Journal One pot wonder Iwagumi

[BigWave]

Hi all, thought I'd start a build thread of one of my latest Iwagumi setups. It was torn down about 7 months ago but I figured It would be nice to have it all in one place.

EDIT: This is going to be picture heavy, because everyone loves pictures right!

Some stats:
Tank: UNS 60U (75 liters, 20 US gallons).
Light: Nilocg Aquatics NA Prizm 16 inch about 18 inches off the water surface.
Substrate: Platinum Soil with florescent light diffuser grid underneath.
Hardscape: Locally collected rock.
Plants: Eleocharis Belem. The real dwarf hairgrass belem. It only grows to about 2.5 inches tall.
CO2: Custom Alan Le regulator with 5lb cylinder. Inline Rex Grigg's reactor
Stand: DIY Metal stand fabbed up by myself at work.
Filters: 2x Eheim 2211's and sometimes a UV hang on back filter for green water.

Concept created in Krita



Final tank pic, yes, yes a bit in the future LOL.

 

[BigWave]

Here are a few shots of how I made the stand to hold the light. Its created out of 3/4' PVC pipe then painted with krylon Fusion gloss black. I have made many of these but do suggest using actual metal electrical conduit and not PVC. I could not get my hands on a pipe bender thus went this route. The PVC does tend to bend and sag a little so I had to anchor it in multiple places to the wall.





I attached the lights to the the pipe using this technique. Don't remember what these are called. Used picture wire and carabiner's to hang the lights. This worked out excellent. Hardest part was getting both sides exactly the same length.

 

[BigWave]

Clean and ready to go!
Yes, that power head at the bottom is one of the coveted and not made anymore Hydor Evo Pico pumps.

 

[BigWave]

Soil for this tank is Platinum Soil. It grew plants well and did not break down like some other commercial soils. It is very brown which I'm not fond of. I believe I used 12 liters 4x bags in this setup. The florescent light diffuser grid is a technique often used in the aquascaping community to create height. It also protects the bottom glass from all the Hardscape (rocks). You can buy it at most hardware stores under the lighting section.




Two of the tools that are in my opinion essential with new substrate. A sand flatener and squeegee.



The final result.

 

[BigWave]

I have no clue what type of rock this is but it was obtained from a local creek that is feed by glaciers so it was ice cold.
It did contain many pockets an Iron type rust stuff. Spent a few hours on the garage floor tinkering with a few hundred pounds of rock until I came up with something I liked.



Snapped a pictured and imported it into one of my favorite programs Krita. Its free for PC and very usable. Photoshop is a bit big for quick things.



A few revisions later.

 

[BigWave]

Re-creating the hardscape design is quite difficult sometimes. Take 100's of pictures. You almost have to break it down methodically piece by piece like a puzzle. I actually laid out blue painters tape on the coffee table in the exact dimensions of the tank. A great secret I learned a while ago from the Green Aqua Aquascaping Channel is to stream your camera to your TV. Thus its live. You can see all the details and what your actually doing akin to taking a picture in time almost.

 

[BigWave]

Adding the rock to the tank can be challenging. Make 1000% sure its anchored down good and wont fall or tip over. To re-create the creation on the coffee table took lots of sweat and tears. A good thing to do is when your getting frustrated walk away and do something else. Come back a few hours later or even days.




This is a great side shot showing the slope and depth in the tank.



A little skewed picture showing how high off the tank the lighting is.

 

[BigWave]

Here it is flooded and cloudy.


Took a few days for the cloudiness to disappear.




Think this is a good stopping point for a bit.

 

[Art]

OK WOW! So much here to unpack! I'm going to have to think about this and post as I go.

First,

Substrate: Platinum Soil with florescent light diffuser grid underneath.

Why are you using the diffuser in the substrate?

Filters: 2x Eheim 2211's and sometimes a UV hang on back filter for green water.

Two filters on a 20 gallon?? What's your thinking here?

Lastly, when you have a few mins, please set up a Build Thread link in your profile so people can easily find your Build Thread.

 

[BigWave]

OK WOW! So much here to unpack! I'm going to have to think about this and post as I go.

First,

Why are you using the diffuser in the substrate?

Two filters on a 20 gallon?? What's your thinking here?

Lastly, when you have a few mins, please set up a Build Thread link in your profile so people can easily find your Build Thread.

OK WOW! So much here to unpack! I'm going to have to think about this and post as I go.

Why are you using the diffuser in the substrate?
The light diffuser grid is an aquascaping idea.. It protects the bottom piece of glass from all the heavy rock and is also a way to create height if you stack them on top of each other.

Two filters on a 20 gallon?? What's your thinking here?
I always used to have issues with my tanks not being stable and on the verge of crashing, algae's popping up for no reason etc. I started seeing all the Europeans and even Asians using 2 filters so I though why not. Tried it and never went back. Now I don't know if it has to do with actual media capacity and the bacteria or the extra flow around the tank.

Lastly, when you have a few mins, please set up a Build Thread link in your profile so people can easily find your Build Thread.
Done...

 

[BigWave]

OK WOW! So much here to unpack! I'm going to have to think about this and post as I go.

First,

Why are you using the diffuser in the substrate?

Two filters on a 20 gallon?? What's your thinking here?

Lastly, when you have a few mins, please set up a Build Thread link in your profile so people can easily find your Build Thread.

OK WOW! So much here to unpack! I'm going to have to think about this and post as I go.

Why are you using the diffuser in the substrate?
The light diffuser grid is an aquascaping idea.. It protects the bottom piece of glass from all the heavy rock and is also a way to create height if you stack them on top of each other.

Two filters on a 20 gallon?? What's your thinking here?
I always used to have issues with my tanks not being stable and on the verge of crashing, algae's popping up for no reason etc. I started seeing all the Europeans and even Asians using 2 filters so I though why not. Tried it and never went back. Now I don't know if it has to do with actual media capacity and the bacteria or the extra flow around the tank.

Lastly, when you have a few mins, please set up a Build Thread link in your profile so people can easily find your Build Thread.
Done...

 

[BigWave]

A few pictures of the autodoser setup. I went with a Jebao JP5 Autodoser due to its mostly good reviews and the 5 head version being on sale that day. Currently only using 2 out of the 5 heads. (All in one solution and Iron). I searched and searched for a line / tube holder that has 5 holes but could not find any so made it out of 1/4" acrillic that I heated with a heat gun. Used old Vodka bottles for the container. For the tops I found a great DIY tutorial by Eat Sleep Reef - DIY Voss Dosing Containers V2

 

[BigWave]

After numerous failed CO2 Regulators over the years I contacted @Alanle many years ago to make me a good regulator. This is a Conica 312 Dual Stage. Only thing I've done is remove the bubble counter due to it cracking at the threads and leaking. The sucker is quite heavy so the CO2 bottle has to be tied down using velcro or the bottle and regulator will fall over. Note I've got 3x 5lb bottles and 1x 10lb bottle stashed away.
CO2 is fed into the system using a Quanvee M1 12/16mm Inline Diffuser This plugs directly into the DIY Rex Griggs Reactor. Idea gotten from:

 

[BigWave]

The artificial sun. Its a 16 inch Nilocg Aquatics NA Prizm hung about 18 inches from the water surface. This light is very powerful about 300 par at substrate. Its a great cheaper light for those with deep tanks all the other lights cant penitrate.

View attachment 977

 

[Art]

Wow, sweet! I'm going to have to ask Colin about these to get more info on them.

 

[BigWave]

Got some free time so updating this thread. Also thanks to @GreggZ for enlighting us on how to add pictures more easily
I cant really remember how much DHG Belem I started with but these pics give a good idea. Even planting this takes lots of patience and makes my back hurt just looking at it.

 

[BigWave]

About 20 days later...
As you can see I'm pumping in the CO2 and the drop checker is pretty much useless. This was for a for 1.0 pH drop.

 

[BigWave]

About 20 days from last pictures. It got its 1st hair cut too during this time. I tend to butcher hairgrass when trimming. Its unlike some plants and will grow back instead of making another leaf. All your doing is pretty much taking of the newer growth LOL.
This is about when the tank started to mature and go through its algae phase.

 

[BigWave]

Fully mature and grown in. 2.5 months from last images. I loved how the roots meander and find their way around the rocks. Its nature at its best.

 

[BigWave]

Final picture of the tank!!!