Started an Iwagumi tank

[Jren]

just started an iwagumI tank. how to make dwarf hairgrass grow asap?

 

[TexasDomer]

Dwarf hairgrass needs high light, a fertilized substrate, and injected CO2 to carpet.

 

[AndrewJ54]

Agreed with Texas and if you try thinking it'll work without one of those three it most likely won't work. I tried growing it without co2 and it just died within a few weeks. I have two led light strips and I'm running black fluorite sand by seachem and nothing.

 

[MikeRad89]

Also you need to break up those bunches. You should be putting single pieces into the substrate with tweezers about 1 inch apart.

And I'm not sure what light you have but I can tell from the color and intensity that there's 0 chance of carpeting DHG with it.

 

[Jren]

I guess its too late now about the breaking them up part well I have fertilised soil and co2 injection. idm buying a more powerful light for this to work out as well... hopefully it will carpet!

 

[MikeRad89]

It's not too late to plant each piece individually.

With CO2 injection and quality substrate a high intensity LED will give you a great shot, but it very very difficult to carpet in general.

 

[Jren]

ive already added the fish and shrimp, disturbing the substrate probably isn't good for them lol. ill probably purchase a liquid fertilizer and led to increase my chances of getting a good carpet thanks!

 

[lfabb]

Unfortunately with how far apart those plugs are it won't carpet. DHG in my personal experience grows more vertically than horizontally. So unless you've got those plugs 1 cm apart they won't spread they'll just shoot up.

 

[Jren]

, anyway to solve that?

 

[lfabb]

Buy more DHG and fill in with plugs all those empty spaces. They should be 1 cm apart.

 

[Jren]

ill do just that! will update u guys again tmr ^^ and how many stalks of dhg should each plug have?

also, since I already have shrimp and a betta in the tank, should I drain the tank to 1/3 of its original volume before replanting them?

 

[lfabb]

That's up to you. You can plant them in full tank water with tongs although it might be a bit messy. I'd say each plug should have 4-5 strands.

 

[Jren]

update. is this okay now? hehe

 

[IDKwhattodo]

I was thinking of adding an ecosystem to my aquarium since I don't have much time for water changes so I decided to create an ecosystem consists of daphnia, fish, plants, soil (since I live in Bali it would be easy to gather fully organic soil), and some beautiful rocks. The way this works is beneficial bacteria nitrify water and plants eat them (also plants consume ammonia at an easier and faster rate) then the daphnia comes in and swoops the algae and then the fish eat the daphnia. It's quite ambitious for an under-experienced aquarist such as myself I wonder if this is achievable? What do you guys think?

 

[Leilio]

One problem about this ecosystem is that daphnia (constantly dashing around) will be quickly eaten by the fish, unless you set up maybe a refugium. 1. Some other organisms to consider for an ecosystem could be blackworms, aquatic isopods, snails, shrimps in general. 2. Most microorganisms such as copepods, seed shrimps can be intentionally introduced into the system or indirectly introduced from plant purchases. 3. If you plan to introduce new daphnia periodically, then it might work.

 

[IDKwhattodo]

One problem about this ecosystem is that daphnia (constantly dashing around) will be quickly eaten by the fish, unless you set up maybe a refugium. 1. Some other organisms to consider for an ecosystem could be blackworms, aquatic isopods, snails, shrimps in general. 2. Most microorganisms such as copepods, seed shrimps can be intentionally introduced into the system or indirectly introduced from plant purchases. 3. If you plan to introduce new daphnia periodically, then it might work.

Yeah i had planed on getting an Apple snail also there is this close Shop to me that sells live daphnia per paket it contains 300 daphnia so i should buy 3 of them. Also i have a refuge for them in the rotala blood Red that i decided to get

 

[Leilio]

Yeah i had planed on getting an Apple snail also there is this close Shop to me that sells live daphnia per paket it contains 300 daphnia so i should buy 3 of them. Also i have a refuge for them in the rotala blood Red that i decided to get

Several things to maybe consider. 1.Daphnia although small, in high numbers contributes to the deterioration of water quality themselves. Do you plan to just add 900 of them straight to the aquarium? 2. Daphnia constantly dash around, they are really easy prey for fish as daphnia don't really hide in one place, so refuge in the rotala blood-red might not be enough. 3. Depend on the number of fish you get/have, daphnia will run out sooner or later. They just don't reproduce enough when there are predators in the tank. Edit: Exception, maybe if it is a huge tank with very low stocking.

 

[IDKwhattodo]

Several things to maybe consider. 1.Daphnia although small, in high numbers contributes to the deterioration of water quality themselves. Do you plan to just add 900 of them straight to the aquarium? 2. Daphnia constantly dash around, they are really easy prey for fish as daphnia don't really hide in one place, so refuge in the rotala blood-red might not be enough. 3. Depend on the number of fish you get/have, daphnia will run out sooner or later. They just don't reproduce enough when there are predators in the tank.

Oh yeah have'nt considered that well daphnia is out of the list

 

[Leilio]

Don't know if you ever need the advice. Scuds work as constant fish food and they bury themselves in the substrate. to hide from predation However, they are absolute bastards toward my planted 20g. They eat some live plants while leaving some other plants alone. For me, it has been a really expensive plant trial and error with them. If I have the choice again, I will not add them to my tank in the beginning. Just my 5 cents.

 

[IDKwhattodo]

Don't know if you ever need the advice. Scuds work as constant fish food and they bury themselves in the substrate. to hide from predation However, they are absolute bastards toward my planted 20g. They eat some live plants while leaving some other plants alone. For me, it has been a really expensive plant trial and error with them. If I have the choice again, I will not add them to my tank in the beginning. Just my 5 cents.

how do they appear?

 

[Leilio]

how do they appear?

They can be hitchhikers on some plants and accidentally introduced into the tank.

 

[Cherryshrimp420]

I was thinking of adding an ecosystem to my aquarium since I don't have much time for water changes so I decided to create an ecosystem consists of daphnia, fish, plants, soil (since I live in Bali it would be easy to gather fully organic soil), and some beautiful rocks. The way this works is beneficial bacteria nitrify water and plants eat them (also plants consume ammonia at an easier and faster rate) then the daphnia comes in and swoops the algae and then the fish eat the daphnia. It's quite ambitious for an under-experienced aquarist such as myself I wonder if this is achievable? What do you guys think?

Sounds good but you probably need some sand to cover the soil or the tank will be perpetually cloudy. A strong light source is what drives the system so make sure you have that covered as well

 

[IDKwhattodo]

Sounds good but you probably need some sand to cover the soil or the tank will be perpetually cloudy. A strong light source is what drives the system so make sure you have that covered as well

I was planning to buy Hikari LED Lamp 60cm 730UK 3 Lighting modes (Blue, White blue, and White) Is that a good lamp? Can I use river rocks instead? Since I'm in Bali in my village there are way too many rivers

 

[Cherryshrimp420]

I was planning to buy Hikari LED Lamp 60cm 730UK 3 Lighting modes (Blue, White blue, and White) Is that a good lamp? Can I use river rocks instead? Since I'm in Bali in my village there are way too many rivers

The LED is probably fine. River rocks are fine but they wont prevent the cloudiness

 

[IDKwhattodo]

The LED is probably fine. River rocks are fine but they wont prevent the cloudiness

Ohhh then sand it is!

 

[Sofiafish17]

Seed shrimp multiply super fast. I got all of them out of my tank with copper, and then put in plants from the tank before that had been in a bucket for weeks hoping all the seed shrimp had died. Well they didn’t, and now like a week later there are sooooo many more. I don’t know what fish you want to stock but seed shrimp could be an option.