# 10 Gallon Low-Tech Iwagumi Aquarium Project(Advice Welcome)



## nytowl83 (Jan 15, 2006)

The question of co2 or non co2 is based on the intensity of lighting. at tanks 20 gallons and up 3watts per gallon requires co2 (liquid or gas) and more ferts.

Tom Barr is able to grow dwarf hairgrass with no co2, (here is his tank http://media.photobucket.com/image/amano%20tanks/plantbrain/resized70galADAwith1.5wgal.jpg through his non-co2 approach. So its more of a maintenance and fastness of plant growth preference. (use a dry start method too, Tom Barr has written extensively on this)

However at tanks less than 20 gallons (and non regular shaped tanks) i use a wattage to area rule. (based on a study on numerous of Takeshi Amano's tanks) 200 watts per sqm. is low light 400watts per sqm. is medium and 800watts per sqm. is the high light

You can ditch the iron fertilizer if you use specialized soils (Flourite, ADA soils, Gex, etc.) 

You will also need to dose micros, phosphate (very important and often neglected), and nitrates. Unfortunately i cannot tell you how to dose these, but the web and this forum is full of infos on dosing for Iwagumi tanks

I hope i didnt state too much of the obvious

Cheers,

Ben


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## Strick (Apr 6, 2009)

nytowl83 said:


> Tom Barr is able to grow dwarf hairgrass with no co2


Tom Barr could probably grow human hair on a bowling ball...


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## nytowl83 (Jan 15, 2006)

Strick said:


> Tom Barr could probably grow human hair on a bowling ball...


I wonder what Plantbrain ( Tom Barr) will say... " I'll take that challenge!"


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

Technically-speaking, an iwagumi would not have driftwood. You'd just be using rocks.
A low-tech iwagumi would be great to see. I think the cheapest and fastest method to growing out a carpet of HG, would be to dry-start. HG grows pretty slow emersed, in my experience, but the benefits of going this route far outweigh the patience required to see the carpet through to completion.
Even if you don't dry-start, I would tuck ferts into the substrate rather than the water column. Or, even better, get a nutrient-rich substrate.


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

Or maybe you could use moss and Echinodorus tenellus.


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

Sounds like a good idea, but I'm just curious...any reason you started a journal for this tank in the Low Tech Forum and in the Nano Tank Forum? You only need one.

Anywho, like UG said, I'd skip the driftwood if you're going for a true iwagumi layout. If it was my tank, I'd not use the moss, and just go for HC in the foreground, followed by dwarf hairgrass and giant hairgrass in the back. That would give a pretty sweet sloping effect.


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