# +2.5ft Iwagumi Shallow Tank



## PROX (14 Jan 2011)

Tank Specs:
Dimension: 77cm (L) x 35cm (W) x 30cm (H).
Light: 24w T5HO x 4, currently turn on ~5hours daily.
Substrate: ADA Amazonia I + ADA Powersand Special + Small lava rocks + BorneoWild substrate additives (BorneoWild Balance, Boost P, Bacter Crystal and Bacter Energy - 1 bottle for each).
Hardscape: Lava rock.
Filtration: Eheim Ecco Pro 2036 connected to Cal Aqua Lab nano glass lilypipe (in+out).
Co2: Approx 1bps via glass ceramic diffuser.
Additives/Supplement: 1/3 push of Brighty K daily and sprinkle small amount of BorneoWild Bacter Crystal after each water change.
Flora: Glosso
Fauna: None atm but will keep high grade CRS in future.
Maintenance: 70% WC every day.


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## Celestial (14 Jan 2011)

wow looks very nice! good job, will be following this!


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## foxfish (14 Jan 2011)

Nice tank, nice photo - it will be nice to see how it develops.


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## PROX (15 Jan 2011)

More pictures during the setup . . .






BorneoWild complete substrate system (similar to ADA subs system)






Dump in used soil/powersand/lava rock from 5ft tank. Hardscape (big lava rock) is recycled from previous 1ft tank.






Perform WIWO before planting.

. . . more coming up


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## Tony Swinney (15 Jan 2011)

Lovely layout Prox - look forward to more pics as it matures  

Tony


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## PROX (16 Jan 2011)

More pictures . . .





Glosso is separated into each "node" and planted one by one. Best if you got assistant otherwise be prepared to get backache after planting.





Result after _don't-know-how-long_ of planting





Slowly filling up with water.


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## PROX (16 Jan 2011)

Growth after Day 2
Note - apologize for the mis-focus picture but I hope you guys can see the new shoots.






Growth after Day 7. More new shoots emerging from the soil


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## PROX (16 Jan 2011)

Day 8






It is greener now . . .


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## PROX (16 Jan 2011)

Replace 2 x 24W T5HO  Original light bulb (Katana) with 2 x 24W T5HO Giesemann Powerchrome Midday.

I guess I am now a sucker for German made stuff.


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## PROX (16 Jan 2011)

Day 12






Yet to be dirty glassware  

Update:

-Added in 5 baby otos.
-Start to dose liquid fert BorneoWild Growth and ADA Brighty K. Both <1ml daily.
-Continue to dose 2 drops of ADA Phyton Git and dilute small amount of BorneoWild Bacter Crystal after each water change.


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## PROX (18 Jan 2011)

Day 15.






Bought 5 of this little cute otos. Can't resist myself. 






Supplement/fert to boost the growth.


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## Themuleous (18 Jan 2011)

Love the rocks!


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## PROX (18 Jan 2011)

Added 2 x Badis bengalensis. I noticed small little creatures/bugs moving all over my soil at night. Let see if this little fish can eat it all.






Read the 2nd paragraph..something interesting.

Themuleous: thanks.


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## PROX (25 Jan 2011)

Very hard to capture picture of this little fish. Probably camera shy...






Day 18... Fluorescent green Glosso.


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## PROX (25 Jan 2011)

Day 1 >>>> Day 18

From the 1st picture, you can see the original Katana T5 spectrum compare to Giesemann.


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## logi-cat (25 Jan 2011)

I know people have already mentioned it, but the formation of those rocks are amazing!


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## Vito (25 Jan 2011)

Tank is looking great and no sign of problems, looks like you'll have tones of glosso in no time.


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## schraptor (25 Jan 2011)

Nicely looking tank mate ! Will surely look amazing once glosso grows in.


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## PROX (26 Jan 2011)

More updates...






Day 25

WC every 3 days - 30-50%
1ml of BorneoWild Growth & ADA Brighty K everyday


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## JenCliBee (26 Jan 2011)

Love the rocks and tanks coming along nicely


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## PROX (28 Jan 2011)

Day 28

jenclibee - thanks


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## Tom (28 Jan 2011)

Wow that's quick!


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## PROX (28 Jan 2011)

I guess 96W + Sufficient fert are able to boost the growth


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## PROX (5 Feb 2011)

Day 36

Added in 3 Red Cherry Shrimps.






Need to start trimming the front part.


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## John Starkey (5 Feb 2011)

Very nice looking setup,the growth rate is very impressive,i am considering a shallow setup but i have to convince the wife   

regards,
john.


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## Celestial (5 Feb 2011)

Wow! Thats a great carpet! With these dimensions it makes he tank look at least 5 foot    Good work!


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## nayr88 (5 Feb 2011)

yeah it looks like a 6foot tank! imagine it with hc 

i know youve gone crazy with he substrate system so that must help, but im dosing 1ml of brightly k and 1ml of step one and 1ml of tpn+ daily  with high co2, 18w light over 15liters and ada power sand special s with ada amazonia powder, and im struggling with hc, i know your using glosso but your only dosing 1m a day in a tank a kazillion times as big as my nano?

clearly its working for you but i just cant make sense of it haha.


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## PROX (7 Feb 2011)

Latest picture...










Position of the tank in the house; facing dining table

I dose based on the plant growth. Now 2ml of BorneoWild Growth and 1ml of ADA Brighty K daily.






1 out of 3 fire red in my tank now. Transferred from 5ft to pot @ balcony and now into 2.5ft tank.


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## PROX (11 Feb 2011)

Trimming time . . .





Snip..snip!





Only the front portion is trimmed...the rest of the area will be done in stages to avoid algae outbreak.





BorneoWild Wave Cutter. 





Floating glosso is scooped out using fine net. I have removed the glass diffuser for cleaning and replace it with clean set.





Tank glass is cleaned with blade scrapper before performing water change. Easier to clean off GDA/GSA compare to magnet type and I dont have to wet my hand.





Result after trimming . . .





FTS





Random shot of Badis-badis





Mirror mirror...who is the cutest fish in this world?





Badis M: Hi pretty...want to be my girlfriend?





Badis F: Not interested..bye!


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## PROX (17 Feb 2011)

A little update on the progress......





Day 48. Massive trimming and add few more rocks this coming weekend...





Top down picture





New toys   





Cute bubble counter..





To replace my ADA Brighty K





GUSH Bubble (poppy) type glass outlet





Close up on the poppy head


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## Tony Swinney (17 Feb 2011)

Nice work PROX   That carpets looks really nice and thick.  Love the borneowild wave cutters too - I've been trying to get some for a while, but they always seem to be out of stock 

Tony


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## PROX (18 Feb 2011)

I might be able to help but i am not sure on the postage part..


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## BigTom (18 Feb 2011)

I was feeling quite pleased with the minor miracle that the glosso in my low tech is actually growing sideways, then I came and read this thread and the feeling vanished! Haha


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## PROX (19 Feb 2011)

this tank is turning into low maintenance tank..everything is growing on its own with daily dosing of BorneoWild Growth (1-2ml) and BorneoWild Essence K (2ml)


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## John Starkey (19 Feb 2011)

Hi Prox,great looking scape still,the growth is great,that borneo wild ferts,is available in the uk i wouldn,t mind trying that,i get the feeling you don,t live in the uk,

regards,
john.


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## PROX (19 Feb 2011)

John - I am from Malaysia..LFS in UK not selling it?

More updates...





Replace my Cal Aqua Lab nano lilypipe with GUSH oBubble pipe.





Shot from other angle





Another shot...





Water is added until the "bubble" head is fully submerged.





Close up shot. I like the wave effect. Co2 diffuser is placed below the output to test the vortex effect. The result is fine co2 bubble got suck into the "bubble" head and circulate inside before being push out again. I am not exactly sure if this will cause co2 loss but further monitoring will be done from tomorrow onwards.


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## foxfish (19 Feb 2011)

I think your tank has a lot of us spellbound with mouths open - it seems you have got every parameter right = super fast growth & no algae!
You use ferts most of us are not familar with &  show use superb photos


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## PROX (20 Feb 2011)

foxfish - i am looking for alternative brand which is cheaper than ADA. BorneoWild fert cost half the price and give me good result. I just sold out all my ADA fert.  Thanks for your kind comment.





Sneak preview... will post another pic after the new rocks get some GDA/GSA on it.


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## PROX (4 Mar 2011)

little update on the residents inside the tank.




Left 1 Badis in the tank. The other Badis got injured after being attacked by this guy.   













Random shot of Boraras maculatus


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## PROX (5 Mar 2011)

For my future rescape..




Quick left side shot. Glosso not as compact compare to the middle section due to light distribution but still acceptable.

Today added 1 pot of Cryptocoryne parva. Saw it at LFS many months ago. Feel pity for the plant so I decided to adopt it back. Separate out into smaller portion and treated with BorneoWild Growth to kill algae.


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## John Starkey (5 Mar 2011)

Superb looking scape prox,some very good growth in a short time   ,

john.


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## PROX (6 Mar 2011)

thanks. I guess the lighting, ADA soil and BorneoWild substrate system help to boost the growth.


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## PROX (9 Apr 2011)

BW Boost A - I added 3 into the soil..will update the progress after 2-3 weeks.




Like pill   




Latest FTS

Current maintenance schedule:-
1) Daily 1ml of BW Growth and 2-3ml of BW Essence K
2) 50% water change every 10-14 days
3) Fishes are fed twice daily with BW Staple S and twice weekly with BW Pro Color.

Current tank stats:-
1) Temp: 24-25C
2) Co2: 2 bubbles per 3 secs

Current fauna:

15 Otos
15 Ember tetra
20 Boraras maculatus
20 Boraras brigittae
1 Badis bengalensis
3 Fire Red shrimp


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## bigmatt (9 Apr 2011)

that looks really, really nice! Fantastic sense of scale and great work with those dimensions. Where did you get the hose clamp thingy in the planting pics? Cheers, Matt


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## Lewisr (9 Apr 2011)

Love the tank, those rocks are so good


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## aperry1958 (9 Apr 2011)

Very nice tank i still cant believe you planted all those little plants one by one and look how much growth there is on them.


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## spyder (12 Apr 2011)

Looking good. I'm so tempted to try one of these Iwagumi's one day after seeing so many great looking examples, although my patience would be tested with the prepping & planting of those plants.


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## PROX (12 Apr 2011)

bigmatt - are you referring to the blue hose clamp? If yes, I got it from LFS. Not that difficult to find it here in Malaysia


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## a1Matt (12 Apr 2011)

spyder said:
			
		

> Looking good. I'm so tempted to try one of these Iwagumi's one day after seeing so many great looking examples, although my patience would be tested with the prepping & planting of those plants.



My patience would be tested with regular trimming of the carpet


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## bigmatt (12 Apr 2011)

PROX said:
			
		

> bigmatt - are you referring to the blue hose clamp? If yes, I got it from LFS. Not that difficult to find it here in Malaysia


Yeah that one!  It'd be a life saver for me - lost count of the number of times a hose has slipped out of the tanks whilst water changing!
Does anyone know of anything similar in the UK?
Matt


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## Steve Smith (12 Apr 2011)

Only thing I can think of is something I've seen either Dan or Mark using in the past but I can't remember what it is exactly.  Not as good as the one PROX has though   There seems to be a real lack of little gadgets like this in the UK.


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## a1Matt (12 Apr 2011)

Not the same, but two alternatives I use are...
An eheim shepherds crook, just hook it on the end of the tank and your done.
and plant weight wrapped several times around the end of hosing to hold it down.


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## Piece-of-fish (12 Apr 2011)

Beautiful use of Lava rock. I start to like lava more and more after some great examples like yours recently.


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## PROX (12 May 2011)

Thanks for your kind comment..

latest update of the tank..





...Day 132. GDA on the rocks is no longer visible. I suspect daily dosing of BW growth couple with 1-2 drops of ADA Phyton Git slowly suppress the growth. Clean rocks without scrubbing but I didn't get to hide "brown" coloration on lava rocks.





Close up of Glosso growth after inserting BW Boost A into the soil. Earlier it was slightly yellowish and not so compact.


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## PROX (21 May 2011)

Result after massive trimming..


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## PROX (12 Jun 2011)

Latest update of the tank progress. Nothing new.


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## bigmatt (12 Jun 2011)

Nope, nothing new - still gorgeous!!!! 
M


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## Mrmikey (12 Jun 2011)

Looking seriously slick. Looks so clean and glosso I can only dream of. Nice job


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## PROX (3 Sep 2011)

9 months old scape. No change to the scape besides adding in L. Vietnam. Need to do major trimming again otherwise it is going to turn into jungle scape. BorneoWild Boost A is really boosting the growth faster than I want it to.  :? 




Courtesy of my friend. Limnophila Vietnam.




Big boss of the tank.




Iriantherina werneri. commonly known as Threadfin Rainbow. Looking for female but can't find any yet.




Microrasboras Galaxy. Bought 4 but 3 of it decided to live out of the water


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## PROX (4 Sep 2011)

Equipment used for trimming and cleaning.
from left to right > ADA Spring Washer (for cleaning my glass lilypipe. Didn't dismantle it for cleaning. Basically just insert this brush into the opening of lilypipe..lazy way of doing it) > BW Spring Cutter > BW Wave Cutter > Old toothbrush.




If only this could be eaten...fresh vege.




After trimming. Next week will trim the back portion.


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## viktorlantos (4 Sep 2011)

I kind of like the glosso the wild way. Too bad this going out of control easily.
Nice tank by the way. 9 months is a great achievment with this plant.


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## PROX (12 Jan 2012)

I am still keeping my planted tank but soon to be given away. I have focused more time and energy on reef tank hence the jungle look of my iwagumi tank. Glosso and L.Viet compete each other and grow like weed. Snails are breeding like bunnies together with Fire Red Shrimp.

Pardon the unclear pictures.





















This is what happen when you are in the hobby longer   . You just don't care much anymore and go with total clean trim.




Trying to kill snail in my tank. Too many of it. *please ignore my messy table*




Look and feel like SKII bottle. It is made of frosted glass? Each squirt = 0.5ml. According to instruction, 2ml once/twice weekly.







Concentrated liquid. Only require once or twice weekly. I don't have BBA to try it but it is able to prevent algae according to instruction.


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## PROX (11 Feb 2012)

Today mark the final day for this tank...it will be relocated to a new place. I am officially tank-less after 3 years.


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## Ady34 (11 Feb 2012)

a sad moment, its looking great again.
The new owner will be very pleased!


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## PROX (12 Feb 2012)

Tank has been successfully relocated.

I will help to keep it in shape until the new owner is alright.


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