Nano Iwagumi build

Hey everyone!

The gallery felt like it needed a nano iwagumi, so I decided to build one in a UNS 20C which is 2 gallons. This definitely limited my hardscape options but it was quite the fun challenge! My build is a bit untraditional in that I only have two "rocks" and more than one species of plant.

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Here's what I used!

Hardscape/ equipment/ substrate:

  • UNS 20C 2 gallon tank
  • Black mountain seiryu stone
  • Mignon filter 60
  • AquaJapan light 7.5W
  • ADA Amazonia v.2 substrate

Plants:

  • Eleocharis sp. 'Belem'
  • Eleocharis 'Pusilla'

Extras and tools:

  • Soil flattener
  • Long tweezers

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------Arranging the rocks---------------------------------------------------------------------

Just as plants are the focus of the dutch style, rocks are the star of the iwagumi style. I sloped my substrate so that I could create depth and let rocks in the back be more visible. I try to use the rule of thirds to guide my rock placement.

With my selection I struggled to find a single centerpiece or oyaishi stone. I tried multiple types of stones and nothing looked right until I put two stones together to make one bigger stone!

It would be too crowded if I added too much more, so I stuck with one small supporting stone and called it a day. Would you consider that two stones or three stones?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Planting-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I chose two types of hair grass to fill my tank: Eleocharis 'belem' and 'pusilla'. I planted 'belem' in the front half and 'pusilla' in the back half!

Both are low growing foreground plants- I just wanted to see if I could tell the difference between the two species over time. From what I can tell pusilla is growing more upright while belem is curving but we'll see as time continues! In the meantime enjoy the tank ~3 weeks later

 

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