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35x20x30 Iwagumi Dry Start UPDATED 26/02/2014

Jaap

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2011
Messages
1,068
Location
Nicosia
Hello everyone,

Need advice and suggestions on how to set these rocks.

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20140103_143500_zpsgpeme4bz.jpg
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Always difficult to arrange stones when you can't see all sides. Anyway I had a quick play in photoshop and came up with this. I tried to add a little height by raising the substrate so it looks a little weird.
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Hi Jaap,
Personally I think the last one is the best, but I would be tempted to move the back left one in a little.
Before that however, I think you need to sort the substrate out as the lack of definition in it is detracting from the definition you're trying to achieve with the rocks. Have a look at some other iwagumi scapes for inspiration, but most would argue that it looks best shallower at the front and sloped deeper towards the back.

Hope this helps for starters.

Ben
 
Ben aren't they the same layout but photo's taken from different angles? think he wants ideas on rock placement, well that was my take on the op question could be wrong :)
 
Hello,

Thanks for your replies. Jon I tried your rearrangement but could recreate it as well so I created the following one:

20140104_175312_zpsyoayxe3h.jpg

What do you guys think?

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5 hours per day of light

EI dosing regime

1 hour before lights on CO2 is on at a rate of many bubbles per second

Unfortunately my cuba is rotting...

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Seeing as my Hemianthous Cuba is melting and predicting that it would do so beforehand, I have followed Andy's propagator technique:
Andys HC propagator step by step | UK Aquatic Plant Society

1. Any clues why my Cuba is melting?
2. Should I remove the water and try to grow it with dry start method?
3. When the propagator fills up with HCC can I just pant it in my tank and fill it up with water or will there be any complication? e.g melting

Thanks
 
50% weekly water change and 11w light...my co2 levels are pretty high since drop checker is yellow and bubbles per second are difficult to count....water circulation is also good in my opinion since it seems that water currents destroyed my hardscape by m9ving moving the gravel due to high flow...

I must admit though that the initial condition of thd cuba was in decline

What should I do? Try to save it or dry start method?

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Perform water changes a couple of times a week, if plant was already in a bad state it might not recover, just keep the CO2 and ferts up and see how it goes, might be worth purchasing a new pot.
 
Perform water changes a couple of times a week, if plant was already in a bad state it might not recover, just keep the CO2 and ferts up and see how it goes, might be worth purchasing a new pot.


How about if I empty the water and dry start the remainder that is left plus a few small rhizomes that I have in a bowl by the window? Kind of like Andy's propagator thread...
 
If you were to start with the original pot using DSM then fine, now its a little too late, the plant has already been transitioning to under water, now you want to go the other way round?
 
So now that the plants have transitioned to underwater conditions it is difficult/impossible to transition back to their emmersed state?
 
You will run the risk or making it worse. When an emersed plant is submerged it will most likely forget about the old submerged growth in favour of fresh new submerged growth. If you take it out of the water now any and all effort that your HC has put into transforming will be lost.

Stick it out and keep up a steady water change a dosing schedule. Maybe back off the flow a little if it is disturbing your substrate, too much flow can also damage your plants.

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Due to the fact that very little HC survived, I have decided to try dry start method with what was left...

1. I made sure that the substrate was wet but didn't have pools of water to cover the HD to avoid melting.
2. I have the lights on 12 hours per day.
3. I also moved the tank near a window to get some sunlight.

My only concern is that I don't think there is enough humidity in the tank since I don't see any humidity in the glass. Anything I can do about that?

Thanks
 
I have decided to go with dry start method since I had no other choice looking that the HC was melting. I left a few pieces of HC in a bowl by the window that were left from my initial planting, these pieces grew quite well due to the sun and so I placed them in my DSM tank as well. The light is on for 12 hours a day and the tank is located by the window to get as much sun as possible. I try not to flood the substrate so the HC doesn't melt so I spray a little bit of water and when I see pools of water forming I remove it with a syringe.

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The HC is spreading little by little as you can see but the HC that is higher up the slope and thus gets less water throught its roots doesn't grow as much!

unadyvyr.jpg


tegyhupu.jpg
 
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