need help with iwagumi setup

[lin]

need alot of help here im planning on doing a slope on this setup or is it better straight any suggestion

and i dont no what plants on getting im getting hc for foreground any suggestion on stem plants for other plants for background

[khemo]

Definitely want to slope your substrate as this will add more depth and perspective. You are doing an iwagumi setup, so you want to keep your plant selction to only a few species. Too many plants will unbalance an iwagumi setup and overpower your rock scape which you don't want.

Good choice on the HC (my favourite!). I would stay away from fast growing stems cause if you are not vigilant with trimming, they can overpower your setup (up to you though). Plants I would suggest are: Blyxa japonica, Staurogyne repens, Staurogyne porto velho, dwarf hairgrass. If you really want some stems then rotala colorata, rotala sp. green and limnophila sp. vietnam would be some good choices.

HTHs

[h=3][/h]

[lin]

which one will u think will look better the blyxa or rotala colorata

[khemo]

Well with a little finesse they can both look good in an iwagumi. It depends on you and your layout. Why not experiment though and see for yourself which one you like, after all it's your tank - as long as it looks good to you. Try the blyxa first as it is an easier plant and see how you go and if you feel like it you can try the rotala colorata later.

Here are some examples for you.

layout with rotala like plant (hard to maintain):

layout with blyxa

[lin]

can i use blyxa for dry start method

[doctr-dan]

What type of rotala is that?

[Loach]

Looks like Rotala colorata.

[khemo]

Yeh I thought it was rotala colorata however the guy who created the scape did not list colorata in his plant list. So I'm not sure.

Shrimp - No you can't use blyxa in a dry start method. It will dry up as it's leaves are quite delicate. I would just do it the normal way (not dry start) as I believe you will learn a lot more about how to maintain a planted tank this way. Cycle your tank first and wait till all the ammonia is gone. Then plant it, this way you will minimalise algae by planting when the tank is stable.

By the way, I setup that second tank for a friend of mine. As you can see the Rotala wallichi has overpowered the scape (wasn't my idea). There is a large feature rock behind the rotala which has been obscured. This is a good example of how a fast growing stem can unbalance an iwagumi if not regularly trimmed.

[lin]

will adding some fiss to iwagumi rocks unbalance the setup

[khemo]

It could work mate, go for it.