# "Meteor Crash" - Do!Aqua 60p - IAPLC entry and results!



## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Getting back into planted tanks after a year long hiatus.










I'm hoping to enter this into the 2015 IAPLC and AGA contest. There doesn't seem to be a lot of participation from the USA (only 10 in 2014's IAPLC from 2000+ entries).

The idea for the scape is that there's an explosion from either a meteor or maybe an erupting volcano on the left side, and the two arches are from magma shooting over to the right.

Currently only have some anubias nana petite, but will add riccardia, Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo, belem hairgrass, and HC.

Will probably keep this as a dry start for a while. No ideas yet for fish but will probably do a large school of a single species. Maybe green neon tetras?
Thanks for looking!


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## Powerclown (Aug 17, 2014)

I can tell,there are pretty good skills left,welcome back...


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

I like the hardscape! What kind of rock is that?


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

Spectacular so far!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks everyone!



GMYukonon24s said:


> I like the hardscape! What kind of rock is that?


That'd be ohko stone


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## dru (Mar 9, 2013)

Really cool start you are off to 

Should be an awesome tank, will be following


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## creekbottom (Apr 5, 2012)

Use red fish!! Then it will look like fire bombs in the air lol


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## bk. (Sep 27, 2014)

Sub'd. This is just awesome


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Welcome back to the planted tanks!! Stunning start! Ok forward to seeing it grow in.


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## mistuhmarc (Oct 1, 2013)

Wow that really does look like a meteor crash landing. I can't wait to see how this turns out!


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## brian3676 (Dec 21, 2014)

Look forward to this set up


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Got some plants in and added it to the tank.










The monte carlo is nice, a little on the bigger side so I'll keep it towards the front and have HC towards the back for a more forced perspective. I might just let the whole ground cover blend together for a more natural look though.










Got a massive amount of riccardia (mini pelia) from Tom Barr and added it to all the nooks and crannies of the ohko stone. I'm not gluing it down, but I'm hoping that if I leave it for a few weeks the moss will attach itself to the stone. If by the time it comes to fill, it hasn't stuck, I'll glue it down with some super glue. 










Picking up some e. belem and HC later this week to round out everything, then comes the waiting game....


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## BMueller777 (Feb 5, 2008)

Wow.. nice job dude.. I'm sub'd


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

some von rio tetras would work well with this tank they have a red/orange color to them


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## Dantrasy (Sep 9, 2013)

Great design.

Mini Pellia will attach to ohko in time.


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## The Gipper (Sep 9, 2003)

Lighting and filtration choices?


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

The Gipper said:


> Lighting and filtration choices?


Lighting is a custom built LED light - here's the build thread from a few years ago.

Filter is a SunSun HW-302 Filter.


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

Looks great! Sub'd


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

noticed some white fungusy stuff on my moss today. Hopefully it clears off, and doesn't spread. Added some e.belem too. I decided on making a mixed carpet for a more natural look.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

I filled the tank today. The mini pelia was looking ratty and a lot of it was browning, so I decided to just fill it in. The goal wasn't for it to grow all over, but more to just have it attach itself to the rock, which it did so I figured it was time. I was hoping for a full carpet by now before I filled it in but it didn't happen. Oh well, I'm cranking the co2 and hopefully the plants will fill in quickly.

I haven't decided on fish yet and unfortunately I can't keep any shrimp (they always seem to die, I think it's my building's plumbing thats killing them, might be copper or something in the tap water)

Here's a quick snapshot, the tank is still very cloudy.


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## Dantrasy (Sep 9, 2013)

I'd trim the mini pellia right down. New growth should be mice a green.


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## FlyingHellFish (Nov 5, 2011)

Dantrasy said:


> Great design.


It kind of looks like your tank Dantrasy, I couldn't figure why this looked familiar.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Cool thanks for the tip dantrasy! I'll give it a trim tomorrow


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## Dantrasy (Sep 9, 2013)

FlyingHellFish said:


> It kind of looks like your tank Dantrasy, I couldn't figure why this looked familiar.


You don't know how right you are. Not the 2ft wave; I have a new scape in my mini m sized tank now that along the same lines as IWANNAGOFAST's tank. I'm doing it for a website (my lfs), I'll link to it when it's up.


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## zachxbass (Jul 6, 2008)

Looks awesome. Too bad you can't keep shrimp. They'd look great. As someone else said, von rios would look good.com maybe some cherry barbs too


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## DizzyD (Apr 24, 2013)

This is incredible. It reminds me of this place in VA called Natural Bridge. 

I agree with the Red Fish suggestion. Maybe some ember tetras or cherry barbs.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks everyone. I'm now leaning to some kind of microrasbora


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## swoof (Jun 30, 2010)

some Ruby Tetras would look sweet in there too.


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## Kntry (Dec 26, 2013)

Awesome tank!

I've been looking for a couple of small Ohko stones for a 10x10x16" tank but can't find them in small amounts. I love your rocks.

What are the requirements to enter? It would be fun to do it once.


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

your scape is so good!


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## panoptic88 (Nov 9, 2014)

Wow that's really great- what's the build technique? Did you hot glue the stones together? 


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

panoptic88 said:


> Wow that's really great- what's the build technique? Did you hot glue the stones together?


Thanks! The rocks are just stacked very carefully, no glue.

And blah. Most of the mini pelia is melting, there goes my meticulous dry start.

Oh well, hopefully some of it will have stuck to the rocks and will grow in. In other news, the carpeting plants are doing well and its starting to fill in.

I've been waiting for HC for the longest time to fill in some of the rocky crevices but Ive been told FAN moved their facilities so HC from them is impossible to find. bummer.

May 31st is looking a lot closer than I'm comfortable with!


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## reefcorgi (Mar 2, 2014)

awesome tank


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

A lot of the mini pelia melted away, but enough of it stuck to the rocks so it's bouncing back! The belem hg is growing in nice and so is the monte carlo. I'm still waiting for the HC to come in to my LFS so I can stick it into the nooks and crannies. 

I also got 20 ruby tetras and... SNAILS. OMFG SO MANY SNAILS. Thought they'd be dead with the long dry start, but nope. If anyone has any suggestions on products to kill snails, that'd be great. I don't have shrimp so no worries there. I usually get a puffer fish, but don't really like them and don't want them in there after the snails are gone.

Anyway, here's a FTS:









A detail shot


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## MEandYouPhoto (Jul 1, 2014)

I swear by assassin snails. They don't reproduce in the tank and kill every snail you get. I put two in my my 10 Gallon after buying an Anbius Nana from a LFS that was riddled with snail eggs.... (Like 100's) I haven't seen a snail other than my assassin snails in over 5 months. 

Then when they have done the job you can either leave them in there or take them out all together.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

MEandYouPhoto said:


> I swear by assassin snails. They don't reproduce in the tank and kill every snail you get. I put two in my my 10 Gallon after buying an Anbius Nana from a LFS that was riddled with snail eggs.... (Like 100's) I haven't seen a snail other than my assassin snails in over 5 months.
> 
> Then when they have done the job you can either leave them in there or take them out all together.


I've kept assassin snails in the past, they work ok but take a long time. I ordered some API Algaefix, hopefully that'll do it.


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## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

That is a very impressive scape and I really like it. The one thing that is distracting me is the anubias in the very middle blocking the cave on the bottom. It would be nice to see the opening to that cave. Other than that it looks beautiful.


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## ConfidentBlue (Aug 27, 2013)

Simply amazing! I love this scape. Wish I had the ability to think of such a design but I always end up rushing my hard scape. 


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

ua hua said:


> That is a very impressive scape and I really like it. The one thing that is distracting me is the anubias in the very middle blocking the cave on the bottom. It would be nice to see the opening to that cave. Other than that it looks beautiful.


Yeah I'm thinking of replacing the anubias with some buces since they're a bit smaller but haven't done any research on those very very expensive plants yet.


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

ua hua said:


> That is a very impressive scape and I really like it. The one thing that is distracting me is the anubias in the very middle blocking the cave on the bottom. It would be nice to see the opening to that cave. Other than that it looks beautiful.


I agree with this statement :wink:


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

andrewss said:


> I agree with this statement :wink:


I ended up trimming the part of the anubias that was sticking out so you can see through to the cave a lot better. 

Everything is growing in splendidly. I do 50% water changes every week and try to suck out as many snails as possible. I added a puffer fish but it died/disappeared in like, 2 hours...

I'm dosing API Algaefix. The instructions say not to use it with shrimp, so I'm hoping it'll kill off the snails too.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Photo for IAPLC has been taken and submitted, and now we wait...

I'm probably going to rescape this tank now that the money shot has been taken. Not sure what to do next though.


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## mot (Sep 17, 2011)

Excellent. Glad to hear you entered the IAPLC this year. Your scape should do well.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Omg. I'm speechless right now. The rankings for IAPLC just came out. This tank placed 288 overall, but #1 in the USA. I'm so ecstatic! I can't believe it!


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Congratulations, it's a beautiful scape! Well-deserved.


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## chazde3 (Nov 7, 2010)

Well deserved! Congrats.


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## Dantrasy (Sep 9, 2013)

Fantastic result! Well done.


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## Morbo (Feb 10, 2013)

100% deserved! Awesome job!


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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

*Awesome job!*

Congratulations! Nice scape, well-deserved first place.


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## Sub1117 (Sep 21, 2014)

Congrats! This has always been one of my favorite tanks!


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

congrats! and someone from the bay!


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## swoof (Jun 30, 2010)

congrats on your placement!!! A friend down here in So-Cal placed 881st.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thank you everyone!


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## Kai808 (Jul 19, 2011)

Great scape and congrats!


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Extremely nice hardscape. Whole thing looks great. Congrats!


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## HBdirtbag (Jun 15, 2015)

so awesome!


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

Dude. Congrats!!


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

How do you find out the U.S. rankings? Mine was 1221. I did better than my last years entry. I could have done better but I used an old photo my current layout wasn't ready in time


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Here's the link to the PDF of the full results listing
http://en.iaplc.com/results15/pdf/iaplc2015_worldranking.pdf

They don't break it out by country, but there were only 13 US entries so should be able to figure it out pretty quick.

I'm excited to see how this does in the AGA contest since that contest actually gives you feedback.


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> Here's the link to the PDF of the full results listing
> http://en.iaplc.com/results15/pdf/iaplc2015_worldranking.pdf
> 
> They don't break it out by country, but there were only 13 US entries so should be able to figure it out pretty quick.
> ...



Thanks. I ranked 8th in the U.S. Next year I will try and make a better effort to take a better photo. I didn't enter the AGA this year because ether only tank the top works. And I know that this layout will not rank high.


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## xiaoxiy (Dec 18, 2012)

Dude! Congrats, this tank is so sweet.

Did you run CO2 on the system, I don't see a diffuser in any of the pics.


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## stuworrall (Oct 29, 2006)

Well done! cracking scape and my favourite rock


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Thanks Stu! I saw your tank towards the top of the list, really awesome work!


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## co2art (May 28, 2014)

^^ Congratulations! Next year, let's Crack the top 200 overall.


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## skoram (Aug 9, 2012)

This is an amazing tank. I thought it deserved a higher overall ranking. Congratulations for the great result nonetheless!


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## rtfish (Oct 2, 2014)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> Omg. I'm speechless right now. The rankings for IAPLC just came out. This tank placed 288 overall, but #1 in the USA. I'm so ecstatic! I can't believe it!


Congrats!


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## whitepapagold (Aug 19, 2010)

xiaoxiy said:


> Dude! Congrats, this tank is so sweet.
> 
> Did you run CO2 on the system, I don't see a diffuser in any of the pics.


Nor do you see intake tube, output tube, heater, drop checker etc.

Its all removed for the photo.

Congrats to the OP! Awesome tank!!!!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

xiaoxiy said:


> Dude! Congrats, this tank is so sweet.
> 
> Did you run CO2 on the system, I don't see a diffuser in any of the pics.


Yup, I run Co2, it's hooked up to an inline diffuser. But I removed all the equipment for the picture, if you look at some of the older shots, you'll see the equipment there.


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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

Congrats, dude! Very inspirational!


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## sea (Feb 22, 2015)

Congratulations. It's beautiful.


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

yeah, this one is a beauty


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