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Creating Blackwater

Hi all,
1/2 a leaf in my 60l tank turned the water very brown
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&
Is this recommended or will it have too much impact on water chemistry? My current chemistry stands at: pH 7.5, GH 9, KH 5.
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More alder cones, ordinary cork or oak bark will all stain the water, although the Terminalia cattapa leaves suggested are probably the easiest. They won't have much effect on the pH, your water still has a lot of buffering left.
cheers Darrel
 
or you can get peat extract if you give me your adress and pay for postage I will send you few bottles I have like 2 litres of it from Poland.

regards
gzylo
 
I want to try out some almond leaves and am wondering how many to buy.
So the question is... When placed in the filter, how long do you guys reckon these leaves will have an effect for?
Couple of weeks then swap them out?
(my gh and kh are both at 0 now so there is no buffering)

TA aqauaculture states that:
"Loose Leaves
These are approx 7" minimum size.
One leaf will treat up to 10 gallons"

(I have been steadily working on my blackwater since posting a couple of months back mainly using a combination of alder cones and peat. These work, but I just want to try out the leaves as well to see how they compare.)
 
Hi all,
Couple of weeks then swap them out?
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I think this is what people a lot of people do, but a lot of Apistogramma keepers just leave them in the tank until they break down into bits or skeletonize. I think most of the tannins and humic organic compounds will leach out in the first couple of weeks. I haven't used them for a while, but from what I remember they break down more quickly than Oak leaves.
cheers Darrel
 
Thanks Darrel :thumbup:

Oak leaves are on my list to try as well. (The area where my house is built used to be an oak forest, and there are still a lot of oak trees dotted around, so I'd be silly not to try the leaves out!)
 
Re: Creating Blackwater - Oak leaves

Hi all,
Oak leaves are on my list to try as well
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Although it sounds a strange time of year to suggest collecting dead leaves a lot of the smaller deciduous oaks and Beech hedges will be shedding the dead leaves (that they've held all winter) as their new leaves expand, and evergreen oaks will also shed their leaves now. Holm Oak (Quercus ilex) isn't very exciting, and Cork Oak (Quercus suber) is only slightly better, but the leaves of Cork Oak's hybrid with Turkey Oak (Quercus cerris), the "Lucombe Oak" Quercus × hispanica, are really striking.

cheers Darrel
 
All the oak leaves I spotted when out collecting last week were pretty scrappy (had been on the ground since the Autumn by the looks of things). I had no idea that different oaks differed so much. Now I know I expect I will start spotting them.

I had never noticed an alder tree in my life before, now I have an eye for them I have spotted quite a few :thumbup:
I got a small bags worth of beech leaves last week as well. Like you say it is a good time of year to collect these :thumbup:
 
Ive got a few Terminalia Catappa leaves :

egytemem.jpg


:lol:
 
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