Aquascape Tutorial - 3 Stone Iwagumi 

How would you like to win the 100K subs giveaway - What sort of contest should we run? Also do you like my new intro? Huge thanks to Ben at benjpower.com/

George, "the Bob Ross of aquascaping"

Great job George, don't let the trolls get you down, the reason I like your video is because you showcase the great diversity that the aquascape hobby provides. Every tank is an individual preference if you look at what is supposedly an award winning display you may not like it but many other may. That's what makes us human each person is different don't follow lead. Is this contest available to U.S. subscribers? If so the contest could be as simple as trying to guess a number and you use a random number generater to select a winner. Keep up the great work you do and KEEP ON SCAPING !!!

Looking good George, I love the simplicity of this style. A classic! 👌

Random person generator seems fair, BUT there is a risk that someone uninterested wins the giveaway. Therefore I suggest that you also check if the person receiving the giveaway is motivated to take care of the aquascape and is in need of the products. I would personally even send progress pictures of the scape. How I would scape the tank: 3 nice tall rocks because of the dimensions of the tank, a bit like the hard scape in your tank, but stretched out vertically. For my background plant I would go for a fine leafed stemplant, such as rotala Vietnam H’ra. For my midground I would have hydrocotyle tripartita weaving through the rocks. And for my foreground I would have a carpet of dwarf hairgrass. Sorry for the long comment. I have been a viewer for more than 3 years now and I am amazed by your success and the growth of your channel. Before I stumbled upon your channel I had no I idea what aquascaping was. Thank you George 💚

Thank you for reinforcing the idea of simplicity with this style. As you have mentioned very few people appreciate the simplicity idea. However I just wanted to add a small observation, in this scape. Initially when you started you followed the idea of the third, but as you proceeded the main rock has moved almost to the centre. I am not sure how this will pan out after the plants grow and the whole thing is set up. But that is how I think nature is. Just that you keep doing so much to promote this hobby, I felt I ll post this comment and wait for your reply

Brilliant educational video. I was only thinking the other day I would love to see more small tank step but step scapes like this. Also, love the way you touched on the ethical considerations for the fish. First class video as always

George, Your work, knowledge, and passion inspire and help me more than you’ll ever know. Thanks so much for the great content day after day. The scape looks excellent! Great work and I can’t wait until the next video.

The scape looks awesome! I think that look is very peaceful and can picture a large number of small fish just schooling around. Very meditative. 🙂

Thank you for reinforcing the idea of simplicity with this style. As you have mentioned very few people appreciate the. Simplicity idea. However I just wanted to add a small observation, in this scape. Initially when you started you followed the idea of the third, but as you proceeded the main rock has moved almost to the centre. I am not sure how this will pan out after the plants grow and the whole thing is set up. But that is how I think nature is. Just that you keep doing so much to promote this hobby, I felt I ll post this comment and wait for your reply

I enjoy your guidance all the way from El Paso, Texas here in the U.S!

Wanted to say thanks George for helping inspire my first planted tank, up and running for 1 week currently. I've been watching you and Green Aqua religiously for a few months, having a blast finally putting it all into practice!

Another super video George. Clear instructions and tips to achieve beautiful aquascapes. Thanks

Really like the minimal look of the 3 Stone Iwagumi. I find this a very relaxing type of scape to have in the right context. Sometimes I want the excitement of a large, brightly planted and populated tank, but it's good to appreciate the alternatives as well. Well done, very attractive and thought provoking.

I'm torn between this and the nature style aquarium. I like the "simplicity" of this but as an aquarist I prefer the focus to be the fish! Either way, great scape and great rock! Finding it very difficult to find appropriate hardscaping materials to set up my new 450 litre that has been sitting in a box for way to long!! We need a good scape shop in Northern Ireland

Hi George. I really like your scraping tutorials. I like how you explain as you go and talk thru your reasoning for what you are doing

Love the rock placement. I see a face on the rock in the center. :-) I tried Iwagumi once. I still like my rock placement...when I can see it. LOL. It's turned into a bit of a jungle. While I appreciate the beauty in simplicity, I can't seem to pull it off. As for contest guidelines, no good ideas. We could send in tank photos and you could pick a favorite. Or you could pick the one that needs the most help. LOL. Write a short essay on why we need George Farmer scaping in our fishroom. Pick a number between 0 and 10,000. Closest number to the one you pick wins. We could send in rambling videos. Best rambler wins. Hahaha! Good luck coming up with the guidelines. *sends behind the ear scratches to Tommy*

I've always collected rocks, I love them, don't know really why. I also loved landscapes of rocks and grass in nature and so obviously my favorite aquascaping style is iwagumi. Designing more with less will always be difficult and getting to do it well takes time and experience. Thanks for the education George, always learning a bunch of new things from every video. You should do podcasts, lots of us love the rambling 👍👍

My favorite thing about iwagumi is showcasing of the stones.. I dont mind the format as for me it's just fun watching what you come up with when setting up. I think the bowl challenge was great.. Give it another shot now that you've been inspired by someone you've inspired 😃 As always.. Great work👍👍👍

Excellent George, don’t mention to my wife that’s there is a possibility of another aquascape in the house lol

Iwagumi I’ve never really been interested in until lately. The more planted tanks and aquascapes I setup and see, the more I feel like doing something different. I’ve always loved minimalist art and design so maybe I’ll add it to the ‘to do’ list of experience.🤘

I am a beginner in aquascapping and actually you got me into it, been following your channel and trying to build my first one. For a contest I would make the classic three step contest 1.Be a subscriber 2.Share the contest vid (on IG or FB , you pick) 3.Comment the contest vid Then blend all the ones achieved the above in a random picker and voila...you got yourself a winner. The easiest way would be to give it to me though ;) Keep UP the good work!!!

Love the tank, love the white background. Well done for hitting 95K let’s go for 100K

Wow, that stone looks lovely! So much detail, and the color on it is really nice. I enjoy Iwagumi style because it's very peaceful and calming to look at. Looking at a field/hill of grass with huge rocks is really therapeutic. I can understand why they're not interesting to people, though I think the fish do a good job at making the layout interesting, especially when bigger rocks are used and the scaper plays with scale a lot. Anyways, this tank is looking very promising and I can't wait to see it mature. Thank you for it!

Green Neon Tetras. Will be interesting to see how it grows in. Another goody!

Who cares about trolls. U always create amazing content. I have been watching your channel since u had 5k subscribers. I am always amazed by your aquascapes. Keep up the great work this means a lot for us newbies. You have always been an inspiration.

I just did my first aquascape and I must say I hate it lol. However, it was so relaxing and I enjoyed it so much. I just found your channel and I subscribed. I will watch all of your tutorials and hopefully I can redo the scape in a couple months after I've learned a bit. Thank you!

I just set up a iwagumia scape myself with the exact stone. It was my first. It took a lot of digging around on the net finding everything I needed. We just don’t have anything like the shops you have. The us just doesn’t have any stores. It made it that much more fun and beautiful when I finish. Only thing I wish I could have gotten was a rimless tank. Great video keep up the great work and beautiful tanks.

Nice scape George, I have kinda tried this myself but it all went very wrong. Where I live there is no actual aquascaping dedicated stores so for people less fortunate, you do find we "clump" rocks together in the hope they work. I have made this mistake myself and currently tearing down one of my flex's. I think I a trip up north for aquascaping materials is in order 🤔. With regards to the Scape I must admit I would never of thought of mixing carpeting plants like that. Would love to see an update to this type of planting. Still learning a huge amount from you and it's great to see other people are too. You cant please everyone and do keep the rambling 👍. With regards to fish, as I am still learning (Even though I have been a fish keeper for 25 years!!) and they appear to be doing well in a minimalist tank that I have done for my son. These are Ember Tetra's, lovely contrast of colour against the green. Enough rambling from me, leave it to the pros 😁

Congrats on getting to 95k George..it was watching your vids that got me into aquascaping back in January this year. Now i have a 105ltr & a 240ltr on the go

This videos are so nice. Love the passion and joy in it.

Nice video! I’m new to the aquascaping and fish keeping world so have been binging this sort of content and like your style :) From what I have read, Glowlight danios would be a lovely choice - small enough to have a fun size of shoal and they come from very clear streams with little vegetation so should be suited to a minimal scape. Plus they are beautiful :) To win the competition a random scroll up and down by a friend then you say “stop”?! Low tech but fair! Having just been dragged into this world as part time keeper of my partner’s tank (he works on rotation for half the year), I think a tank of my own may fully bring me over to the dark side ;) annoyingly I already seem hooked. Good luck with the 100k!

Well done George

Thank you George for the training,great insight for a large tank I'm planning.All the best

Iwagumis can be really zen, dramatic and a display of great skill, but they can get boring quick, not ideal for some fish and be hard to maintain and aquascape. If you pick fish like some danios and green neon rasboras which swim in open spaces I don’t think they’ll mind, or even farm-bred fish. Otherwise, less minimalist styles or using stems or floating cover can make the fish feel more secure. In my home iwagumis i use a large trident fern and floaters in one and rotala in another to make the fish feel secure. I think green neon rasboras would be a good choice or perhaps goldring danios. Well done on nearing 100K.

Awesome scape! Cant wait to see it grown in. In honor of 100,000 the contest could be pick a number between 1-100,000 if no one guesses exactly the person closest. The problem is you could end up with multiple people picking the right number or if no one picks the right number multiple people could be the same distance away. If that happens have just those pick at another number until someone wins.

Lovely composition, excellent plant choice, Zen style too challenging for me, if I was to attempt it, I definitely would consider an electrolysis steriliser to reduce the likelihood of an algae bloom in the early stage and a phosphate absorption material in the filter for at least the running-in phase. Lots of shrimp sooner rather than later! Thanks again for the education and entertainment George.

Great video George! See you in a couple months

One thing that some people may not realize is that just because soil was in a previous setup is that if they allow it to completely dry out any live bacteria will die off. If you want that bacteria to be live you will want to be sure to keep the container it is in moist or even submerged in water, just a little info for newbys. Great scape friend.

Good job George, looks great. Your prize is going to be for UK viewers only by the looks of it

95k is just because of your passion n beautiful video u create ... 💯 k is just a number u have 10000k fans ... Love u r video n best of luck for channel. 💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓

Hi George - I recently discovered your videos and they are fascinating. I got hooked by the "Budget nano aquascape" series, I'd like to say that it'd be easier to enjoy the different 'series' videos, such as the nano, or the 1200, or whatever other ones there are, if they were all in different playlists. As it is, I have to hunt for which comes first, second, etc, which makes it difficult to watch these as you would a TV show. Thanks, and if us Americans could get away with saying cheerio, I would.

I think it has somthing very reassuring, but also exciting, you can watch so mutch. 😊 new Contest: the transition from iwagumi to naturstyle, the mountains down into the jungle. LG Mona 👍❤

Finally a Farmer Iwagumi again. it´s been awile... my ideas for the givaway 1. random selection 2. Layout name competition 3. George Farmer Photo Pose Contest cheerio

I love those rocks!

Great video, always inspirational. good work.

For the contest, I think it is good the prize goes to some one who is very much into the hobby, has lot of passion to do more but can't afford these type of equipments. But to access it you can not just do with the comments, you may have to organise to check some of the participants creation which may be challenging

I have that book , awesome pictures and info to have

Love the new intro and am very excited to see the tank grow in. Fish Ive recently got for my new aquascaper 600 scape are galaxy rasbora they have a few names but I'm sure you are familiar I'm in love with them they are active dont go near the top of tank so would be suitable for your iwagumi and are stunning to look at. As for the giveaway I have no clue maybe do a live stream and randomly choose a viewer. That would narrow it down to the more active subscribers on your channel. Hope your book is going well George if you get writers block at any point let us know we, well at least I, will try and throw ideas at you

Beautiful!

Cannot wait to see an update of this in a month! Love iwagumi! Fish suggestion: ember tetras (Hyphessobrycon amandae) or chili rasboras (Boraras brigittae), depending on how they look in the tank. The latter is smaller. Get a school of 12 of them and I think the reds contrast nicely with the lawn of green.

Very generous 100k subs giveaway.... 👍👍

Oooh. I would love that DOOA 30 system! Very generous give away! Because of the green colour of planting and minimalistic iwagumi look i would choose the fish with contrasting striking colour. Ember tetras, white tip tetras or red phantoms. Not sure how you are going to choose the winner but he or she will be definitely very lucky to get it.

Holy Aquascapes Batman!! I just had a freak out and had to pause the vid when I heard the mention of a possibility of you coming to my house and setting up a scape for me!! :-O !!! LOL WOW!!! .....resumes watching vid ... :-)

Iwagumi aquascape has a special place in my heart. My current scape is iwagumi and I love it. So I believe the give away will be for viewers who are based in Europe only? as for the fish choice, I would love to see 15 - 23 Kubotai Rasboras in that tank! thanks for sharing George and waiting for PART 2!

Yay the colander!!👍👍👍

Thanks Gorge for the other channel, just been there looks great. Exciting what you can do.

To be totally honest, I love your scapes! I’m new to your channel, and just getting back into fish. I never did aqua scaping before, and to see a tank which is scraped… it’s so beautiful. I recently purchased swordtails and cardinal tetras and love them. I can clearly see them. ( unlike my guppies. I’d probably use mollies, platties and some sort of tetra with mystery snails.

love this stone since i seen it on aquarium gardens facebook page. i feel an iwagumi is very reminiscent of a japanese zen garden . i personally love them great to clear your mind of day to day cr*p. yet more top work

Enjoying your work from hk!

Scape looks great, I can't wait to see it grown in. I hope you are able to include people outside of the UK for your competition. I would happily pay for shipping, and for your input you could offer to do the hardscape, and skype calls to help choose plants and layout. I dont know if you could ship the plants really far but that could always conditional based on the destination. Unless you planning a honeymoon to South Africa😋

George, love your videos. Been a subscriber for a while. Real inspiration. it would be great to see you entire deconstruction process. I’m intrigued how you get all substrate out, how you clean the inside and get it new looking ready to be scraped again

Really nice! A simple scape with a big impact. Glad you are getting more subscribers. Well deserved 😁

Stock it with endlers, they are a good outgoing fish. For the competition, stick everyone's name in a bowl and let Tommy pick 😊

Love it, love all you're scapes, keep up the good work, I've always wanted a plain black background with red and green plants think it would look awesome

I love the millenium stone too! Two weeks ago I was scaping my low tech tank in a blackwater style, I'had already purchased more than 200€ in wood and the idea was to use only wood but when I saw the millenium stone in the store (In Pzes in Madrid, you know them!)... They where calling to me. I ended buying a big one and 3 smaller ones, enden using only 2 of them but they give a very interesting touch to my blackwater setup and now i can't imagine it without the rocs.

As always ambient and inspirational!

Like the video as always !! And the intro very smart and efficience !! Keep it like this ! 😉

Hi George love the simplicity of your latest scape, hope there’s not to big a issue with algae. And if there is you can show us how you deal with it👍 . Once you reach 100,00 would be nice idea to pick one of your subscribers who live in the uk.

Hey George, awesome video, don't worry about the haters, you're channel is growing rapidly and we will keep watching, take care

Beautiful yet just not my favorite. I love plants, lots of plants. I have a coffee tree growing in my house. I live in Chicago which you don't find coffee trees growing. So my tank reflects my love of plants. Not sure how trimmed you are going to keep it. If you let the plants go a bit tall, then cardinal tetras, colors would be nice. Thank you George for the wonderful teaching you do.

I appreciate your videos a lot

Hello George, I really appreciate your teaching us about minimalist iwagumi styles. I made some mistakes a couple years back and had a lot of algae, but feel more knowledgeable thanks to your video. I’ll try again in a future scape. Perhaps do a combination of dry start and intense water changes and CO2 after flooding just to be double sure before adding livestock. Best of luck with the ongoing book project and getting to 100K subscribers soon!

Hey, George! Great to see something a little simpler to achieve for those of us who are just starting out. Thanks to you and mark at md fish tank, i finally took the plunge and scaped and planted my first tank yesterday. (I even like it)! lol. Thank you for everything you do, and most of all for inspiring us to become more creative and daring. :D Cheers!.

Very cool new animation with your logo :) congrats to the 95k 👍

I think it's going to look amazing. Iwagumi tanks seem to be a nice supplement to a nature style aquarium; perhaps it does help ground you or get you into a zen state lol. For the fish I'd maybe put in, black neons, penguin tetras, blood fin tetras, blue/kerri emperor tetras, brown or one-lined pencilfish, chocolate gouramis, a dark endler strain, or maybe glass catfish.

Love this scape! I have always liked the Zen Garden feel of Iwagumi aquascapes. I do totally get that many fish probably don’t feel the same way though. It would be so cool to get that whole tank setup and help from you. The best way to give it out would be to somehow pull out all the usernames in a spreadsheet and use a random function to pick one name. I’ll be so envious of who gets it. lol

Thanks for introducing me to M D fish tanks, it's a great channel but you are still my favourite rambling nerd 😂😂 love all your aquascapes, brilliant 👍👍

Happy to see your channel grow! Keep it up george!

Hey George. Would you consider doing a tutorial on an aquascape featuring emersed growth on the hardscape? Would be amazing...

Congrats on the (almost) 100k subscribers. You have been providing a lot of good content. I do understand that this is your job and it shows you are enjoying it. I have noticed a considerable difference in what/how and how long you present. There is a fine line between independent and sponsored content. I hope you will make the give away a global one. That seems to be fair and will show the right appreciation to your (global) audience.

I think a nice system would be when you hit 100k to ask people in the comments what they would do with the tank what they would add how they would place items and such

I would love to win this awesome prize. You got me into this art and I hope to get even deeper into this hobby.

George, Iv've been enjoying your content a lot, and in doing so you've also inspired me to give Aquascaping a try. Plan to start small with a tall glass structure. Not sure if i'll include fish, but just wanting to try it

Really love the idea of a mixed species iwagumi setup to provide different textures and shades and heights. I can't wait to see maintenance as I'm currently struggling with an iwagumi and algae. Always get excited when my phone announces you've uploaded a new vid btw i love rambling to normally useless crap mind lol. Keep up the good work. P.s nice to see your scapes using good old british council pop lol take care.

Hi George, that Iwugami is beautiful mate. I'd like a similar set up for my second tank. You right about the stones , the best if you hand pick them but if you order online from Aquarium Gardens and give them a ring they are so helpful that I have received just the size and shape I was looking for. The video is great. We would loved to have you in Bristol for a workshop. Cheers. Keep on..

Fantastic!

Very nice aquascape and fitting for your gallery , for me though I love your natural set ups they are superb. Only recently discovered your channel your videos and they are really helping me to decide how I want my recently purchased oase 200 to look. Keep up the great videos and thanks. Luckily aquarium gardens is not far so can't wait to pay them a visit.

George very tranquil scape. I really liked what you were originally going for; it was very striking. Could we put some head and tail light tetras or painted fire red cherry shrimp to reintroduce some tension.

And on the fishes to be recommended, please try celestial danio if they are not to small for the size or Columbian tetras or white mountain minnows. The first one is rarer one, while the other two I recommended is to add to the simplicity

Great scape. Something new and exciting in the GFS gallery. Also, the new video style is cool. Maybe a mix of the old and new styles now and then would be good.

Greetings from Sweden! You George and MD fish tanks are my favourite aquascapers. Tank will look great when grown in, you should have some nice looking Killi's and shrimp in there.

I like your new intro, interesting video about three stones Iwagumi, nice explanation and set up

George, Great (and always evolving) content. The minimalist scape fits the diversity of the studio just fine. When the time is right; (and I've seen other's) use neons. I have five in my "open water" and they "ARE" the scape. I'm super happy for your success on RU-vid and look forward to getting your published work. "100k subscribers giveaway" should be YOUR choice! As per your closing statements... " I always read all your comments and try to answer as many as possible". You should decide who you want this honor to go to. Trust me.. I'm only saying this because I want you to pick me. With that said, arrangements can still be made for an abroad trip. Hope all is well and #KEEPONSCAPING!

I really look forward to seeing this evolve. Fish options IMO would be lampeye killies or black neons. I do like this style of video, but I think too much of it would get boring. I like the different styles of your videos, and find the almost randomness to be refreshing.

I loved your fish bowl, I just finished watching md tanks do his. The boy has talent too. I enjoy your vids, keep up the good work.🇨🇦

Congratulations on the 95k subs 👏👍scape is looking great 🙏✌

Love the new format and music. Paid a visit to aquarium gardens, love the shop. Also paid a visit to scaped nature..... very interesting loved the different ideas. Looking forward to the next video for the filter and Co2. Please keep your videos coming. 💕 Maybe viewers could send in pictures of they’re aquascapes and you could choose the best?

I think these scapes look amazing but I've never tried anything like it as all the fish I keep like lots of plants. If I was going to choose something, I would go for really small schooling fish so they could get safety in numbers rather than plants. Nothing shy and species that would appreciate the space. Perhaps something like white clouds or zebra danios. Really enjoyed this video, thank you.

That stone is amazing, George. This is exactly what I am looking for when I do a new 'scape (same size aquarium as yours) Thank you for helping me get my debit card at the ready! I really enjoy your tutorials on small aquariums, I feel more involved for some strange reason lol Regards to fish; Possibly white cloud mountain minnows? Proud to be a subscriber bud!