Iwagumi style aquascape

[HandSomeDevil13]

So I'm trying out my first aquascape and decided to go with a Iwagumi style aquascape. It's a low tech nano aquascape with jungle Val, Pygmy chain sword and Java fern for the plants. I have a fugeray 16 led and dosing excel for carbon.

My question is can I get away with using a different stone as the oyaishi "focal point" stone? I'm using 1 large lava stone as the focal point and the remaining 3 stones are seiryu stones. All are different sizes and have different textures. Would this work or would I have to change the lava rock?

The substrate I'm using is Eco complete.


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[Fresh2o]

I love seeing iwugami setups.
Sorry, cannot comment on the hardscape question (selection/positioning been a challenge for me).
What is the size of the tank? Jungle Vals can get large. I kept a similar species, Crystal River Val, and it's leaves exceeded five feet. Also, when using Excel or API CO2 Booster, start with lower doses and increase it gradually. Vals don't always react well with Glutaraldehyde (active ingredient in those products). It can cause melting.


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[HandSomeDevil13]

I love seeing iwugami setups.
Sorry, cannot comment on the hardscape question (selection/positioning been a challenge for me).
What is the size of the tank? Jungle Vals can get large. I kept a similar species, Crystal River Val, and it's leaves exceeded five feet. Also, when using Excel or API CO2 Booster, start with lower doses and increase it gradually. Vals don't always react well with Glutaraldehyde (active ingredient in those products). It can cause melting.


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Yea it's been pretty tough getting the hardscape into the right posting that I want but not sure if the lava rock is off putting the rest of the stones.

It's a10 gallon nano tank. I've had the Val's for about 6months and the excel hasn't melted them yet. It did end up melting some of my corkscrew Val's so I took them out.


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