Dan's First Journal - Iwagumi Style - GLA Rimless 36-L 6g Tank Build

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Ok so I have been doing more and more research on the AS, and I now have lots of sources say that HC grows much better in the powder type. Here is a sentence from a post by TPT user 'Lnd': "I use powder type when I did Iwagumi, hairgrass and HC seemed to love it and grow quickly." I think I will use that as my only substrate...no capping anything. Now, as billbug said, would it be too much of an issue with it mixing in with the sand? I can make little substrate 'barriers' out of leftover plant pots...should that help? Still waiting for AFA to get their AS back in stock...grrrrrr! I also had to run to Home Depot today to get some hardware for my house, and I went ahead and picked up some 1/2 ID and 5/8in OD clear tubing for my filter since I plan to have lily pipes like Brian's tank :)
 
Sounds good! I hope you get your powder type AS soon! I'm getting anxious to see this DSM get rolling. And glad I can help on the tubing... Get ready for a little arm workout in pushing that tubing on to the Aqua-Stops... don't forget to use some hot water to soften the tubing up prior... Oh, and I used a pair of needle-nosed pliers to get one lip of the tubing over the aqua-stop, as the other side of the lip was already over. After I got the tubing over the aqua-stop, putting the other end of the tubes on the lily pipes was a breeze (just using the hot water).
 
DanTheGuppyMan said:
Ok so I have been doing more and more research on the AS, and I now have lots of sources say that HC grows much better in the powder type. Here is a sentence from a post by TPT user 'Lnd': "I use powder type when I did Iwagumi, hairgrass and HC seemed to love it and grow quickly." I think I will use that as my only substrate...no capping anything. Now, as billbug said, would it be too much of an issue with it mixing in with the sand? I can make little substrate 'barriers' out of leftover plant pots...should that help? Still waiting for AFA to get their AS back in stock...grrrrrr! I also had to run to Home Depot today to get some hardware for my house, and I went ahead and picked up some 1/2 ID and 5/8in OD clear tubing for my filter since I plan to have lily pipes like Brian's tank :)
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I was able to plant HC in normal type AS easily. The trick was to use tweezers and grab the HC by its roots, then drag the roots under the AS. Since you're starting with a DSM, I don't think you'd have issues with HC becoming uprooted very much because the HC would have time to grow and become rooted in the substrate. Either way, both of them are great substrates and will look good. I recommend just using one substrate and not mixing two different ones.
 
Brian_Nano12g said:
Sounds good! I hope you get your powder type AS soon! I'm getting anxious to see this DSM get rolling. And glad I can help on the tubing... Get ready for a little arm workout in pushing that tubing on to the Aqua-Stops... don't forget to use some hot water to soften the tubing up prior... Oh, and I used a pair of needle-nosed pliers to get one lip of the tubing over the aqua-stop, as the other side of the lip was already over. After I got the tubing over the aqua-stop, putting the other end of the tubes on the lily pipes was a breeze (just using the hot water).
Click to expand...

Mmm thanks for the tips! Gahhh AFA's site is always down! Whyyyy won't this work. Oh well, I hope they don't run out of stock while my Internet wont connect :lol: and yeah, when fitting the tubing on my huge AquaTop canister running my 60g, the tubes were almost a quarter of an inch to small in diameter to fit on the pipes, and after boiling the ends of the tubing it still wouldn't fit on so I had to literally get out my lighter and roast the ends until they started to melt before i actually started to get them to fit. Quite the workout I must say :lol:
 
maxwellag said:
I was able to plant HC in normal type AS easily. The trick was to use tweezers and grab the HC by its roots, then drag the roots under the AS. Since you're starting with a DSM, I don't think you'd have issues with HC becoming uprooted very much because the HC would have time to grow and become rooted in the substrate. Either way, both of them are great substrates and will look good. I recommend just using one substrate and not mixing two different ones.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know I won't have any issues with uprooting it, and I didn't really want to cap it anyways plus I wanted a more 'sandy' look to the substrate since I already have my 60g full of large FS I don't want the same look :)
 
DanTheGuppyMan said:
Yeah I know I won't have any issues with uprooting it, and I didn't really want to cap it anyways plus I wanted a more 'sandy' look to the substrate since I already have my 60g full of large FS I don't want the same look :)
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I thought you were going to mix it with sand? You were talking about using substrate barriers and keeping them separated.
 
maxwellag said:
I thought you were going to mix it with sand? You were talking about using substrate barriers and keeping them separated.
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Oh, I was going to make a "river" through the center wit sand, no mixing, the middle valley will be straight up white sand and the rest is AS. No capping, mixing, or anything, just having AS against sand, and the barriers would help from them two getting mixed up and keeping them seperated. Did that make sense? I feel like it didn't make any sense lol
 
DanTheGuppyMan said:
Oh, I was going to make a "river" through the center wit sand, no mixing, the middle valley will be straight up white sand and the rest is AS. No capping, mixing, or anything, just having AS against sand, and the barriers would help from them two getting mixed up and keeping them seperated. Did that make sense? I feel like it didn't make any sense lol
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I know what you mean now.
 
maxwellag said:
Oh yeah, I know what you mean now.
Click to expand...

Alright, cool. I can't wait to start the DSM! Let me see if I have this right. I plant the HC in the substrate all pretty and stuf in the "checkerboard" pattern, and pour in just enough water so that the roots are submerged, but no water above the substrate. Cover the tank up with Saran Wrap and mist it every morning or when things start to look drying out. Keep the light on for as long as I want (can you leave it on all the time?) and then watch it grow! Do I have it right? When should I pour more water in the substrate?
 
DanTheGuppyMan said:
Alright, cool. I can't wait to start the DSM! Let me see if I have this right. I plant the HC in the substrate all pretty and stuf in the "checkerboard" pattern, and pour in just enough water so that the roots are submerged, but no water above the substrate. Cover the tank up with Saran Wrap and mist it every morning or when things start to look drying out. Keep the light on for as long as I want (can you leave it on all the time?) and then watch it grow! Do I have it right? When should I pour more water in the substrate?
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Sounds good. The only thing I'd do differently is keep the lights on the same schedule that they will be on when the tank is flooded.
 
AH! I just ordered the LAST 9L bag of AS Amazonia Powder Type. Thank goodness! I got priority shipping so it should come soon, then I can get the HC and start this DSM finally! I'm so excited!
 
Billbug68 said:
Congrats, excited to see it finally get started!
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Thanks...AFA was supposed to email me when they got some back in stock :mad: and here I was just sitting there while everyone else was buying them all :lol: but, I got me a bag. I also have some Xmas moss...should I start the DSM on that right now or wait until I get the HC started?
 
Brian_Nano12g said:
^^ Nice! Monday comes the HARDSCAPE!!!

BTW, since you guys share my enthusiasm with the Finnex LED fixtures, I thought I'd share this nice 'eye-candy' of a thread of in-action shots of the Finnex by a bunch of TPT members :) Just love to see the wide array of applications for this fixture :)

ATTENTION RAY II & FugeRay Users: LED Prototype Contest Give-Away!
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Yup! Can't wait! That's a nice link, went through all 6 pages lol. I think I want to put a fugeray on another tank of mine...
 
Alright, I lost my phone an my camera. Gah! No pics until I find them...:( I just tore down the tank to put in the AS, and I am doing a little bit of re-scaping...;)
 
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