When is 'Blackwater' to black?

[John.]

So, I'm setting up a 2ft'r to house a pair of Apistogramma, however I will be introducing shrimp first.

I received some Aldercones from an amazing member on here, and I think I put in a few too many. I dropped in about 10 Indian Almond Leaves (Past experience showed that'd stain it lightly), then I dropped in about 6 Aldercones and overnight my water went insanely dark. So dark that even with a light ~1mm from the water I can just see through to the driftwood.

I will dilute the tank a little with some water changes, but was just curious if the tannins will cause any negative side effects?

Cheers,

John :)

[Daydream]

Would depend on what apistos you are going to keep.Some need very soft acid water some not so acid some like tannins others don't have keeped and breed over 30/40 diff apisto sp in the last 10 years one of my fav family of fish.Have had some from Orinoco in water as low as 5ph and water you can only see 6 inches into the tank.

[jayc]

The tannins itself shouldn't be a problem, but with everything, introduce them to your water parameters slowly to get them acclimatized. With tannins that dark, your pH might be very low. The shrimp might not be used to it, depending on which shrimp you have. Cherries won't do too well in low pH.

Can you check your water parameters?

[BlueBolts]

10 IAL & Aldercones for a 2ft'er seems excessive. More of a PH issue rather then a tannin issue perhaps ?

[John.]

I struggle with PH, I removed 4 Aldercones the morning after, and left the IAL..

PH has stabilised at 6.4.

I really want Apisto viejita.. But I've noted that they're in the 5.5-6.5 range... So I will be pushing it as the water goes to about 6.8-7 when doing a water change.

[Wraithie]

One of my tanks has only IAL and has very significant staining, so dont rule those out as the culprit.

[John.]

I wouldn't normally rule out the IAL, but this batch has been extremely weak, only slightly tanning the water. It might just have been the first half of the pack that were duds though.

It could be a mixture of both; but I'm leaning towards the Alder cones.

[CNgo2006]

Alder cones def tan the water more, especially the larger type

[Garnelchen]

Yes, Chi is right.

The larger alder cones contain a lot of tannin.

Where I collected them from the ground last autumn the gravel around them was heavily stained around the fallen cones from the tannins.

I love using lots of alder cones in my tanks just for decorative purposes and because the shrimp love grazing on them, So I just put them in water for a while until most of the tannins have leached out before I put them in my tanks.

[John.]

Thanks Guys :).. I wanted black water as I'm going for a loose biotope, but I didn't expect it to go coffee black overnight, I thought I'd be able to remove some before it went too dark but the Alder cones certainly were effective LOL

[Squiggle]

Hahaha, yeah I did the same thing with my Zeb tank, just used Purigen to take it back out again to a more acceptable colour. :victorious:

[Daydream]

You wont find true viejita in aus only miss labelled mc masteri have tried hunting them down for 15 years to no avale as you need to pack heat to collect them something the collecters don't want to do risk life for your fish addiction

[John.]

Squigglessss - I added Purigen to my filter tonight. Should I leave it in there just until its the colour I want or permanently?

Daydream - Thanks Mate, I will steer clear of the Viejita as they wanted $110 for the pair, and I don't want to risk getting the wrong fish, Do you have any suggestions as to a pair of Apisto's that will do well in the blackwater with a school of Pygmy Cory's?

[Squiggle]

Cacatuoides are my favourite Apisto's :encouragement:

If you leave the Purigen in there permanently it will eventually remove all the tannins & if you remove it the leaves will continue to colour the water till they breakdown & have no tannins left, so you have a choice, I would put it in intermittently so you still keep a slight colour(I have sumps so it's a lot easier to do that).

[Daydream]

Big fan of cacs one of the cheapest and easiest to care for and breed.But if you find a good par of trifasiata they would be great contrast in tannin stained water with the corys as the red and blue would pop in those conditions with a ph of 6,2/6.4

[John.]

Thanks guys! I did want to get Double Reds originally, but now thinking the Trifasciata's :-D

Tank looks amazing after a night with Purigen, can't wait to get the proper lights over it; atm I'm using a desk lamp lol