# ADA Mini L: Iwagumi X-2



## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Slope your substrate even more. Once you fill the tank, the substrate will settle more flat. I like 1" in the front and 4" in the back before the tank is filled.

The rocks are very nice.


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

It needs like two more cups of substrate poured right onto the the hill to smooth out the slope. But before that, that pointy rock in the back right needs to be moved down so its angle mirrors the largest rock imho. (It's a pet peeve of mine, I don't know why.)

also, you should totally go all out and do a mixed carpet of HC/Glosso and either UG or hair grass, I don't think the two would mix well together. No micro sword though! You should keep withen the same shade of green for a mixed carpet.

(Also, you can spray aquasoil down with a spray bottle till it's soaking pretty much before filling to help it keep its slope, but yeah, you do want 1" in the front and 4" in the back atleast.)


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

This is the best part. The laying down of the bones. 

What are your lighting and CO2 ideas?


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

I'm using pressurized Co2 that I had from my 30 gal. I was originally going with an Archaea light fixture with the 36w ADA bulb, but the coralife fixture you use is cheaper and easier to get, so went with that with the ADA bulb. It's not easy finding a light fixture that fits this tank size.

Yeah, I don't know why the hill has been such a pain in the ass in this tank. I think it has something to do with the combination of powder and normal Aquasoil. I'm tinkering with it to try to fix it, but it doesn't cooperate easily. And! Dollface that rock you're talking about is actually square and flat.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

I filled in some more aquasoil to accentuate the slope some more. One thing I've really got to note here is that the soil layout is almost as important as the stones themselves - it has the power to completely change the impression of the layout just by covering up / revealing certain parts of the rock. Like in this layout in general I tried to turn otherwise useless flat, square stones into something that didn't look flat or square and give the impression of a natural layout, like a mountain top. 

I also have to say there's a kind of layout magic that exists, that when you hit a certain point for a really good setup, you have to keep it because recreating it even with photos is nearly impossible. I can't say how many layouts I've had in here that I could sit back and be like "that looks cool" but let me tinker with it now and try a different layout, then when I try to go back to the old one it can't be recaptured!

I feel like the plant selection and placement is going to make or break this particular hardscape. It's amazing how much you learn each time you setup a new layout really. Each new tank seems like it offers volumes and volumes of new information. Or maybe I play around with things far too much!


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

You'll be impressed with the bag of UG and MP. Gave you quite a bit of both.
Initially, you'll be underwhelmed and frustrated by the second bag. There's hardly anything in it. However, this is the good stuff. Special Fern (a tiny, tiny frond), Japanese HG (I could only find a single blade), and a couple of blades of Mini Microsword.
What I'm trying to say is that San Marcos, TX is about to become a bit cooler plant-wise. These are all super rare, super rad, and perfect for nanos. It'll take time to grow them out to be useful in a 'scape, but once they do, you won't feel out in the middle of planted tank nowhere any more.


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

Wow! Cant wait for you to fill up this baby! lol


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

UG, do you have any suggestions for care on the special fern and japanese HG? I'll have to treat them with the utmost care to begin with since there's such a small margin for error! I remember you mentioning at one point that shrimp will eat special fern. So I'm wondering how to manage that in my stable setup.

I can't wait to fill it up either ddtran, but i'm carefully considering how to plant this baby. I should've just copied one of Amano's aquascapes and planted it exactly like he did...who am I kidding, I'd be annoyed with that even if it came out perfect just on principle.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

After hours of planting, here's the result:

Three riccia stones, which will be surrounded by glosso/hc:










The Completed planting for now:



















These'll be grown emmersed for the time being, see how it goes.

By the way, powder AS is such a pain to fill the water, even breaking strengthening the slope from vigorous misting then filling it in slowly with a plate underneath to break the flow tends to cause mudslides. I'll have to deal with this later, but for now I'm going to busy myself with not being bent over. My back hurts.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Another note cause i'm too lazy to edit. I hope these plants bounce back, most of them are rotting already, lost a lot of plant matter in the mail. 5 pots of glosso evaporated just about.


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

Looks good. I think UG will look great in the center cascading downward. The stuff should be there Tuesday and there's more than enough to plant in that center section.

I don't have any advice on the Special Fern. I do know that it could care less about CO2 and, to a certain extent, light. It hates shrimp. (Or, more accurately, shrimp love it to death.)

EDIT: Actually, I do have advice on the Special Fern. Put it near the filter outflow where shrimp can't get to it.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Yeah, that was my thoughts about the UG too, UG. I left that spot intentionally empty since I pictured it'd go nicely there.

Hmmm, if special fern doesn't care less about Co2 or light, I could place it in a bucket with a bubbler for flow and an ott light on top to provide light. Think that'd work well?

Now I have to figure a good spot to put MP somewhere in either this tank or Sanctia. Maybe superglued to the big rock in Sanctia.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

It has been about 8 days or so since I flooded the tank. Luckily (knock on wood) there hasn't been any algae in any significance at all so far (there has only been very very minute quantities of anything, and they've pretty much disappeared by the next day). So far the hair grass is growing quicker than anything else in the tank:

FTS:









Left:









Right:









I'll have to trim some of that glosso down later and replant it. The strands I got were pretty long to begin with, evidently I didn't bury them deep enough the first time around.


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

its looking good!!


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

After getting back from being gone, I'm frankly quite surprised with how this tank grew in. There was a good patch of some algae that had branches so individually thick that if I didn't know any better I would have told you it was a plant, seemingly the co2 was at some low levels during this escapade, the adjustment nob probably had something turn it down to lower levels on accident. One of these day's i'll master the art of being able to leave the tanks unattended for these trips.










Super-small glosso growth, each single leaflet is about the 1.5x the size of an HC node, here you can see it growing with an HC patch:










More small glosso and the left side:









Right side:









I'm pretty pleased with how thick and short the hairgrass has grown in, it seems my guess about hairgrass and shou stone working together was about spot on. All the plants in here are hugging the ground pretty tightly, even at HC grown properly levels of tight. Considering the tank hasn't been dosed at all in the past month, this leads me to believe that close, intense light (I don't have anything supporting the light fixture above the rim of the tank) really does work wonders. The super-small glosso really aids this tank in coming together. Which is pretty cool since the glosso I planted had leaflets much bigger and much more straggly/taller (which you can see in the previous pictures) than this - I honestly believed that they might not recover so well due to the shape they were in when I planted them. I'm going to monitor the HG until the tear-down and move about a month from now, and see if it doesn't grow any taller, hopefully it doesn't get taller than it is now.


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## blair (Feb 8, 2009)

Lookin' good! Love the mixed ground cover; very natural 

Likewise, I went to DC for a long weekend and returned to awesome growth. But sadly I lost 1 green neon tetra. I also need to work on that art of leaving my tanks unattended. Even with someone feeding for me I have bad luck. If you figure out the secret, let me know :wink:


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

Wow. What an amazing growth for a month time period. Looks very nice:thumbsup:


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Thanks ddtran and blair. I think if this tank hadn't at least survived mostly intact I'd have pulled my hair out.

I was able to remove most of the algae manually but it suffered from the problem of coming back, so I'm going with a 3 day blackout on this tank, so wednesday we'll see how it's doing with a water change and all that.


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## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

blair said:


> Lookin' good! Love the mixed ground cover; very natural


I whole-heartedly agree. That dwarf hair grass looks really good up against that stone.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Well, with the move up to Seattle done, I only had one more task to complete; well, a couple tasks, but all involving the job search and my two tanks I brought with me. 

Honestly. I can't tell you what inspired this aquascape. I wish I could point to a cool mountain or the abstract concept of one, and say HEY LOOK THERE, THAT'S THE IDEA. The reality is, I basically just had a lot of oversized stones, an empty tank, some mixed soil and a floor to work on.

After finishing and fine-tuning the scape a little bit with the help of my fellow Iwagumi enthusiast and associate, Blair, I believe he has more insight on the impression of the tank than I do. I'd love to say that the design concept from the beginning here was four main-stones struggling for dominance in a mountain chain, using subtle shadows, hues and stone textures to create various illusions and tricks of the eye to create an interesting scape. 

However, what really went through my head mostly was "Oh my god, these are all the wrong rocks. Well, that's cool like that right there...hmm, that creates a shadow...this leads the eye over here...this side needs more stuff..." You get the idea.

Without further ado, I humbly present to you an aquascape that is yet to have a name, maybe some divine inspiration will hit later. So lets just call it Iwagumi X for now.



















When I'm feeling more poetic or inspired, perhaps I'll post more insights on the aquascape - for now, I'll just leave it at this design pushed to the limit my knowledge of Iwagumi, and a lot of the creativity driving the design was fostered from examining and critiquing fellow Iwagumi aquascapers and their works here.

All Comments/critiques welcome!


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## trigun808 (May 18, 2008)

beautiful scape *speechless* 
i wish i had a scape like this!


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

Welcome back, X. Glad you're all settled in Seattle. 

The hardscape looks great. You and blair did an awesome job!
I don't think the rocks are oversized at all. I think they're exactly the right size. Initially, when you fill it with water and the water does it's magnification thing, they will seem too large, but once the plants grow in, they will look spot on.
While the rock on in the back-right is the most distinctive, I think the left hand rock(s?) is the star of the show; so many textures and contours! Beautiful stone.
Have you decided what plants you'll be using?

As I find the left hand rock so appealing, your tall stone leaves something to be desired in my eye. The ratio in size to the other rocks seems about ten percent too small and/or low. (I think the knee-jerk reaction to this hardscape may be that the left hand rock is too big, but I believe it is exactly the right size. It's the right hand one that is too small and/or smooth.)
Or:
Perhaps due to how the light falls on it, it has a smoothness absent in the other rocks. Perhaps if it were pushed backwards a bit (half an inch, even), it would either gain texture through shadows or -- if it is indeed smoother than the other rocks -- appear further back in the distance.
Or:
Even simpler, move the light forward a half and inch and take care of everything like that.

Please note that the above suggestion/criticism is me digging _really_ deep to find a flaw. Even if you filled right now without changing a thing, you'd have a really good tank. The Seattle air done good by you. (Maybe now, surrounded by all of that beautiful brown and green, you'll learn to appreciate the beauty of wood.)

Good job on this one. Can't wait to see it grow out.

Oh, wait, I can find a flaw. Your substrate line is too crooked. Yeah, there you go; a solid critique that is easily fixable. Now smooth that out and make us a pretty tank, whuddya?


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## Bubba_Shrimp (Jun 16, 2009)

Outstanding scape! Beautiful stones and very well put together. Added to my collection of nice aquascapes


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## thief (Jan 12, 2008)

Hi there X,

Really intricate scape!!! I love the flow from the left rock downwards into the dark crevices of the other stones. :thumbsup:

But I do you have an idea you might like. Have you thought of maybe changing up the scape. Let me explain my idea. Ok take the photo of the tank and split it directly in half. Now switch those two half's and one can end up with another possible sweet scape right there. The tip of the smooth stone sticking out can align with the ratio that the eye is naturally attracted to. Again this is only an idea that you can try out and see how it looks. I do really favor this scape with the textures and shadows of the rocks but I am wondering how it would look the way I described?


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

im loving those rocks! great scape already.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Thanks everyone for the comments and critiques, it really does help volumes for the development of a tank when there is collaboration. Seems like after you sit back and stare at the same rock structure for hours you tend to get into the rut where you stop seeing your own flaws for sanity's sake.

I've got to be honest, I've been at an impasse when it comes to what needs to be planted in this tank to make it work (or more accurately to not mess it up, since at this point bad planting could ruin the tank, or at least that's how I feel at the moment!). For now there's been some HC growing in there emmersed, which, as anyone who has grown anything emmersed can tell that this tank presents certain challenges to the concept of growing something emmersed. 

In short, my thoughts have been varying from a 100% hc carpet, to hc in the front and center, with glosso up near the tops and around the right center rock, etc, or Hair grass or e tenellus growing around the left hand side, however any e tenellus or hair grass usage would have to be trimmed fairly aggressively to keep it low and away from blocking the impact of the upper tier of the stone structure. I have the feeling that UG would look really great here, but the only real surviving plants through the move (and the massive fluctuations in temperature adding to their shock I'd guess) are a little bit of HC, a few sprigs of e tenellus, some glosso, and new hairgrass shoots that emerged out of the mulch that became of the rest of the plant mass. I've yet to find any of the UG I had in plethora that grew out from the previous setup in the mass of plants, and I know there's mini pellia still in there somewhere!

Here are some photos:














































From behind:









Morning view:









It warrants noting that my primary challenge with this tank was creating an Iwagumi that maintained the interest to look at that driftwood tanks tend to generate due to their jungle nature. The biggest flaw in my previous Iwagumi's and a common error I see in others are that they are fun to look at for the first time, but get progressively more boring as time goes on, perhaps because there isn't enough to look at, or because it seems like every nook and cranny has been observed. This is the reason for a lot of the tension and myriad stone-work of this design, to try to bring that jungle driftwood appeal of always something new to look at while maintaining the core Iwagumi principles. For this reason, and this reason alone I've been contemplating the mixing of a carpet in the upper decks. 

I really wish I had a camera (or could use my camera to the extent) that I could show you what it looks like coming in the door in the morning with the light on, it even caught me by surprise and I had been staring at it for about a week! I almost feel like the photo's don't do it justice when compared to the experience of it being early morning or night with the light on, and the apartment being completely black and just seeing the tank and all it's nooks and crannies from a distance in perfect detail.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Thanks *monkeyruler*, *bubba*, and *trigun*. I'm glad you guys like it. Hopefully it continues to live up to expectations, and I feel humbled by such praise.

*Thief*, that's a good observation. Initially I did try that idea out as you described it, but in a nut shell, most of these stones end up looking forced or lose their best faces when positioned around the other way - something about it just always looked off or didn't quite fit due to their size and the constraint on the aquascape. By the way - I like the direction you're going with the rocks and driftwood in your new rescape.

*UG, *yeah the left side really is the winner of the scape, they by far have the most detail. I'm happy to hear your feedback, and I should've known that the left side wouldn't be able to sneak past your eye (Thief caught it too I believe), The lights in the original photos were originally way way back on the edge of the tank to over-emphasize the shadowing effect (not where they are normally for growing or will be anyway). The right stone is indeed much smoother than the left side in general, but this is where the interesting contrast comes into play, the feeling that the real dominate side is the left, and the right is merely trying to jockey for control of the scape by height and status. You and Blair both caught that one lightning quick. Now, granted, i'm not sure how this will turn out in the long run. Oh, and I'll straighten out the front substrate line when planting is done .

I'm all ears if anyone has any good plant suggestions here, and believe me, where this one will end up is just about as much a mystery to me right now as it is to everyone else!

For any die-hards: There are 7 stones in total here, and the focal points of the rocks (the most interesting parts of them anyway) more or less fall within the golden rule, which will have to be emphasized by proper planting, all 4 primary focal points are in use.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

*Yes!*


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## mountaindew (Dec 10, 2008)

Good looking start.
These little tanks are so cool! 
I might have to put one together
MD!


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

I've been considering rescaping a 10g I have, and right now I'm debating between either all crypts or an iwagumi setup. After reading through your journal, I think i've made up my mind 

This is gonna be one wicked awesome tank.


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## blair (Feb 8, 2009)

It's no mystery; you're making a very fine statement here. I don't have too much to add from our original discussion, but I will admit I am even more impressed with the overhangs and shadows than before with the use of the actual tank light and clean glass  _Superb_.

Now... plants... 

I haven't seen any suggestions to date... but I feel your efforts with shadows and overhangs need to be embraced. Therefore, at least in the foreground, it becomes a dangerous play to use anything with height. A single species is probably the best bet... HC would give a nice low profile and emphasis to the rock work whereas UG would provide darkness and shadow in its own unique way. Both would make drastically different statements but be successful regardless. A second plant would add a nice dynamism, but if it detracts from the whole by stealing too much attention it isn't worth it. Careful here.

Maybe this will start a collaboration of other ideas to help exercise options and find the best solution. I know I will continue to scratch my head.


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

If you cascade UG from the top into HC at the bottom, a very cool effect would be achieved. It looks a lot like water flowing into a pond.
I don't know if you were around when Source was first set up, but in that tank I had this really beautiful variety of very tall, very thin Hairgrass growing in the background. If you had a solid wall of that in the back -- thin, just an inch deep, but grown to the tank's rim -- with a waterfall of UG flowing out from it, through the valleys your rocks create, and into a field of HC, that would give this tank enough flavor to keep it really interesting for a very long time.
For detail you'd need to add these two plants:
E. tenellus used sparingly in a line in the rear of the tank between the HG and UG to give a transition effect of water splashes; then Riccia tied to stones between the UG and the HC in the front to illicit the feeling of water spray.
This planting would make a phenomenal tank, I feel.


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## blair (Feb 8, 2009)

Good luck convincing X to use riccia 

I like the concept though... very detailed, very intriguing.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Lego, I'm glad I could contribute to the decision towards you aquascaping an Iwagumi. Let me know when you get your feet wet with it, I'd be happy to help in any way I can. Just make sure to post pictures for adjustments before it's filled with water and planted, much easier to adjust things when they're dry! 

If I were to describe Iwagumi, I'd say it's an adventure, to say the least. It has it's rules that 'need' to be adhered to - and it's major flaws, in that it's really easy to make it really boring. Which brings me back to an earlier comment - UG! I do appreciate the beauty of driftwood tanks, don't get me wrong about that, I just have a hard time making one with limited tank selections while i'm so infatuated with Iwagumi! But to the point, in making this layout, a lot of what I was trying to draw into my Iwagumi's (whose fatal flaw in previous layouts was the boring feeling) design, was concepts typical of driftwood layouts, which on average tend to be easier to make more interesting. So I guess the thing I'm getting at here is that Iwagumi is as rigid in principle as it is fluid and free in execution (I'm beginning to think it's one of those oh so beautiful contradictions that exist in plethora in asian culture).

Onto other omnipresent issues, UG, I like that idea, and I have to say using Utricularia was something that kept nagging at me to use (by the way, I found out which plants survive shipping and moving better than others, e tenellus is tough...Utricularia...not so much, it tends to evaporate into slime), it just seems like this layout screams for it, and I definitely want hair grass in the back to cover at least part of the back panel, the exact ratio of how much it should, needs to be thought through, I'm not sure if a full covering or a partial to emphasize empty space is better for this one. Glosso is definitely something I'm not feeling for this layout. I am definitely digging the correlation you pointed out with that plant choice and fluid water, I never thought of it that way, although now that you mention it that is exactly what the impression is.

It seems to me that the most conservative bet is a full carpet of HC - and well, since I feel this scape is anything but conservative, might as well continue with the experimentation and pray every step of the way not to mess up the hardscape by bad plant placement. 

Over one hump (the hardscape) and onto the next (softscape) that could potentially destroy all of the layout! Here's to looking for the two in the one-two knockout combo.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Here's a shot of what's planted so far in the L, I found some hitchhiker riccia in there, that because i'm lazy I haven't removed yet...I may live to regret that decision. For now there's just UG and HC, with some random strands of micro sword in the back. 

Here's a FTS:









These shots are mostly here for me to track growth:




































I'm in the "god stuff needs to grow faster stage" while this is growing emmersed there are currently 62 watts over this tank (8.8g), so that's like what, about 7 wpg over this thing? Luckily that formula is about as accurate as inch per gallon. This number will be reduced to 36w when it's filled with water.

The original aquascape in this tank was my first experimentation with a mixed carpeting - this one I feel is a more refined approach to that concept, attempting to bring dynamism through plant flow while keeping that clean look classic to single carpet Iwagumi's.

Oh yeah, I straightened the substrate line a little bit!


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

So now the utter excitement of the sheer boredom of a dry-start begins!

_--What did you do this weekend?
--Watched the grass grow?
--Metaphorically, sure, but what did you_ do_?
--I_ watched_ the grass grow.
--Well--? Did it?
--Can't tell. Thought I saw a new root, but I can't be sure. Might have been there when I first planted it. Wish I took more pictures when I planted.
--Of your lawn?
--Yep._​
Tank's looking good, X. Substrate line's still a tad crooked, but I'll press that issue more closer to the fill date.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Is that still Shou stone? It looks more like Ryou


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Currently the tank is using Seiryu, the shou stone is currently being used in the Mini S, which I'm cautious about sharing pictures of right now, since it isn't as photogenic as the this layout, that one is leaning heavily on plant growth to be able to distinguish breaks between the rocks. I used an interesting experiment in that one - the main stone isn't the main focal, it's the secondary focal.

UG! haha you know what's funny? I've caught my roommates staring at the tank watching the grass grow. You know it's bad when even the people who aren't into planted tanks are watching the grass.

It's interesting to note while I was working on the shou stone aquascape, I couldn't get "oops! I....did it again to your heeeaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrtt! I'm not that innocent." and "Hit me baby one more time" out of my head while wondering if I should just throw the shou stone out the window. Am I weird?


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## thief (Jan 12, 2008)

Ugly Genius said:


> So now the utter excitement of the sheer boredom of a dry-start begins!
> _--What did you do this weekend?_
> _--Watched the grass grow?_
> _--Metaphorically, sure, but what did you_ do_?_
> ...


 Hahahaha Omg I can see this hapening as a "In the Office having coffee and someone you don't really know that well other than say hi everyday too" type of situation! lol

" I think I saw a root grow..."

On another note: X don't you think thats UG is kind of High up there? Or do you have the tank tilted so water is spread evenly? I bet it will look like a water fall or something once is has grown in!


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

I should put the tank at an angle, but I'm nervous about doing so, anything from some catastrophic fall and it cracking to "my soil shifted..." But yeah it's a bit high, but I've been keeping to a misting regime, usually saying something like "I'mma bring the rain I'mma bring the rain!"


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

Francis Xavier said:


> It's interesting to note while I was working on the shou stone aquascape, I couldn't get "oops! I....did it again to your heeeaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrtt! I'm not that innocent." and "Hit me baby one more time" out of my head while wondering if I should just throw the shou stone out the window. Am I weird?


I do that all the time! Thought I was the only one. 
When I'm laying down the bones of a tank there will always be one verse from one song that gets stuck in my head and plays over and over. 
I've been blessed that it hasn't been Britney Spears.
I can't recall specifically what played during what the creation of any given tank, but it's always different and not always a song I like. 
I'm blessed and cursed with an almost phonographic memory when it comes to song lyrics in that after hearing a song twice, I usually have all the words memorized; like it or not.

Two songs that I do remember looping though on perpetual playback during tank creation were:

_You're bout to witness hip hop in its most purest, 
Most rawest form, flow almost flawless,
Most hardest, most honest known artist, 
Chip off the old block, 
But old Doc is BACK_
[Org.]​

and

_You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away, and know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done._
[Org.]​
And one time it was.

_You take the good,
You take the bad,
You take them both,
And there you have,
The facts of life.
The Facts of life!_
[Org.]​
Now that I think of it, if you listen to the lyrics of Kenny Roger's "The Gambler", you can hear some pretty sage advice regarding laying down a hardscape.

_Now every gambler knows that the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
'Cause every hand's a winner, and every hand's a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep._​
Except for they dying part, that's pretty good advice for laying down a hardscape.

I remember having a crush on Tootie from _The Facts of Life_. Forgot about that. Cutie, she was.


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## joejoe123 (Aug 22, 2006)

any updates pics would be awsome 

Joey


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## Lnd (Dec 28, 2008)

Those are some nice rocks! what are they


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Lnd said:


> Those are some nice rocks! what are they





Francis Xavier said:


> Currently the tank is using Seiryu, the shou stone is currently being used in the Mini S, which I'm cautious about sharing pictures of right now, since it isn't as photogenic as the this layout, that one is leaning heavily on plant growth to be able to distinguish breaks between the rocks. I used an interesting experiment in that one - the main stone isn't the main focal, it's the secondary focal.


Read people!
That being said, dammit I like the way the Seiryu looks in there and now I'm back to wanting to use it in my tank! I should have never looked in here! :icon_wink :icon_wink


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

*The Return of X!
*
Hey guys, it's been a while. I won't waste time here explaining the ins and outs of the day to day toils that accompany a lethal combination of class, work, and the new MMO Aion. Instead, I'll just get down and dirty and right to the goods:




























It's been a slow 3 months or so in terms of growth - definitely the slowest I've seen since going Nano. In fact, the dry start method has been toiling and despairing this time around, however, the guns have been stuck too and there -is- progress! I just filled up the tank yesterday in a fit of "oh to hell and high water with this, I'm fillin her up." 

On the bright side, the HC that was salvageable from the trip up to Seattle was a very, very tiny amount, and is actually getting on it's feet. I can't say much the same for the remainder of the Micro-sword though, as it's pretty much just stayed at it's two nodes, taking it easy, not really accomplishing much, probably sending me a message to the effect of "If you're going to play Aion all day, I'm just going to sit here too."

This tank is definitely a game of patience, due in part to the mechanics of the aquascape, and due in part to my failure to realize the sheer amount of intoxication Aqua Soil can leach into poor unsuspecting emmersed growing organisms...on another note, in a testament to pest-snail survival skills, THERE ARE STILL some pest snails that have survived all the way from Texas over the course of about 5 months of no beneficial conditions. My prayer right now is that basically over the course of the next two weeks algae doesn't explode, so that I can try to find some nerites or Amano's in the Seattle area to add to the tank once it's cycled to handle the problem...Hair grass, I'm looking in your direction.

On one final note, I'm currently working on a super sekrit project that I think you all will enjoy immensely. It may or may not be ready for it's big debut soon, stay tuned folks!

P.S. - I've had the song "guess whose back, back again" stuck in my head since starting this post.


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Francis  

It's good to see you and your iwagumis back. I'm kind of surprised of how little the UG has grown, I had a 3/4 full carpet by 3 months in a much larger tank. I wonder if aquasoil really does leach so much into plants as to inhibit growth. 

As a side note, this tank it making me want to set up my own iwagumi soooo bad.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Hey Doll! hisashiburi ne? (by the way, I loathe typing in romanji, but I can't recall for the life of me if you read hiragana/katakana). I'm glad this tank inspires you! It means a lot coming from a critic such as yourself!

Yes, I too have been disappointed at the lack of growth in this tank overall - but basically yeah, Aquasoil has been known to leach toxic levels when it's fresh, which is why they recommend daily water changes for the first week or so. However, I didn't realize this until after it was too late, and this is probably one reason why the "fill for a week, drain and emmerse grow, then fill again" method worked so well for me in the past. I may have to purchase some more HC to speed up the growth.


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

It has been a while, I'm glad to see you're still around. (get on the chat, do it!)

I've never really grown plants emersed in aquasoil in a large scale before, I've been using potting soil wich works very well, but I'm setting up a proper display tank with aquasoil, so I might have to give the 'fill, drain, fill' thing a try.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

YAY. I'm glad you're back. I was missing the iwagumi master.
I still love this tank. The scape is top notch :thumbsup:


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Thanks CL! I'm still patient enough with this scape in my belief that it will be stunning when grown in. 

By the way, I'm so going to save that quote for future use one day.


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

Tank looks great, X! (Welcome back, by the way.)

The UG's growth _was_ slow, wasn't it? No matter. We're not in this game because we require instant gratification.

I think when it grows in, this is going to be a very nice tank. I like the angled void in the center left. The focal point to me is not your rocks -- which are very nice -- but the space between them.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Thank's UG! I totally agree on the spacing in the tank bringing it together, something about the spacing makes you just want to stare at it more, I can't wait to see it grown in.


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## trigun808 (May 18, 2008)

one of my all time favorite tanks! keep it up! :thumbsup:


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Thanks for the compliment, Trigun. And believe me, I have no intention of slowing.


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## mgdmirage (Mar 30, 2009)

Beautiful scape!


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Thanks for the compliment mgdmirage!

While I hadn't intended on making a photo update so soon, as I was walking by the tank after lights off I couldn't pass up -attempting- to get this shot right:










While you can't really see it in this photo, plant growth has indeed picked up since filling. Now it's just the 'pray algae doesn't break out yet' stage. This does remind me that I need a translucent background of some sort though.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

An Aquascaper's mess during a water change / adjustment session tonight:


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

What's that extra tank ya got there? A mini s?


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Yes, it's my ole Mini S. It's currently stuck in Limbo as I decide what kind of rock layout it should keep, so I ended up transferring some of the dying hair grass to the X-2 to add plant mass.


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