Iwagami style planted 3g Picotope Journal

[Jnam]

Cant decide... glosso or HC for the foreground? I was thinking three types of plants.

HC or Glosso (someone help me out here with a choice PLEASE!Pros cons of each)
Dwarf Hairgrass for the top of the slope. wich will be an open are on the left.
and then behind the stones a stem plant of some sort a rotalla of some sort maybe I am open to suggestions here. I plan on ordering the hair grass and the foreground plant and doing a "dry start".

 

[fort384]

I have tried and failed to use stem plants like rotala to recreate a good iwagumi scape. You might be better at it than me... but I think it makes it easier to stick with very fine-leaved plants.

I have grown both HC and glosso...

HC PROS: Very compact. Really works well as a carpet plant. Really good look when it is trimmed up and scaped perfectly.

HC CONS: Hard to plant. Tends to float up. When it is completely filled in, it is hard to trim and hard to keep it scaped. It will kind of loop back on itself and create a big pillow... the stuff on the bottom will kind of start to die back. If you get any hair algae at all in a tank, it is impossible to remove without making a huge mess. Slower growing and spreading than glosso.

GLOSSO PROS: Fast grower. Easier to plant. Easier to manage/trim/scape with.

GLOSSO CONS: Not as compact. It will get a couple of inches or more in height.

They are both great compact plants for an iwagumi scape. I think the HC looks a little better when it is kept perfectly... but I am lazy, so I think I prefer the glosso for it's practicality. If you go with HC... bury it almost to the top of the leaves when you plant it. It will grow better roots and spread faster that way... and float up less.

 

[Crepe]

For a 3 gal I'd go with HC. It's a lot smaller. Glosso leaves would look out of place in such a small tank.If you can you could also try e .hydropiper. Who says you need to do the rehashed glosso and HC? There's:

Utricularia grammifolia
E. Hydropiper
glossostigma diandrum (hard to get a hold of)
hydrocotyle sibthorpioides
and probably a few more I can't think of right now. I've seen a nice low growing bacopa that's come out of s. america recently. Never seen it state side though... If you do go with HC I'd nix the DHG unless you're really patient and like pruning and tweezing.

Also if you're into pain you could try a riccia foreground.

 

[Jnam]

no riccia I refuse. HC is what I was leaning towards. I will stock mostly shrimp hopefully that can keep tha algea at bay... As far as the HC goes can I mow it with scisors?

On a different note the light and control box are complete and I have pictures.

LED wiring

Entire light still not quite finished

Houston we have take off!!!! ITS ALIVE

At full brightness

Completed control box all functions work

This is the light section sexy right? the white plug on the right is where the ATO float plugs in and goes down to the control box.

The light on the tank and the bag of ADA soil this is at half power...

and at full power

This thing is bright and I am loving the color rendition at 8500K This weekend Ill get some water in it to see how the light looks with water ie spotlighting and what not. Hopefully my stones arrive soon so I can work on the scape while I wait for my plants to get here.

So... I heard the UG is actually carniverous and not ok with shrimp is that right?

 

[fort384]

You can trim the hc with scissors. It will be a mess. You just need a fine mesh net to fish it out. It floats so it will all be on the surface at least.

 

[Crepe]

I've never heard of people having problems with UG and shrimp. I think it's U. Gibba that will eat shrimp larvae not U. Grammifolia whose bladder is too small to consume the shrimplets.

 

[Jnam]

so i did some googling of those plants crepe and I cant find sources for them... I was really impressed with the E. Hydropiper but couldnt find a place that sold some.

If I went with HC what would you suggest for the background if not DHG? I want something roughly twice to 3x the height of the HC I am trying very hard to stick to a fibonacci spiral.

 

[Crepe]

They are all "rare" plants. You'd best be off trying to find them in buy/sell/trade threads on APC and PT. Don't expect them to be cheap though. I've seen E. Hydropiper $12 USD for a 1x1" portion shipped. H. Sibthoroides is pretty cheap. G. Diadrum is also a plant I have not seen stateside either.

edit: thegreenmachine sells e. hydropiper. It'll cost a bit to import though.

Sorry let me clarify: You don't want to use E. Acicularis and probably not Parvula (the most common ones) they grow very very fast and will require constant pruning to keep from overrunning your HC. I'd try E. belem or 'japan'.

In order of best places to find it'd be :
APC, PT, AB then if you want this place:
http://www.thegreenmachineonline.co...nts/anubias-plant-cups/elatine-hydropiper-cup

 

[Jnam]

I found thegreenmachineonline first and price is a factor here. So which would you suggest for a growth rate comparable to that of HC? for a hairgrass like plant?
Any other opinions would be awesome too.

This is my quick photoshop of the top down shot rock placement though is going to dicate that plants more than anything and i still dont have them so i dont know what shapes i have.

 

[Jnam]

I cant help my self I got the rocks today so I started scaping.

So here are the layouts I have come up with. WHICH ONE!!!! Or what changes????

THIS ONE ^ is my fave but it has 4 stones... ugh

Top down same scape

3 stones and some tweaks.

Please ignore the equiptment in the back I working on a background. Whats popular a graduated blue or flat black? I like black but with the dark soil the rocks and plants may feel like the are floating

with the Fibonacci swirl golden ration whatever.

 

[meegosh]

I like the 4 stone one but that is just my unscientific/non-artistic opinion. lol. Not sure about the background - I think a blue since the substrate is darker.

 

[Jnam]

THis is the plan i made in paint at work... LOL but you get the idea

 

[fort384]

I like the layout. The one thing I would change is the front stone is kind of squared up. How would it look if it was turned slightly to either side?

 

[Jnam]

Ha i was thinking the exact same thing i tried to do it in paint but it wasnt working out ill just do it when i get home. out towards teh right or in towards the left?

 

[Jnam]

Plants
Foreground
Hemianthus callitrichoides
Mid (left side)
Echinodorus tenellus (pygmy chain sword)
Right side behind the main stone for hieght
Elocharis acicularis (dwarf hari grass)
i am not sold on the DHG some other stem plant I can trim like ludwig or something. How bout Blyxa japonica or maybe Limnophila Aromatica so i can get some reds in there?

 

[fort384]

I would try rotating about 30-45 degrees counter-clockwise, see how that looks. It is hard to tell for sure from the photos. It always seems ridiculous, but little movements here or there of the hardscape can really make a difference. This is always my problem when setting up a new iwagumi style scape... I lack the patience and the eye to get it just right. I always just can't wait to get the dang thing setup and running, so I rush it. I think it is really good that you are showing the restraint to try and get it just right!

 

[fort384]

Plants
Foreground
Hemianthus callitrichoides
Mid (left side)
Echinodorus tenellus (pygmy chain sword)
Right side behind the main stone for hieght
Elocharis acicularis (dwarf hari grass)
i am not sold on the DHG some other stem plant I can trim like ludwig or something. How bout Blyxa japonica or maybe Limnophila Aromatica so i can get some reds in there?

I think the blyxa j would be too large. It is one of my favorite plants, but it really grows like mad too when the conditions are right...

I think for such a small tank, the finer the better. DHG is such a nice look for an iwagumi nano tank.

The other plants to look at are Eriocaulo sp. for midground. They are so compact and fine-leaved. They aren't widely available though and are pricey. I just got some for my newer 5 gal tank and I love it. But it took about 2 weeks to find some and another 2-3 weeks to get it here. I ended up having to import it from the UK (and they imported from Thailand for me).

 

[Jnam]

eek. I checked out aquariumplants.com and wow there shipping is spendier than getting corals... I may just take a chance on some Ebay HC if I cant find someone to buy from. I am goint to start everything emmersed for a few weeks A to acclimate for the LEDs B to avoid algae issues with all this fine leafed plants.

 

[Crepe]

Aquabid is your best bet for plants at a discount.

Got my glosso off there.

 

[Jnam]

Ok so the HC has been ordered, I have decided on a scape. Pics tonight. The arduino came in the mail as soon as I get the real time clock up and running ill be using it to auto dim my lights and run my ph probe for my CO2 and possibly monitor temps.