# Clay Tower Wabi-Kusa



## hlaalu (Sep 24, 2012)

neat! it's like an underwater chia pet


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## Cobfreak (Aug 2, 2010)

I like this a lot. I don't quite get wabi-kusa (I thought that had something to do with emersed growth,) but your clay sculpture there with the plants looks great


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

Well the I think the idea with Wabi-Kusa is that it is a little assemblage of plants for either submersed or emersed growth. If you research Amano you will see that he uses W-S to plant masses of plants in his tanks.
I honestly love the emersed W-S plantings, you can grow plants that are happy in both worlds
for example









Variegated hydrocotyle and moss


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

*Clay Tower November 5*

Early November, 3 weeks after planting. 
Filtration is a tiny HOB filter.
Inhabitants include, copepods (2 species I think), 10 Malawa shrimp and 10 Rilli shrimp, Snails and a few flatworms. I love the varied invertebrate population, I know some people don't like anything but shrimp but the tank seems really healthy and balanced. It's like a freshwater invertebrate refugium!
The Lilieaopsis is sending out runners everywhere!
View attachment 56550

The "floating moss" island with a few Salvinia.
View attachment 56552

One of the Wabi-kusa's planted in the top after 3 weeks submerged.
View attachment 56553

All three "towers" have Wabi-kusa that I made and are now growing submerged!
View attachment 56551

My only complaint is I almost never see the shrimp. I know they're there because when I feed them they all and babies appear!


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

soooo nice


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## Green_Flash (Apr 15, 2012)

very clever use of the terra-cotta!


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Nice Job!


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## AVN (Oct 3, 2012)

DUDE! THESE ARE SWEET!

I do this too! All those ceramic and sculpting classes in college really paid off!

I'm currently working on a sand volcano. I have it put together, and I'm going to begin etching the details and attaching boulders when it gets a bit harder! I have some orange sand from Petco that I'm going to put inside once I do the glaze firing and connect the airline to the sealed path I built. Sand is going to be pushed out of the top and down the side into the basin for a repeat by the air pump!


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

AVN said:


> DUDE! THESE ARE SWEET!
> 
> I do this too! All those ceramic and sculpting classes in college really paid off!
> 
> I'm currently working on a sand volcano. I have it put together, and I'm going to begin etching the details and attaching boulders when it gets a bit harder! I have some orange sand from Petco that I'm going to put inside once I do the glaze firing and connect the airline to the sealed path I built. Sand is going to be pushed out of the top and down the side into the basin for a repeat by the air pump!


Thanks! That sounds pretty cool. I hope you'll post pics with set-up etc...

I only bisque/terra cotta fired mine with no glaze. My theory is that the porous clay acts as a microfauna refugium facilitating cycling and blancing some parameters of the tank. I try to make lots of different size holes in the clay as well for plants but also shrimp and if I wanted to fish...


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## AVN (Oct 3, 2012)

I'll definitely post up pictures once it gets further along, right now it's mainly structural work and it looks like a smooth clay pyramid, gonna take some effort to make it look torn up and give it a violent look.

I think the increased surface area for microfauna is a great idea! I never even considered using it for that purpose, usually I go to lava rocks to accomplish that!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't bisque clay be structurally weaker than glaze fired clay? I'm sure the second firing is a lot hotter and that causes the clay to melt and become stone. Would it ever break down or leach anything into the water if you kept it bisqueware?

One of the main reasons I commit to the second firing is that I don't want my bisque to get waterlogged and then crumble, I only use 100% porcelain clay, have worked with Terra Cotta (making pots and vases) but I've never actually used Terra Cotta in aquatic conditions!


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## LyzzaRyzz (Nov 6, 2012)

This is absolutely amazing...I wish I could just take a ceramic class at my college just to make these!!


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## AVN (Oct 3, 2012)

My advice is to go for it! But don't let the class limit what you do! Get a bag of clay and start making things with it!

The classes are for improving your efficiency with the clay, not to teach you creativity! I remember when I first started out in high school, it took me 2 hours to make a pinch pot, or to roll out slabs and make a box.

Nowadays (6 years later) I can hand toss a 4 sq. ft. slab of clay without it tearing and crank out pinch pots at 5 minutes per! I had a professor who could throw 3ft tall vases one after another all class period long, it's amazing how great you can get at this craft if you work at it.


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

Bisqued clay is definately not as strong as high-fired stoneware, but I've been playing with them for years with no issues. The only problem I can see is because they're porous if they freeze while water-soaked it will destroy them. But I've moved them around, picked them up in many different ways.
The bisque looks like pumice rock (almost). 
As for making your own ,definately go for it, I buy premixed clay online, probably $25.00 shipped. Roll out with rolling pin, newspaper inside for support, cover with plastic to slow drying to prevent cracking.
In theory one could fire piece in a bonfire or something like that, that's a little unpredictable but if you get the piece to glow its definately fired enough!
The whole process is a lot of fun!
I'll post some other pieces when I get time...


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## AVN (Oct 3, 2012)

Ouch man! $25 shipped sucks. I get my 100% porcelain clay from my old high school teacher for $8 a 20lb bag. He buys thousands of pounds at a time and saves a massive amount because he gets a teacher discount, I take advantage of that.

I would love to see some of your other pieces, I actually think my next project will be replicating what you've done here, I want to try it myself.

I don't think I'll ever take one of these out and freeze them, so as long as they maintain their integrity underwater that's good enough for me.

As for different firing methods, I've actually done bonfire firings, it's not good, at least for aquarium use. The ash gets fused with the clay and then leaches into the water, not good at all.


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

Current status of my Clay Tower aquarium. Everything is going great guns. With only a small hair algae issue everything seems quite balanced.


















The floating moss island, bobbing around with Salvinia and Duckweed









Baby Rilli or Malawa shrimp 









The wabi-kusa balls are still going strong submerged, although you cant even recognize them anymore!










Copepod on the glass, there are hundreds if not thousands are living in this tank!
My theory is that if the copepods are happy the shrimp are happy! I'm not sure what experience others have had.


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## zoragen (Nov 3, 2009)

I love it!! 

Working w/ clay is neat. I haven't done it for YEARS and don't have the room now.

So I want to see lot's of pics


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

So I discovered a way to clean up plants and feed my shrimp. I put plant or moss from my other tanks and let them clean each plant.
The shrimp mob the plants in all sizes. The next day I switch in a new plant
One of my best Rillis
View attachment 58297


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## laqu (Oct 17, 2012)

that is SO funny... i just did that with my frogbits today... now for the planted ones... i'm thinking mr betta will have to 'vacation' for a day or two while the shrimp move in and clean.


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## FisheriesOmen (Jan 14, 2012)

I love it!
Now I want to try something like this


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## Disher (Apr 1, 2012)

This is great. Have you thought about selling these? I'd be first in line. I love the idea of also using it not only as a decoration, but a way for micro organisms to populate on and feed your shrimp. You should post a full tank shot!


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## laqu (Oct 17, 2012)

these are amazing !!!

think TINY! i have an 8x8x8 so TINY... this would be so cool!

i love these


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

Thanks all!
First photograph is a full tank shot. It's 13" cube handmade.

I have thought about making them to sell but they'd be expensive, the time to build and then fire.
But the cool thing is I could pretty make them to any specs including small, or to fit in a corner. I even figured out a way to give them a kind of natural appearance.


Below is another Claytower I made actually an earlier one so was still working on technique. It's filled with compost and peat, too much nutrients I think.
View attachment 58434


I make little cups in clay for surface islands
View attachment 58435


An island in a corner tower.
View attachment 58436


I'll post some other clay pictures later.


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## Steelwolve (Sep 24, 2012)

Very neat. I like the earlier one you did very much, it has a cool drifwood look to it. I remeber working with clay in school a couple of times, but dont really remember any specifics about the types or firing processes.
I would really like to try to make one of these as I have been searching for the perfect peice of driftwood now for 2 years without sucess, and if I could make it out of clay that would be perfect. Here in Columbus there are a few "make your own pottery" stores around. If I were to go try to do one of these there are there any tips for what types of clay to avoid using in an aquarium? Also what about adding color, is there a pigment or paint that you would/could use? And from what I gathered from the above converstion, Bisque is a lower temp initial firing, then you would add glaze and refire at higher temps to finish? I understand that you dont do the glaze, but just checking on the meaning of bisque. Thanks and great work!


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## zoragen (Nov 3, 2009)

I never thought of those make you own pottery places!

Cool idea


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

I use a stoneware that I bought commercially. most clays are fine, the only problem might be if unusual refractories (helps the clay "melt" at a certain temp) for really low-fire they add some weird stuff that may not be good for an aquarium. But all in all the stuff has to be non-toxic for food consumption for humans and so is safe for aquariums.
Pottery is frequently fired (baked) twice, once at a lower temp (bisque) and then higher temp (glaze). The glaze firing actually causes the clay to fuze into a glasslike substance (stoneware or porcelain)
My theory is you only want to bisque it because its more porous and as such harbors micro-organisms in its body which could act as a filter of sorts.
High fire is more like glass or a quartz rock.
Plus its quicker and cheaper just to fire to bisque.

Here's a couple of pieces I have kicking around.

View attachment 58438


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## Steelwolve (Sep 24, 2012)

greenman857 said:


> I use a stoneware that I bought commercially. most clays are fine, the only problem might be if unusual refractories (helps the clay "melt" at a certain temp) for really low-fire they add some weird stuff that may not be good for an aquarium. But all in all the stuff has to be non-toxic for food consumption for humans and so is safe for aquariums.
> Pottery is frequently fired (baked) twice, once at a lower temp (bisque) and then higher temp (glaze). The glaze firing actually causes the clay to fuze into a glasslike substance (stoneware or porcelain)
> My theory is you only want to bisque it because its more porous and as such harbors micro-organisms in its body which could act as a filter of sorts.
> High fire is more like glass or a quartz rock.
> ...


 Now thats what I would like to do. Very nice looking work, Im thinking the sharpie is for size reference or do you use it to shade the peice? How did you get the color, and shading so perfect?


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

Yeah the sharpie is just for reference.
I have my own small kiln which allows me to develop my own techniques.
Basically its a modification of Raku
http://www.garyrferguson.com/raku.htm: if you look at the pics where they pot the pot in paper or whatever thats what I do, the burning makes all kinds of earthy colors on the clay.
One could probably do the same after the fact by burying the pots in a pile of leaves and lighting it on fire, I think.


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## laqu (Oct 17, 2012)

love the idea of a 'natural' looking driftwood corner! 
I WISH i could do that!


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

*Update: Shrimp babies and more!*

I've added some more Rilli shrimp to hopefully diversify the gene pool. The copepods, snail, flatworm and shrimp all seem to coexist quite well. In fact I'm finding the shrimp (of course) are quickly over-populating the tank! 
View attachment 59076

Here 3 differant age classes all hanging off the glass. I think these are Malawa?
View attachment 59077

I really love the idea of mixing species together. Having Copepods, Snails and shrimp all with in a 2" square inch is kinda cool to see!

View attachment 59078


How the tank looks today. Only minor algae problems which so far have been controlled by hand. 20% water changes 1-2 /week.


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## Tidal wave (Nov 9, 2012)

Those clay wood and wabi kusa towers should be mass produced and available for sale!!


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

Latest update
I like the kind of rampant wild but not too out of control. 

View attachment 59564


Notice the floating island.


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

Latest update: I added a sand feature on the left to add some depth.







Some unknown giant pond snail species.







Tank is doing great!, shrimp are increasing like crazy and no real algae problems! It's amazing how well a balanced tank does!


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

Latest update








Photo from the surface 















Rilli Shrimp


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## le0p (Mar 28, 2012)

Wow, these are great tanks and great pieces. I agree, you should sell some of these, they're amazing.


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

Well I offered some clay stuff with no interest so...
Here's what they look like finished (not towers but simple starts)
Clay tiles, Clay caves and two clay logs. I'm gonna try attaching moss on them and see how they do.


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## GeekBoy (Jan 30, 2013)

Beautiful work, very inspiring tank! Wasn't aware of wabikusa either, I'll have to look into that some more. 

Those logs look stunning!


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## greenman857 (Feb 25, 2012)

Thanks! I attached moss to some yesterday, I'll post pics in a bit.
Gonna fire more next week too.


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