# My New Venture into Iwagumi!



## teij_tseng (Mar 28, 2010)

After marvelling over the works of Takashi Amano and many others on the internet, I've start my own planted tank. This is my first planted tank and for the venture, I've decided to try the iwagumi layout. I've always admired planted tanks but the iwagumi layout has been most captivating for me.

I'm on a student budget so I'm trying to make as nice of a looking tank as possible without breaking my wallet. As such, you can probably expect the photos to be taken with a camera phone . Now, a list of my tank components:

Tank: 20 gallon long (30"x12"x12")

Lighting: 1 AquaMedic 24w T5 Plant Grow, 1 Current USA 24w 10,000k T5, 1 20w Hagen Aqua Glo; approximately 3.4wpg total

Substrate: 100% Flourite Black Sand

CO2: DIY CO2 Injection

Fertilizer: API Leaf Zone once every 2 weeks (looking into getting ADA fertilizer once I can afford to spend a little more )









The plan for the layout of the rocks. The white stuff on the bottom of the tank is styrofoam.









Added the substrate and mounded it best as I could.

Any input/critique is appreciated so give me your best shot ! Also, I'm planning on putting dwarf hairgrass around the rocks and HC in the middle and along the front, basically where there's more open areas. As far as fish goes, I'll prob be going with a shoal of rasbora heteromorpha and perhaps some crystal red shrimps or amano shrimps.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi teij_tseng,

Nice start, I look forward to seeing when you get it planted!


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## teij_tseng (Mar 28, 2010)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Nice start, I look forward to seeing when you get it planted!


Thanks. Just waiting for the plants to come in now .


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

that is a really good layout for a begginer! looking forward to the results once planted!


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## teij_tseng (Mar 28, 2010)

Thanks! I've actually been keeping fish since I was kid, for about nearly 20 years now but this is my first "real" venture into setting up a unique planted tank. I've had many different kinds of fish in the past. My absolute favorite is still the discus and I have been able to successfully breed them once. However, thanks to my tetra heater, I lost all of them. You can probably guess that I was anything but thrilled when I came back from a weekend trip to find my prized fish floating and the water at nearly 100 degrees F. Of course, the only heaters I trust now are marineland stealths and azoo titaniums. But enough venting since it's pointless to cry over spilt milk.

I've dealt with plants a couple times, but nothing on an artistic or enthusiast level. As such, they didn't end up quite well since all I did was throw the plant in the tank without any care. However, after admiring Takashi Amano's work and the work of many individuals in the forums, I just had to have one for myself  so here I am! lol


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## teij_tseng (Mar 28, 2010)

Plants finally came in and I've planted the tank and filled it up with water. While putting in my DIY filter, the hose barb on the filter intake came off so I still waiting for the glue to dry on that atm ](*,). In the meantime, I have my old school Marineland Penguin 170 on it.


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## teij_tseng (Mar 28, 2010)

Well, figure you guys mite want to see some close ups so here they are!










Left side of the aquarium.










Right side of the aquarium.


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## teij_tseng (Mar 28, 2010)

Just some minor updats on the tank. Added 2 additional pots of dwarf hairgrass and changed the intake of the filter so instead of having a normal intake, I've made a spraybar style intake that's pointed upward to create a vortex and hopefully catch some of the floating junk on the surface of the water.










Picture's not the best of quality but you can kind of see the vortex.










Just an updated picture of the tank with the 2 additional pots of dwarf hairgrass.

Once again, I apologize for the poor picture quality. Unfortunately camera phones don't have the best cameras


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## PeterE (Feb 9, 2010)

This is definitely not a run of the mill iwagumi. I love the amount of rocks in the tank, and the way they look like mountains. I also admire your choice not to just stick HC into the tank. So many iwagumi tanks look like that, and I prefer hairgrass anyway. Are you going to put any other species of plants in, like moss? In my opinion, that would look great on the rocks.


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## teij_tseng (Mar 28, 2010)

Originally the plan was to put some HC and some flame moss into the tank. After thinking about it for some time, I came to the conclusion that the tank would b better off without the HC (didn't really have a lot of room for 2 species of plant and I thought the dwarf hairgrass would look nicer against the rocks) and the flame moss (I didn't want to cover up the texture of the rocks). I am considering putting in some blyxa japonicas inbetween the rocks (I know a lot of iwagumi tanks have that look but I can't help it, I just love how it looks! lol) As far as the shape of the rocks go, that's what I kind of had in mind too (lol) and was the main reason why I arranged the rocks the way they were. Originally the idea was to create an small opening in the middle of the same, like a mountain passage but I didn't have enough room for that so I settled with the open middle of the water column.


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## teij_tseng (Mar 28, 2010)

Well, I've been a little busy so I haven't been able to update the journal recently. Every professor in college gets together and decides on the day to give all their students and exam or something :frusty:.

The dwarf hairgrass has filled in nicely in the middle of the tank but growth has been rather slow on the side. Other than that, I've been having quite a bit of algae growth (kind of expected that) but I've been able to somewhat keep it in control by scrubbing the rocks and sides. Anyways, enjoy the pictures!










FTS










Right side










Left side

I might be adding some cryptocoryne undulata around the rocks and probably some vallisneria plants in the back (thinking of going with vallisneria nana if I can find some at a pet shop). The hairgrass is kind of tall but I'll probably be trimming it soon. Hopefully with school coming to an end, I'll be able to update more frequently (I do a lot of fishing over the summer so don't expect it to be too frequently! ).


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## teij_tseng (Mar 28, 2010)

Finally gave the tank its first trim today. After trimming the hairgrass, I've learn two very important lessons:
1. Never become a barber or a hedge sculpture because either hairgrass grows at a super, amazingly fast rate or I missed some spots.
2. If you think to yourself "Hm, that wasn't a lot of trimmings to remove from the tank" when you get done cleaning the trimmings, check the underside of your arm, there's a good chance there are more.

Anyways, here are a couple of photos for you guys to enjoy!









Before









After


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## teij_tseng (Mar 28, 2010)

Well, just a quick update. I've ordered some blyxa japonica and crystal red shrimp. They should be coming in sometime next week. I'll probably be putting the blyxa japonica around the rocks and will be updating with pictures once I do that!


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## teij_tseng (Mar 28, 2010)

Received my b. japonica today and went out and bought some Eleocharis montevidensis as well. I've split the e. montevidensis up into two groups and plants them on each of of my tank in the back and placed the b. japonica in around the rocks. The pictures aren't the best because they were taken with a camera phone but enjoy them!










FTS










Right side










Left side


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## teij_tseng (Mar 28, 2010)

MY SHRIMPS CAME IN TODAY! After wanting some crystal red shrimps for nearly two months now, I finally went ahead and bought some. They're really curious about their new tank and they've just been swimming all over the place so it was really hard trying to get some good shots of them. Well, enjoy the pictures!


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## rjfurbank (Jan 21, 2008)

Looking good! Really like the hairgrass and the new additions. Keep up the good work!


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