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Tigahboy’s SW Planted Tank Project - Three.Six.Five


Tigahboy

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1 hour ago, Tigahboy said:

Yup, looks like sponges to me. 

 

😊 Ordered sand as well, so once I get that I should be able to push this thing along.

 

Lots of cool critters, but most were DOA.  Hoping some of the hitchhikers make it.  🤞

You'll be surprised what you find a year later.

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9 minutes ago, Frag Factory said:

God damn... You're channelling your inner Amano there.

 

Textbook perfect Iwagumi!

Thanks!  I was trying for Iwagumi with my scape.  Best I could do with the LR I had.  Will try to keep the rock as centerpiece going forward but not sure what I’m gonna do with the wood now. lol. 

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Oow, that looks great and I really dig the Iwagumi-style! A true 'Iwagumi-nist' would say the center piece/rock isn't big enough, but I really like it.

 

It's almost a shame to put coral on it. 😉

 

 

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17 minutes ago, DNR88 said:

Oow, that looks great and I really dig the Iwagumi-style! A true 'Iwagumi-nist' would say the center piece/rock isn't big enough, but I really like it.

 

It's almost a shame to put coral on it. 😉

 

 

Haha.  I agree with you 100%.  I hesitate to say it is Iwagumi (though that was absolutely what I was striving for) so how about "Iwagumi-inspired" or "Iwagumi-ish"?  LOL.  I'm even tempted to use a smaller rock on the left to achieve the appropriate look, but we'll see. 

 

In keeping with Iwagumi, I plan to keep the rocks largely bare/exposed.

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mitten_reef
1 hour ago, Tigahboy said:

Haha.  I agree with you 100%.  I hesitate to say it is Iwagumi (though that was absolutely what I was striving for) so how about "Iwagumi-inspired" or "Iwagumi-ish"?  LOL.  I'm even tempted to use a smaller rock on the left to achieve the appropriate look, but we'll see. 

 

In keeping with Iwagumi, I plan to keep the rocks largely bare/exposed.

would you be able to sink the center-left rock down into the sand a little bit?  there seems to be a big mound of sand on the left side of the tank, not sure how deep the rock goes.

 

also, maybe a small rolling hill of GSP somewhere would be neat....😍

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3 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

would you be able to sink the center-left rock down into the sand a little bit?  there seems to be a big mound of sand on the left side of the tank, not sure how deep the rock goes.

 

also, maybe a small rolling hill of GSP somewhere would be neat....😍

Yes, that's the rock that I was thinking about adjusting, swapping out, or breaking up.  I'll see what I can do to improve this scape. 

 

GSP is definitely a good choice.  👍 

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What will you do with the wood?

 

It would be cool to be able to make something like that, WITH a school of fish. 😁

iwagumi-style-tank.jpg.3d48e97c5ae5343ecef05bcb7b85be9f.jpg

 

Or something like this:

d7c24af09c6c68700007d90356db27e3.jpg.89304a17b19883d5f2cd6059dcf01f01.jpg

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@DNR88 Photos like the one you posted have definitely been inspiration for me for this tank.  I'm not entirely sure I'm going to use the wood since the tank seems pretty full as is with the LR.  I bought some smaller pieces of wood as well though to see if I can incorporate that somehow.  So TBD on the wood. 

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I ended up adding Fritz Turbo Start 900 and the bottle of Dr. Tim’s One and Only that I won in the last pico contest to kickstart the cycle. Also dosed ammonium chloride and started testing my parameters to track progress on my cycle more closely. 
 

Water has finally cleared up but starting to lose the beautiful red and purple coralline on my rock. 😥

831C7E62-CE70-4027-AFEE-9742C854CBE6.thumb.jpeg.cf1dfa0e76deeb9cc6bfd45fe0e4ad0e.jpeg

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2 hours ago, Tigahboy said:

I ended up adding Fritz Turbo Start 900 and the bottle of Dr. Tim’s One and Only that I won in the last pico contest to kickstart the cycle. Also dosed ammonium chloride and started testing my parameters to track progress on my cycle more closely. 
 

Water has finally cleared up but starting to lose the beautiful red and purple coralline on my rock. 😥

831C7E62-CE70-4027-AFEE-9742C854CBE6.thumb.jpeg.cf1dfa0e76deeb9cc6bfd45fe0e4ad0e.jpeg

I prob would not have added a ton of NH4Cl to the tank If you started with live rock. Maybe 1 drop in that sized tank. 

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27 minutes ago, William said:

I prob would not have added a ton of NH4Cl to the tank If you started with live rock. Maybe 1 drop in that sized tank. 

True, but not sure how else to gauge where I am in the cycle without seeing some ammonia and determining how fast it can be processed.  I guess I could've added less than 2 ppm.  Or I guess I could throw in a damsel.  😀

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4 minutes ago, Tigahboy said:

True, but not sure how else to gauge where I am in the cycle without seeing some ammonia and determining how fast it can be processed.  I guess I could've added less than 2 ppm.  Or I guess I could throw in a damsel.  😀

I would (in my humble opinion) have added enough to raise it to 0.25 or 0.5 and then assessed it. 2ppm is toxic to a significant amount of the marine life on the rock.  Conversely, you could have added the sand, bacteria and ammonia and waited for it to cycle before adding the rock. That is what I did when I started my RSR Nano, and I found that it helped me not have an appreciable cycle when I added my fresh KPA live rock to the tank.  Just my two cents ....

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MainelyReefer

Cycling with liverock? The die off from shipping was probably enough to spike parameters and the liverock should have just contained everything needed bacteria wise.  I’d be concerned bumping one type of bacteria in a bottle could outcompete all the multitudes of bacteria that rode in on the LR.  I would WC to reset parameters and soft cycle that rock to preserve life.

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29 minutes ago, GraniteReefer said:

Cycling with liverock? The die off from shipping was probably enough to spike parameters and the liverock should have just contained everything needed bacteria wise.  I’d be concerned bumping one type of bacteria in a bottle could outcompete all the multitudes of bacteria that rode in on the LR.  I would WC to reset parameters and soft cycle that rock to preserve life.

Survival of the fittest bacteria.  Good points @GraniteReefer and @William.  First time using Dr. Tim's fishless cycle process with live rock, so learning as well.  I don't mind soft cycling to preserve life (though honestly not much life on this rock at this point). 

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2 minutes ago, Tigahboy said:

Survival of the fittest bacteria.  Good points @GraniteReefer and @William.  First time using Dr. Tim's fishless cycle process with live rock, so learning as well.  I don't mind soft cycling to preserve life (though honestly not much life on this rock at this point). 

I have been meaning to do a write up on pre-cycling a tank before the addition of “fresh from the Ocean” live rock. With the proliferation of high porosity biological media, bacterial additives and Ammonium chloride in the hobby, there is no reason why we should not establish a robust and functional source of biological filtration prior to adding fresh live rock. For those who are space limited or do not want to use high porosity biological media, a 1” sandbed and bacterial starter + Ammonium Cloride should establish a functional biological filter. 

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9 hours ago, William said:

What inhabitants? 

Macroalgae and interesting inverts for sure.  Mollies to keep with the planted tank vibe?  J/k.  Still TBD on fish.  Looking into dwarf seahorses as well. 

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