# indonesia non CO2 injected iwagumi tank



## tantaMD (Dec 23, 2011)

hey guys how r u doing?  today i wanna show my latest tank which has already going on for a month. the concept is to create iwagumi scene with a carpet plant on it ground. but not like usual method of keeping carpet plants, i try to not using CO2 injection to the tank. I wouldn't call this tank an NPT though, because the mass quantities of the plants wouldn't be enough to contribute on making a self containing balanced ecosystem. i use a hang on filter and do water change once a week this far.  .Well here is the specs :
tank : 35x20x25 cm
substrate : bottom --> garden soil mixed with 500 mgr of Bicarbonate , surface --> bali's sand
lighting : 11 Watt table lamp
hardscape : two similar type of stones (dunno what type)
plants : valisneria nana, glossostigma elantinoides
animal : not yet, but plans to keep freshwater shrimp if the glosso were succesfully carpeted






at first the glosso's growth were vertical, but i pinched it down to the substrate, and now it begin to adapt and start sending runners . Wish me luck will u! Comments and critics r welcomed and truly appriciated


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## wwh2694 (Aug 15, 2008)

Wow nice!!!!


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## mariannep (Mar 18, 2012)

Very nice, I like the simplicity of it. Almost like something that could exist out in a natural setting.


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## tantaMD (Dec 23, 2011)

thanks wwh2694 & mariannep. btw mariannep ur cuba are awesome


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## mariannep (Mar 18, 2012)

Thank you, I've decided to trim it back a bit today

Please keep us posted with progress


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## tantaMD (Dec 23, 2011)

here's a little update . added some roots between the stones and somes riccia tied to small stones. hope to create bushy effects


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## tantaMD (Dec 23, 2011)

another update, 14th june 2012, glosso got some serious spreading


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## mariannep (Mar 18, 2012)

Glad to hear it's doing well!


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## tantaMD (Dec 23, 2011)

here's another update 

1st july 2012 :


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## mariannep (Mar 18, 2012)

Not far to go until you have a full lawn now


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

It's coming along nicely. Have you decided on what shrimp species you want to keep yet?


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## tantaMD (Dec 23, 2011)

thanks mariannep


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## tantaMD (Dec 23, 2011)

mudboots : thanks mudboots  , i'm planning to keep red cherry species because im new of shrimp keeping and it is said that the red cherries are the easiest of them. but it is hard in my hometown to get shrimp species. the distributor and the pet store were very seldom to have them and it is also difficult to find delivering companies that is willing to deliver them from jakarta. so im thinking of searching and keeping local shrimp species. i live in south sumatra region of indonesia. it is tropical land with widely variable geographic area. from mountains to mangrove swamps. if u or other members here can give me information of what kind of habitats that this freshwater shrimp live it would be very aprreciated


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## tantaMD (Dec 23, 2011)

update again. added 7 snails since it is so hard vto get freshwater shrimp here, they have wonderful tiger like pattern in their shells and quite a cleaner squad  . dont know their name though


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## tantaMD (Dec 23, 2011)

latest update. quite satisfied with how my glosso spreads. still hoping to get some shrimp though


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Your glosso looks good, disproving the idea that it has to have CO2.

It's hard to tell from the photos, but I think your snails are one of the species of nerites. They are great algae eaters and very colorful.


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## tantaMD (Dec 23, 2011)

Michael said:


> Your glosso looks good, disproving the idea that it has to have CO2.
> 
> It's hard to tell from the photos, but I think your snails are one of the species of nerites. They are great algae eaters and very colorful.


thanks michael, the main reason i set this tank was to see wether an iwagumi layouts with its foreground lawn can be achieved with el natural methods or not. for those who want to try it i highly suggest using nano tank because of two main reasons . first the tank should be quite shallow to ensure better light penetration for the foreground plants. second from experience i got from this tank its going to have quite a maintanance for el natural tank (changing water) so better do it with the small one . also dont give the foreground plants to much competitors for their CO2 uptake from water column.

yes!! love them! best cleaner squadron i ever keep


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

Echinodorus Tennelus is another great plant which I've found to thrive and carpet quite well in typical El Natural methods. Neat to see how the glosso is working for you though!

I would also say that people quite often underestimate how much CO2 is actually produced through decomposition and respiration in such a tank because, despite Walstad's advice, many people agitate their surface.


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## tantaMD (Dec 23, 2011)

@ Skizhx : Yes, i think actually el natural method can be viewed as a radical method if it is seen from conventional aquarium keeping point of view. Conventional method depends much from the capacity of mechanical filtration and water movement for aquarium stability. Now many people are interested in trying el natural method but still have conventional perspective in their minds. they doesnt know the potential of biological filtration from the plants yet. so they combine el natural with heavy mechanical filtration.
but i think in an el natural tank with iwagumi layout which i try, the biomass of plants will not be sufficient to be an effective biologic filtration, so frequent water changing is needed. of course water changing will cause surface agitation that in turn will disolve CO2 into air. the trick here is to do the WC in the end of lighting period where the CO2 amount in water were already depleted


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## tantaMD (Dec 23, 2011)

the iwagumi is still goin steadily  . love how the riccia looks now


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