Nav's Iwagumi Project Log "Greater Heights"

[Navanod]

Started this hobby 2 years back in a bid to have something "Zen" in the room to look at after a hard day's work...
Sadly, my attempts till date had been anything but "zen". I suffered from the typical newbie mistake of trying to keep and grow everything that catches my fancy at the LFS and created algae farms thats overpacked with livestocks and weeds

So now, a new beginning!

Received a new tank from Project Tank last week. 60x45x45cm low iron glass on a black laminated cabinet.

Also prepared a list of items:

Substrate
ADA Powersand Special L
ADA Amazonia 2
ADA Kurokinryu Stones Correction: Yamaya Stones
Black rubbery foam blocks
Added: Eheim Lavachips

Eheim Pro 2 2028 with installation kits
DIY CO2 reactor
Resun CL650 with external temp controller
3ft LED light from NA (Got this as an overkill 2nd hand. But it has 3 tubes instead of 2 tubes in the 2ft, can cover the deeper 45cm tank better). I wonder how many WPG I'll be getting?

[Navanod]

I've had the experience of fighting to keep powersand from being dug up as "ores" in my nano tanks so I'm more fussy this time



I'll not be using very deep rooted plants so the PS is just "for good measures" in the foregrounds. Tied them in a mesh bag and lay them on the bottom.
Put a huge 5cm thick rubbery foam into position to act as cushion and filler.



As I'm expecting shrimps, some old mud "for good measures" again. Still not very convinced about the benefits though.

[Navanod]

I had read about the various rocks and stones used in Iwagumi and was at first thinking of going with "Seiryu" stones typically used. However, this stone will increase pH and GH with time...
then I read about this Iwagumi philosophy that darker rocks are generally considered more desirable and I found some very nice pictures of said dark rocks.
Took me a trip all the way to Woodlands before finding these stones at Biotope.



They didn't tell me the name of the stone but informed me that this stone would not affect pH and GH unlike the Seiryu in the next box. Found the proper name "Kurokinryu" after some online search.

Very dense and nice rocks that turn a dark blueish grey underwater. However, selection was limited and I'm starved for a companion rock for the main as well as a lack of tiny sacrificial stones...
Found that Mizu world stocks these as well and will be getting some, although as expected, cannot handpick from an online shop

[eviltrain]

woo, getting exciting wor. keep it up. i'm poisoned by you.

[Navanod]

Ok, enough talks, FAST FORWARD to what's interesting!



This is my first attempt...and although the top turned out rather close to what I had in mind, the foreground and bottom was more engineering than art, with rocks, foam blocks and even pebbles being used to shore up the soil to create the high slope.

I had wanted a double slope, beginning at the bottom and going up towards the left that stops briefly in a small clearing (for planting) before turning sharply upwards towards the right, climbing on the back of the long stone. That should end on a steep cliff that falls off that the right side of the tank.

This idea was drawn from studying the styles of Iwagumi on this page
http://www.aquajournal.net/na/iwagumi/styles.html
I had wanted a hybrid of style II and IV...some bedrocks effects, a V curve and to have a main protuding rock ala classic 3 or more stones style.


I think the bottom slope needs more work...and I'm not too happy with some of the bottom stones as they don't seemed natural...

Any advice and comments on the scape and the stones?

[eviltrain]

your rocks will be covered by the plants , you have to lift them out a bit more.

[Navanod]

Here's more pictures of the scape in details

The main rock, hopefully in the golden ratio position?


The twins at the first "height". I like how the smaller one seemed to have chipped off the large


The tiny attendant under the cliff, very full of character...


The bedrocks, didn't like the left one...


More bedrocks. The small piece was actually to hide a corner of a foam block!


Top view


Left view


Right view

[blue33]

looks interesting to me. is being sometime no one setup iwagumi already.

[Navanod]

your rocks will be covered by the plants , you have to lift them out a bit more.

Thanks for the tip. Was planning on using HC and fissidens for most of the tank and small clumps of hairgrass in the back to create distance. If I can get a mini bolbitis to overhand from one of the rocks, it'll be a plus!

I'm also toying with the idea of using marimo carpet....

[eviltrain]

good luck for your marimo idea. you can actually peel it up like a orange, and ties it on a wire mesh ( area of marimo should covers the edge of the wire mesh )

actually i'm going to make one 1 feet cube. but something happens in the family, things got to halt till i come back.
i will look out for your thread so i can copy some of the ideas from you. haha

[Navanod]

good luck for your marimo idea. you can actually peel it up like a orange, and ties it on a wire mesh ( area of marimo should covers the edge of the wire mesh )

actually i'm going to make one 1 feet cube. but something happens in the family, things got to halt till i come back.
i will look out for your thread so i can copy some of the ideas from you. haha

Haha! Thanks, trying to avoid mesh but I'll get to it once the hardscape's done.
Looking forward to your project too, must have something to learn from you too

[Navanod]

looks interesting to me. is being sometime no one setup iwagumi already.

Heh, the expert speaks. Saw your works for the IAPLC.

I'm actually kinda stuck...the layout looks "strange"...either too many small/medium stones, or the bottom stones not compatible or natural

I'm probably going to try and get a larger single stone to replace 2 of the medium ones as the proper secondary rock as well as many tiny ones to break up the linear contours.

Any pointers?

[Limy]

Hey.. pardon my stupid question but where did you get the black rubbery foam boards and where did you get your iwagumi rocks?

[Navanod]

Hi Limy

Thats not a stupid question! Its valid! Foam boards were ripped off the packing cushions of one of my workplace equipment! There's alot more that time, really regret not grabbing more before they were thrown out
We can also find such foams locally but most are white...I'm also looking for the black version locally now!

Rocks are from Biotope as indicated in post #3. Very good service, they let me dig and play around with the rocks in a mock tank to see if they look good with each other.

[blue33]

Hey i'm no expert. Just my 2 cents opinion. The rocks you have is doing fine, the only thing is the placing of stone you need to work on. Currently the rock is scatter everywhere, you loose the focus point, you have to make them look majestic, those small one you can place beside the big one, the big one try not to tile too much also, it causes too much tension and plant cant grow in the shade also. Place the stone just like a family with kids around the parent if you know what i mean? Try to arrange and take photo and see how it look like in your computer till you satisfy.

Heh, the expert speaks. Saw your works for the IAPLC.

I'm actually kinda stuck...the layout looks "strange"...either too many small/medium stones, or the bottom stones not compatible or natural

I'm probably going to try and get a larger single stone to replace 2 of the medium ones as the proper secondary rock as well as many tiny ones to break up the linear contours.

Any pointers?

[Navanod]

Hi Adrian,

Thanks for the reminder. You are very right...in my efforts to create a high slope, I've turned the stones into "bricks" to hold up the soil rather than to place them in harmony with each other.
Will redo it again (more fun!!)

I'm certainly not going to rush this project. Had enough setbacks to know that rushing normally leads to even more frustrations and redos. Thanks again!

[|squee|]

The rocks are too far apart from each other.

[Navanod]

The rocks are too far apart from each other.

Thanks for the pointers. Going to get a few more rocks from Mizu and try to create 2 clusters instead of scattering them like now.

[Shadow]

alternatively, you can consider to make 1 cluster.

[marle]

a thought is to change your main piece to something slightly bigger and with more detail to create a more impressive focal point.