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Roots Dyed Dark - Low Tech Blackwater (updated 08-04-14)

Give the gastro a go. It can only work or not. No harm done to anything other than snails and the hydra.
My tds was around 180 from what I remember mate when both choccos and paros spawned. Temp was 26 and not long before id gone massively over board with the kettappa leaves and alder cones.
My big tanks sittinh at 168 just now and ive got breeding behaviour with the choccos and a pair of paros have made home in one of the caves and the male constantly chases any fish away that comes near. Temps bang on 26.
 
Alastair said:
Give the gastro a go. It can only work or not. No harm done to anything other than snails and the hydra.
My tds was around 180 from what I remember mate when both choccos and paros spawned. Temp was 26 and not long before id gone massively over board with the kettappa leaves and alder cones.
My big tanks sittinh at 168 just now and ive got breeding behaviour with the choccos and a pair of paros have made home in one of the caves and the male constantly chases any fish away that comes near. Temps bang on 26.
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Great! So mines not that dissimilar really, thats good to hear mate. Thanks for that.

Good news about the choccos and paros, hopefully you will have some babies in the lake soon :)

I'm banging the gastro in as we speak, haha! Death to all hydra ;)
 
Just makes you wonder what possible creatures come through our drinking water. If you start a tank from scratch with invitro plants, fish get quarantined in separate tanks then transferred over, so no possible chance of introduction yet planaria etc still manage to pop up amd say hello along with hydra and those thin stringy worms. ....... how do they get there if so???
 
Alastair said:
Just makes you wonder what possible creatures come through our drinking water. If you start a tank from scratch with invitro plants, fish get quarantined in separate tanks then transferred over, so no possible chance of introduction yet planaria etc still manage to pop up amd say hello along with hydra and those thin stringy worms. ....... how do they get there if so???
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I don't have a clue mate, it would be nice to know though. I guess these things are just part and parcel of the hobby. It keeps things interesting ;)
 
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I've put it down to substrate, but I guess if its baked it should have killed off anything living....

Lee sorry I've still not posted any downoi, the house move has taken all my time....

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aliclarke86 said:
I've put it down to substrate, but I guess if its baked it should have killed off anything living....

Lee sorry I've still not posted any downoi, the house move has taken all my time....

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No it hasnt........its sitting in that huge garden that's distracted you :p
 
aliclarke86 said:
I've put it down to substrate, but I guess if its baked it should have killed off anything living....

Lee sorry I've still not posted any downoi, the house move has taken all my time....

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No worries at all Ali. I'm in no rush mate. Take your time. :)


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Alastair said:
If youve already got the gastropex theres no harm in giving it a go and seeing what happens.
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Good call on the Gastropex mate, the tank seems to be free of hydra, and about 95% of the snail population are dead after 4 days. :). Also no harm to fish, shrimp etc etc. :)
 
BigTom said:
Heh yeah I have seen stuff like that. I'm not sure I need to go to the trouble really in my small tanks - I'm doing water changes with 'pure' RO (read: not terribly pure from my LFS) and with a couple of handfuls of beech leaves and plenty of wood I expect my water values will settle out somewhere around 50µs and a pH below 5.
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Tom, how is your Ph sitting using the methodology listed?
I'm struggling to get below 5.6 using RO and peat extract.
 
DTL said:
Tom, how is your Ph sitting using the methodology listed?
I'm struggling to get below 5.6 using RO and peat extract.
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Add some beech or oak leaves, that might bring it down a little more.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[DOUBLEPOST=1398514472][/DOUBLEPOST]DTL, how come you are using a peat extract, any particular reason? I'm filtering through peat (JBL Tormec), which works great for me. However i do need to change the peat in my filter once a month, otherwise my pH starts to rise. Its cheap enough aswel. Its £7.00 for a box which lasts me about three months.
 
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Hi Lee,
I'm already using beech and oak leaves in my blackwater tanks.
Ref the peat extract, I'm using the liquid from boiling peat in distilled water as per my "can you tell -----". thread, the Ph of that is about 4.5 and a couple of litres of that in a 50 litre tanks getting me to where I'm sitting at the moment. I'm using small sponge filters for these tanks per advice on the Paro Project site, so no option to filter through peat at the moment.
 
Ah, I see!! I think I pH of 5.6 should be ok for your paro's. I think kH and conductivity are more important for egg development. I'm guessing your kH is 0? As long as you have a Conductivity of less than 100 you should be good mate.

That's the problem I'm having at the moment. My conductivity is much higher than 100, probably because of the ferts I'm adding to sustain my plants. That's been the trade off for me, as my tank is my main show tank. I'm just in the process of setting up some small cubes specifically for breeding. I'd be happy with the parameters you have.


Did you manage to pick any other species up yet?


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Update time! Its been a while now since i last posted on the progress of this tank. Since my last update the tank has developed a little, and there has also been a few slight changes to the original idea.

I've been struggling to keep my TDS low, probably due to the fertilisers i am adding. As you will know this can affect parosphormenus egg development. The high TDS has been the trade off with this tank as it was always intended to be my main show tank, and i'd like it to continue looking healthy and lush. With that in mind i am planning to set some smaller breeding tanks up, specifically for the paros. Because this tank is no longer intended to be a breeding tank i have since added a small number of Chocolate gourami, these are such a great little fish and very interesting to watch, the Mrs loves them too :).

New plant additions have been:

Cyperus helferi
Hydrocotyle tripartita
Lilaeopsis novea-zealandiae
Micranthemum umbrosum

I tried to get a decent picture with the DSLR, i'm still not great with the camera though, haha!

Hope you like it!?

4_zpsc2e1fadf.jpg
 
Edvet said:
:thumbup::thumbup:, Looks good!, Needs some time, but solid.
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Thanks Ed! Yea it's starting to fill out nice, slow and steady but a joy to maintain.

I think one of my chocolates maybe holding fry too. Her throat looks swollen and she's taken to hiding away. She's also not eating. I could be wrong though. I'll try to get a picture of her :)


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