Low Tech Nano Iwagumi?

[ample]

My UNS 5N is no longer bringing me joy in its current iteration. The planting never really panned out the way I envisioned, my centerpiece wood collapsed where I had joined two pieces together, and I’m losing the constant battle against hair algae.

I want to try something different since I’ve always gone for very hardscape-heavy nature aquarium style layouts that end up looking very busy. My husband saw the iwagumi at ADG and thinks it looks super cool, but I’ve never attempted one myself.

Here’s what I have to work with:

• UNS 5N
• SunSun XBL-400 external HOB
• Twinstar 30B LED
• Fluval stratum
• Seiryu stones
• RO water

I’m going to try my best to keep this low tech, but with the availability of mini CO2 setups nowadays I might consider it and would love to hear people’s experiences with it. Would prefer a pressurized setup vs any type of reactor.

For the carpet, I’m planning to do Monte Carlo with a few plugs of dwarf hair grass since they’re probably going to tolerate low tech the most.

Am I missing anything? I’m thinking I should pick up a dimmer for my light and definitely some APT 1. If anyone has a similar setup or suggestions then please share.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Back in 2016 I did a small 3 gallon 'iwagumi':



Mini dwarf hairgrass, staurogyne repens, rotala sp, and I think myrio raiorma (spelling)? not sure.

No CO2, just aquasoil and tap water. I didn't even fertilize, not once!
I didn't really know what I was doing to be fair, so after 6 months the tank got horrible algae due to the plants running out of nutrients.

Here’s what I have to work with:

• UNS 5N
• SunSun XBL-400 external HOB
• Twinstar 30B LED
• Fluval stratum
• Seiryu stones
• RO water

I’m going to try my best to keep this low tech, but with the availability of mini CO2 setups nowadays I might consider it and would love to hear people’s experiences with it. Would prefer a pressurized setup vs any type of reactor.

For the carpet, I’m planning to do Monte Carlo with a few plugs of dwarf hair grass since they’re probably going to tolerate low tech the most.

Am I missing anything? I’m thinking I should pick up a dimmer for my light and definitely some APT 1. If anyone has a similar setup or suggestions then please share.

The only think I'd reconsider is Seiryu stone. It's an amazing stone no doubt, but the constant leaching of carbonates (Seiryu stone literally dissolves in our aquariums) causes fluctuations in water conditions, especially between water changes. I've made it work in the past, but I'd highly recommend a different type of stone. Manten stone, hakkai, even lava rock, rhino stone, are all great iwagumi options.

In a small tank with carpeting plants, go easy on the hardscape. Let the carpeting plants do all the "talking". Use 3 larger stones, max. If you try to fit 3 large and 2-3 small stones, the small stones will be completely covered by your plants and you'll regret not sticking with larger, statement pieces of stones. See my photos above for an example of how 3 stones quickly became 1 as plants grew in!

 

[ample]

Back in 2016 I did a small 3 gallon 'iwagumi':
View attachment 15750
View attachment 15751
View attachment 15752
Mini dwarf hairgrass, staurogyne repens, rotala sp, and I think myrio raiorma (spelling)? not sure.

No CO2, just aquasoil and tap water. I didn't even fertilize, not once!
I didn't really know what I was doing to be fair, so after 6 months the tank got horrible algae due to the plants running out of nutrients.


The only think I'd reconsider is Seiryu stone. It's an amazing stone no doubt, but the constant leaching of carbonates (Seiryu stone literally dissolves in our aquariums) causes fluctuations in water conditions, especially between water changes. I've made it work in the past, but I'd highly recommend a different type of stone. Manten stone, hakkai, even lava rock, rhino stone, are all great iwagumi options.

In a small tank with carpeting plants, go easy on the hardscape. Let the carpeting plants do all the "talking". Use 3 larger stones, max. If you try to fit 3 large and 2-3 small stones, the small stones will be completely covered by your plants and you'll regret not sticking with larger, statement pieces of stones. See my photos above for an example of how 3 stones quickly became 1 as plants grew in!

These are great insights, thank you. Especially about the seiryu stones. I didn’t know they leached carbonates more than other common aquascaping stones. I do lots of water changes and am constantly fussing with the tank which probably upsets the shrimp and existing plants. Kind of a bummer because it is my favorite stone and I was hoping to reuse it. Do you have any recommendations for management if I want to keep the seiryu?

Your 3 gallon looked great at its peak. I’d be happy if mine turned out like that.

 

[JayP]

OK, hang on everybody, I'm about to disagree with @Naturescapes_Rocco . He might be the more experienced aquarist, but I'm laying claim to older and wiser .

I have 2 UNS 5Ns waiting to be scaped as well. Chances are, you won't be going with fish in this tank, just shrimp perhaps? Shrimp won't care about the higher carbonates from Seriyu stone and I don't think the limited number of plants will care much either. There's a reason Seriyu is so popular, It's gorgeous, and it's used in plenty of ADA and Green Aqua scapes with no issues. I have a number of hand picked medium to small stones I'll likely be using in both my 5Ns. I also have it in my 49 gallon tank which has been running for over 15 months. Go for it!

As for plants, might I suggest swapping the Monte Carlo for HC Cuba? Because of the small size of the tanks, I think the smaller leaves of the Cuba might give it better perspective. Although, Cuba is a little slower growing, but my experience in my Brazilian style tank so far is quite positive. It's growing a little faster than I expected, and the transition from TC to submersed actually went smoother than the same transition with Monte Carlo.

For CO2; There's the paintball CO2 cylinder route but it is getting tricky to get those refilled. The only place in KC that does regular tank refills, won't refill those which leaves a single paintball course that does it, but it's a bit of a pain, so for mine (I use one on my UNS 30C), I decided to buy a 20 LB cylinder with a dip tube that I can use to refill other tanks using adapters you can get on Amazon. But that's also a bit of a pain, so I just bought a 2.5 LB cylinder with standard CGA connection that will barely fit in place of the paintball cylinder. You may have other refill options or even a way to swap out the paintball cylinders.

 

[Kwyet]

It depends on the kind of shrimp, right? Neocaridina will be fine, but Caridina won’t. None of them will care for large, sudden swings, but Neos will still most likely be fine with weekly but slower water changes.

 

[Koan]

which probably upsets the shrimp

If you're keeping Neocaridina shrimp the good thing is they are loving that carbonate

Seyiru is frustrating to aquascapers that are trying to maintain soft water , to grow sensitive soft water plants. CO2 accelerates this leaching because it drops the pH in your tank accelerating the dissolution of the stone.

However Neocaridina / cherry shrimp thrive with carbonate at least 4 to 10 dKH °

If you haven't torn down this aquascape yet, start tracking your KH values before and after each water change for the next several weeks and see how much fluctuation there is. It may be that your water change schedule offsets the leaching and your fluctuations are not that bad

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Jay's right, it probably isn't too big of an issue -- especially if you're on top of weekly water changes. If you only change water every 2-4 weeks, you might be causing major shifts in carbonates, but if it's a small amount of stone, it won't be the end of the world! I just know that I like the peace of mind when using completely inert hardscape, but I've also had scapes with seiryu stone before:




All of these are seiryu stone and were quite manageable with consistent weekly water changes!

 

[JayP]

but Caridina won’t

I will give you that point. I've essentially rejected the idea of keeping anything other than Neocaridina due to their ease of care, lower cost, plenty of colors to choose from, and prolific breeding. But as Koan mentioned, if remineralizing water to match/compensate for the expected seiyu effects, there don't need to be big fluctuations.

 

[TRyan]

Back in 2016 I did a small 3 gallon 'iwagumi':
View attachment 15750
View attachment 15751
View attachment 15752
Mini dwarf hairgrass, staurogyne repens, rotala sp, and I think myrio raiorma (spelling)? not sure.

No CO2, just aquasoil and tap water. I didn't even fertilize, not once!
I didn't really know what I was doing to be fair, so after 6 months the tank got horrible algae due to the plants running out of nutrients.


The only think I'd reconsider is Seiryu stone. It's an amazing stone no doubt, but the constant leaching of carbonates (Seiryu stone literally dissolves in our aquariums) causes fluctuations in water conditions, especially between water changes. I've made it work in the past, but I'd highly recommend a different type of stone. Manten stone, hakkai, even lava rock, rhino stone, are all great iwagumi options.

In a small tank with carpeting plants, go easy on the hardscape. Let the carpeting plants do all the "talking". Use 3 larger stones, max. If you try to fit 3 large and 2-3 small stones, the small stones will be completely covered by your plants and you'll regret not sticking with larger, statement pieces of stones. See my photos above for an example of how 3 stones quickly became 1 as plants grew in!

I just love these little tanks. They look very nice!

 

[ample]

Jay's right, it probably isn't too big of an issue -- especially if you're on top of weekly water changes. If you only change water every 2-4 weeks, you might be causing major shifts in carbonates, but if it's a small amount of stone, it won't be the end of the world! I just know that I like the peace of mind when using completely inert hardscape, but I've also had scapes with seiryu stone before:

View attachment 15756
View attachment 15757
View attachment 15759
All of these are seiryu stone and were quite manageable with consistent weekly water changes!

How big is the tank with the two asparagus ferns? These are incredible scapes.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

How big is the tank with the two asparagus ferns? These are incredible scapes.

This tank was 100cm x 45 x 45cm!

 

[Kwyet]

Yes, they are all exquisite!