# Planted Tanks > Aquascaping >  12L Nano Iwagumi Tank "Greystone" Journal

## NanoScaper

I've always wanted a high-tech nano Iwagumi tank. After months of planning, I finally set it up and this is what it looks like step-by-step.

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## jackychun

Very nice video you have made, bro! Can see the calm and gentle way you treat the plants and tank. It is so zen! 

Would love to see more when the tank develop further. 


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## Saint888

Nice! I’m planning to plant hc too. Abit worried due to no chiller and fan.

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## TTerry

Hi Wan, very well planned  :Well done:  Seriously, the video, the way you setup, planting, look similar to those pro scaper in youtube

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## wongce

Nice video, good effort....do update us soon when its fully grown

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## NanoScaper

> Very nice video you have made, bro! Can see the calm and gentle way you treat the plants and tank. It is so zen! 
> 
> Would love to see more when the tank develop further. 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Man, it's nothing compared to your photos and videos. Still have a lot to learn in that area. _Zen_ never crossed my mind when I set up the tank. I appreciate the compliment. Thank you. Hope I'll have something nice to show you at the next update.




> Nice! Im planning to plant hc too. Abit worried due to no chiller and fan.


Thanks! Same here. They said that HC is for advanced aquarist but I went ahead and try it nonetheless. Let's see what happens.

If it helps, you might want to check out this video about HC from Dennis Wong aka Xiaozhuang on this forum.







> Hi Wan, very well planned  Seriously, the video, the way you setup, planting, look similar to those pro scaper in youtube


Oh, man. You gave me too much credit. I'm just an amateur but I do hope that my video will motivate others to start their own nano aquascape since a big one might be out of reach for some. Thank you and glad that you liked the video.




> Nice video, good effort....do update us soon when its fully grown


Thank you, Master. Do give me about four weeks to grow the plants and I'll post an update then. Anything I can improve on?




> I really enjoyed that video, NanoScaper. It was cool to see how you set up the tank step by step, and I can tell you put a lot of care and effort into this. I look forward to any updates you might want to share.
> 
> -Kamran


Yes, it was a lot of planning and I jot down everything that was in my head until it was time to set it up. Will definitely post an update so stay tuned. Glad you enjoyed the video too. Thanks!

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## NanoScaper

> Well, it definitely payed off! I'll be sure to check out that update when it's ready.
> 
> -Kamran


Thank you for getting all excited, Kamran. I hope I'll not disappoint at the next update.

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## NanoScaper

It's amazing what CO₂ injection can do in a matter of four weeks. Looking at the growth rate in my nano Iwagumi tank, I think I'm hooked.

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## Saint888

Are u using chiller?

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## jackychun

Look amazing so far, bro! Great job! 


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## NanoScaper

> Are u using chiller?


Nope. Just a small fan.




> Look amazing so far, bro! Great job! 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thank you, jackychun. The HC and stem plants look like they're doing okay for now but the hairgrass is spreading slower than I expected. Any idea why?

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## NanoScaper

At eight weeks, a full carpet of HC is almost there for my nano Iwagumi tank. The other two plants are still growing slowly, though.

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## NanoScaper

12 weeks after setting up my nano Iwagumi tank and I'm still battling hair algae. I've made changes that will hopefully improve things.

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## jackychun

Hi bro, it is really nice to see the plants filling in the tank. 

Hairgrass might take more time to roots and spreading. It also need higher lighting to spread and grow, IMO. 

For the algae issue, may you do more water change to make sure tank is clean and reduce the lighting hours so less chance for algae to build up. Some floating plants would help to absorb excessive nutrients in the tank, so it would be good to prevent further algae.

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## NanoScaper

> Hi bro, it is really nice to see the plants filling in the tank. 
> 
> Hairgrass might take more time to roots and spreading. It also need higher lighting to spread and grow, IMO. 
> 
> For the algae issue, may you do more water change to make sure tank is clean and reduce the lighting hours so less chance for algae to build up. Some floating plants would help to absorb excessive nutrients in the tank, so it would be good to prevent further algae.


Thank you for the compliments and tips, jackychun.

I don't trim the rogue (growing out of place) hairgrass anymore. I just pull them out carefully without disturbing the substrate. So much easier and if I do pull it with the roots, I'll re-plant it at the rear of the tank to fill the background.

I've cranked up the CO₂ and did huge weekly water change to combat the hair algae. Guess what? It seems to be getting lesser and lesser now. The small number of shrimps probably helped too.

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## NanoScaper

Multiple prong attack on the green hair algae has produced much better results in my nano Iwagumi tank. Once cleared, I hope to add fishes.

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## NanoScaper

Getting much lesser algae in my nano Iwagumi tank. The other good news is that I've observed berried shrimps and spotted some shrimplets.

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## jackychun

> Getting much lesser algae in my nano Iwagumi tank. The other good news is that I've observed berried shrimps and spotted some shrimplets.


Its very zen to see your tank bro! And good feeling seeing the berries mama and baby shrimplets too! 


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## NanoScaper

> Its very zen to see your tank bro! And good feeling seeing the berries mama and baby shrimplets too! 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thank you very much, jackychun. And yes, it's a good feeling to see the berried shrimps and shrimplets in this tank. Although I must say it's quite amazing to see them surviving and thriving in this tank. I initally thought that it can't be done based on other people's experience. :Wink: 

P.S. Apologies for taking so long to reply. Have been tied up with a lot of things lately.

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## NanoScaper

Finally, after 24 weeks, I modified my LED lights to reduce its intensity for the nano Iwagumi tank. Let's see if it'll help reduce algae.

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## NanoScaper

The green algae in my nano Iwagumi tank kind of went away by itself after reducing the light intensity but in its place comes brown algae.




P.S. The will be no Week 32 and Week 36 update for this tank.

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## NanoScaper

After about 40 weeks, I had to remove one type of plant from this tank but everything else is growing well in this nano Iwagumi tank.

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