp are still alive I guess I can't complain too much. 

I got my stuff from Invertz factory last week and they are all doing fine in the tank. I added 10 boraras briggitae, 2 assassin snails, and another amano. 

I finally got hold of a camera so I'll snap some pics even though the substrate on the sides are bare.


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## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)

Finally, a picture update.

The riccia was starting to come off the rocks they were tied to so I pulled all of it. It was really becoming a pain trimming it every week anyway. I'm sure the shrimp will miss it but the other plants are starting to take off.

I added some marsilea minuta to the tank where the riccia used to be. Once it fills in, I think it would look great in contrast to the HC.

In the picture you can see the new boraras briggitae I received from Invertz Factory. They are so tiny, even with 10 of them in the tank they take up no room at all. I also added 2 assassain snails so hopefully they will slow down the rapidly increasing number of pest snails.

O, and almost forgot, I switched to a pressurized paintball co2 setup. Hopefully this will give a little more co2 since I was only getting 25 bubbles per second with diy. On to the pics.

full tank shot









a little closer up, you can see the HM growing right in front of the rocks









one side of the newly planted marsilea minuta









a couple SS CRS and a S+ CBS









more CBS









finally got a berried cherry although you can't really tell


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## Seagul (Mar 27, 2008)

i love my 10g cherry tank.

CRS, sweet!


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## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)

alright snapped some pics of the tank today.

I added some Hydrocotyle verticillata and a little bit of Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides and Ranunculus inundatus courtesy of Crispino Ramos.

A got the HC trimmed a couple days ago hoping to get it growing lower to the soil. I have noticed some nice growth underneath the tall stringy HC.

I noticed some string algae starting to form on the hairgrass. I removed the majority of it manually. It was also starting to grow on the tall HC which was removed. I have since stopped using the extra hour burst of 80watts. Here are the current specs of the tank since I have changed alot since the initial post.

lighting: current fixture on legs sitting about 4 inches above water. Uses two 40watt 6700/10000k bulbs but I use only one with the occasional midday burst
filter: still the AquaClear 20, with a cutup sponge over the intake since I have found 2 briggittaes swimming in the filter. haha
co2: upgraded to paintball co2 with selinoid. I have it set at 1 bubble every 2 seconds running for 9 hrs a day. I put in a drop checker but its still blue colored. I have the proper solution and all in there so I don't know why the its not green. pH is 7.4 and kH was 13degrees so that comes out to about 15ppm. So i have gone back to adding 1mL of Excel a day.

left side









close up of hydros


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## jocky (Jun 24, 2008)

nice progress Zeldar, maybe you should let it fill more and once the HC has covered most of the ground you can take the rest out and make it a full iwagumi tank.

Just what I might do, however its your tank and its looking good.
Let us know what you decide to do.


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## vanscheck (Oct 13, 2009)

hey..nice tank...i have a 10g too. im planning to make a DIY 2litre co2 and attaching it to a glass diffuser and maybe a bubble counter...how do i stop the co2 at night, do i just unplug it during the evening? nice tank by the way i cant seem to get that grass carpet look.


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## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)

well with DIY co2 there are no plugs. You can't stop the co2 at all, just have to let it go all night. You may want to seriously consider pressurized co2. I started with the DIY but it gets old changing the mixture every couple of weeks. You also have to deal with the "co2 snot" that gathers on the glass diffuser after a while. I went with paintball co2 since its a little cheaper. Its great because you can turn the co2 off at night to conserve. Good luck with your co2 adventures.

I also need to mention that I added 6 blue tiger shrimp to the tank. There are 3 blues and 3 blondes. They look better than the pictures you see, especially the orange eyes. I'll get some pics up sometime soon.

Not much else has happened with the tank. The HC is really starting to carpet now. There is some staghorn algae on the background plants especially the hairgrass. I added a powerhead to get some aeriation going through the back plants. What else can you do to combat staghorn?


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## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)

Guess its time for an update. The tank has gone through some changes. Its definitly not iwagumi at all now, just kinda random plants in random places but I guess I like it.

The RCS population has gone crazy. I was able to count over 40 and I'm sure there are many more than that in the plants. There are also several tiger babies and I'm hoping they will start to show some blue color. I also added a pair of CPO's but they will probably be moved to my new 10 gallon.

Since the last update I have removed the brazilian micro sword, dwarf hairgrass, hydrocotyle and added a stem (some kind of rotala?), some fissidens, and some manzanita covered in peacock moss which will be moved soon.

Pics:
FTS








left








right








CRS on cucumber








blue tiger in the HM


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## zeldar (Aug 12, 2009)




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