# 8 Gallon Iwagumi-ish Rimless (Blue Bolt, Shadow Panda, Red Wine, Golden Bee)



## helgi125 (Jan 16, 2014)

Rock placement looks sooo good. Have you thought aboutusing an inline heater so you dont have to put stuff into the tank?


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## kimchilee (Mar 2, 2015)

looks good! what shrimp you getting?


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## kimchilee (Mar 2, 2015)

little advice, try to keep the water level below the line of the soil.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

helgi125 said:


> Rock placement looks sooo good. Have you thought aboutusing an inline heater so you dont have to put stuff into the tank?


Yes I will either pick up an inline heater (lowest I see is 200w though) or DIY with a Eheim model. 



kimchilee said:


> looks good! what shrimp you getting?


Not sure yet but I have plenty of time to decide. 



kimchilee said:


> little advice, try to keep the water level below the line of the soil.


I dropped the water a bit to avoid nastiness.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

Generic pipes looking slick in the seller's photo. Sizing was key since height in the back of the tank is...nonexistent. Should keep flow way down too.


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## 6Speed (Dec 3, 2012)

Phyzix said:


> Generic pipes looking slick in the seller's photo. Sizing was key since height in the back of the tank is...nonexistent. Should keep flow way down too.


Did you order from ebay? Those look very nice.


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## kep (Feb 3, 2015)

I have a 9g and found the 200W hydor inline heater does a great job. The thing is really big though! you will need room behind the tank for it.

Great looking scape! Should look really slick once filled in. Great job!


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

6Speed said:


> Did you order from ebay? Those look very nice.


Yep, just a random brand from there. Searching for 13mm nano lily pipes will probably bring it up, but if I post a link it will get removed. 



kep said:


> I have a 9g and found the 200W hydor inline heater does a great job. The thing is really big though! you will need room behind the tank for it.
> 
> Great looking scape! Should look really slick once filled in. Great job!


The heater looks huge, but I have 6" between the stand and wall for the CO2 system anyway so I will just need to mount it next to the c02 mixer. All these things should bring down the flow for the shrimps.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

So far so good, but I'm guessing at least 4 weeks for the plants to fill in. Eheim 2211 is getting seeded in the 30g.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

I take back all the mean things I said about you China 

Little bit of sanding and some toothpaste polish will make them basically a thinner ADA for 1/4 the price. Highly recommend.


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## MEandYouPhoto (Jul 1, 2014)

Phyzix said:


> I take back all the mean things I said about you China
> 
> Little bit of sanding and some toothpaste polish will make them basically a thinner ADA for 1/4 the price. Highly recommend.


I am definitely interested in these. Can you PM me with where you got them from?


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

Changed up a few things from the last post. This is actually ebb & flow now with seachem ferts and very high co2. 

Also ended up adding DHG. 

Hoping to have a solid carpet by the start of July when this thing has been cycled awhile.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)




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## ChalupaBatman (Feb 12, 2015)

Hardscape is awesome! Can't wait to see it grown in.


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## kimchilee (Mar 2, 2015)

your monte carlo growing a lot faster than my dwarf baby tears, nice!


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## crispin (Apr 24, 2015)

Looking great! 
your monte carlo is growing a bit upward. increase your light and it will stay close to ground.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)




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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

tank looks great! haha that beer bottle comes with handy noodling instructions


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

andrewss said:


> tank looks great! haha that beer bottle comes with handy noodling instructions


The catfish is wearing a cap and smoking. Wish my fish did that. 










A month in.


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## MPdesign (May 17, 2015)

Nice grow  keep the good works !


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## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

Looks good!

Giving the Monte Carlo a trim will help keep it short and compact.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

Didn't get enough ferts while I was away but moving in the right direction. Lots of brown algae. Doesn't look like a lot of progress over the past week but that's largely due to a trim.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

So this has been a great copepod habitat over the past few weeks but I finally lined up some cardinal shrimp arriving this Friday. They have some pretty specific parameters and I have everything almost perfect so hopefully all goes well in the transition. I have upped my light a bit to form a nice layer of algae across the rocks since that's how these guys like to eat.


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## strangewaters (May 13, 2015)

Phyzix said:


> The catfish is wearing a cap and smoking. Wish my fish did that.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


are those tiny looking bubbles on the surface from your co2?


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## rragan (Jun 2, 2015)

I really like this tank. I would like to do a small tank like this. Plants look very healthy, Great rocks too!

can you get those pipes for high flowing canister filters? ide like to get some on my 55.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

strangewaters said:


> are those tiny looking bubbles on the surface from your co2?


The C02 bubbles coming from the outflow are too small to see with the naked eye but when it's pumping and the lights are on the plants pearl like crazy. Without any real surface agitation it collects at the top and it almost looks like a galaxy. Pruning will create a similar effect but it's easy to tell the difference in person. 












rragan said:


> I really like this tank. I would like to do a small tank like this. Plants look very healthy, Great rocks too!
> 
> can you get those pipes for high flowing canister filters? ide like to get some on my 55.


These pipes are 13mm, so you would probably want to get the next step up (17mm??) and use an outflow that would promote more current. Really depends on the filter you use.

Thanks!


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## strangewaters (May 13, 2015)

I like the galaxy effect. 

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

Didn't end up getting the cardinals so I'm still on the lookout.


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## Ganyon (Jun 11, 2012)

Beautiful tank.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

Ganyon said:


> Beautiful tank.


Thanks! Got some assassin snails on cleanup while I look for shrimp.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

Assassin snails doing their thing.


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## Sub1117 (Sep 21, 2014)

Looking good. I think the scape would look nicer with a white background, though.


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## Dantrasy (Sep 9, 2013)

looks cool. time for a trim?


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

Thanks for the feedback...I like the new look just needs some trimming + fill.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)




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## NeonFlux (Apr 10, 2008)

Iwagumi tank's lookin' good! Well done.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

NeonFlux said:


> Iwagumi tank's lookin' good! Well done.


Thanks!


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

Finally through the brown algae now it's time to work on trimming the perfect carpet. I will be getting the water parameters ready for some shrimp hopefully in the next week or two. The green algae on the rock is intentional.


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## jblah (Aug 3, 2015)

nice! where did you get the rocks from? placement is awesome.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

jblah said:


> nice! where did you get the rocks from? placement is awesome.


I was fortunate enough to come across a cardboard box of ADA Seiryu stone at the LFS and picked through it for awhile. I admit feeling like a complete tool paying $30 for rocks but hey it's not my priciest hobby by any stretch heh. Thanks!


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)




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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

No love for the nano eh? Well I will pick up a new camera sometime that should be better than the iphone quality. In the meantime here are the initial inhabitants. Blue bolt, shadow panda, wine red bee, golden bee and assorted f1 mischlings to mix it up. Very pleased and I hope they all pull through OK. 

Same photos from Reddit plantedtank, I'm feeling lazy tonight. 








































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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)




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## danarl (May 13, 2015)

The tank is absoulutly amazing. 
Can you tell me the names of the plants?
And how much w. Is the lighting? Wich type is it(led?)

Sorry for my bad english im from non english country. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)




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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)




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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

Woah! Nice carpet, nice shrimp. That's an awesome photo.


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)




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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

Have some decent size offspring now including what appear to be pure shadow pandas. Plus all sorts of cool mixed f1s that are a bit too small to photograph.


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## noseprint (Jun 29, 2015)

beautiful! I love seeing baby shrimps next to the adults


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

noseprint said:


> beautiful! I love seeing baby shrimps next to the adults


Thanks!


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## Kramflowz (Aug 6, 2014)

AWESOME! I cant wait to get my shrimp in once I have my new tank planted and cycled. Gonna be doing Blue bolts and shadows. I'm a huge fan of blue shrimp, such a unique color that you don't see naturally too often. Great tank for sure, keep it up!


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

Kramflowz said:


> AWESOME! I cant wait to get my shrimp in once I have my new tank planted and cycled. Gonna be doing Blue bolts and shadows. I'm a huge fan of blue shrimp, such a unique color that you don't see naturally too often. Great tank for sure, keep it up!


Yes I'm obviously a fan of the blue/black combos but the red guys always get the most attention from people.


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## cube860 (Oct 3, 2015)

wow... nobody said shrimpin was easy


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## Animanganime (Sep 28, 2012)

Hi TC, very nice looking tank, what did you do to get rid of the brown algae on the Monte Carlo or did they just disappear by itself after 2 months or so? Thanks


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## Phyzix (Mar 20, 2015)

Animanganime said:


> Hi TC, very nice looking tank, what did you do to get rid of the brown algae on the Monte Carlo or did they just disappear by itself after 2 months or so? Thanks


Clears up on its own after a couple months fortunately. Still have green on the back walls and rocks but the shrimp like it.


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## megumz (Jul 15, 2015)

Hi! LOVE your tank. I was wondering how you got your carpet to grow so thick? I have hc but it grows up more than it spreads. I want mine to look like yours! Any tips would be appreciated


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## kimchilee (Mar 2, 2015)

love it love it! so jealous, i want your tank!

Bump:


megumz said:


> Hi! LOVE your tank. I was wondering how you got your carpet to grow so thick? I have hc but it grows up more than it spreads. I want mine to look like yours! Any tips would be appreciated


if the hc gets enough light, it spreads, if not, it grows up. just my opinion.


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## II Knucklez II (Oct 31, 2011)

awesome set up this is what I have always wanted to do.


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