Black Water?

[tankyou]

i'm also interested in this...

questions: for "tankyou"...
1) did your PH level go down at all? (gradually or suddenly if it did?)(did it also stabalize?)

2) would you add more "black water " with every water change?

3)would the bottled stuff be better then just filtering water through peat? (other than it being way faster to achieve results)

sorry not trying to steal your thread "demjor19"..i just need to know thats all

thanks
-ROB

Hey there. Sorry took so long to get back.

Ph is one thing I have not monitored for my tank. I am pretty sure it will not affect ph though. And yes, you would add it with a water change as it dilutes further out. But, I only added it once so far. Will be doing a water change this weekend...without the extract. The bottled stuff is quicker and concentrated to like 3-4 OZ will treat 100 gallons. I have never used leaves or peat so I can not adequately address the difference. It would be more preference than anything.

mine is about a 5" silver. its not so much the jumping, but he just freaks when there is any sudden movement. he is just goin through a phase but i dont want him to get hurt.

Not sure if this helps, but the "freaking out" is kind of normal for that size. All of mine did that when they were that young. They would eradically swim into a corner or on the bottom against substrate/decor to get away. I would suggest blacking out the rear, but to really keep it from happening try and approach the tank slowly if possible. They are all skittish at that age. Hopefully your arows home is in a low traffic area. I would cover the rear and sides of the tank like mentioned earlier.

 

[Miguel]

Black water extract, like peat, lower ph, because it introduces acid in the tank..now our aro's, coming from the amazon region, and, within the amazon, from black water, prefer low ph ( i've had mine, more than once, at at 5.00 / I've bred Discus at 4.5 ).

IMO adding thaextract, or making your own through peat, is beneficial. a couple of years ago all my amazon tanks had peat "bricks" in the bottom..water looked like tea, Ph plummeted, fish were happy and balanced..

 

[Koji]

Black water extract, like peat, lower ph, because it introduces acid in the tank..now our aro's, coming from the amazon region, and, within the amazon, from black water, prefer low ph ( i've had mine, more than once, at at 5.00 / I've bred Discus at 4.5 ).

IMO adding thaextract, or making your own through peat, is beneficial. a couple of years ago all my amazon tanks had peat "bricks" in the bottom..water looked like tea, Ph plummeted, fish were happy and balanced..

Dun they have lifespan?

 

[Miguel]

Dun they have lifespan?

what? the peat bricks? you could only let them in the tank for a month, tops...then you had to take all that pulp out....

 

[Koji]

what? the peat bricks? you could only let them in the tank for a month, tops...then you had to take all that pulp out....

ohh... Thanks for sharing. I'm currently trying to try peat for my red aro tank. I'm in the mid of conditioning her for competetion for the coming may.

 

[Miguel]

would love to go to one of those competitions? are you in Singapore, Koji? Must be crazy, thousands of those beauties..

 

[Koji]

would love to go to one of those competitions? are you in Singapore, Koji? Must be crazy, thousands of those beauties..

Yes I'm in singapore. It's almost a common sight to see asia aro in every hobbyist home.

 

[meiling]

You can order almond leaves on ebay. The locals call it Ketapang. You soak the leaves in water and make a "tea" and pour it in. It works great, makes a huge difference with my Aro. The water stays clear, but takes on an amber hue. You can go thru 10 leaves in about 2-3 weeks, I'd just order like 100, it's all in the postage coming from Singapore.

I think amylim (user id MFK) has an ad in the buy and sell forum. She's who I use, she hand picks them in Singapore.

 

[tankyou]

Thanks for the input Meiling and Miguel!

 

[Koji]

You can order almond leaves on ebay. The locals call it Ketapang. You soak the leaves in water and make a "tea" and pour it in. It works great, makes a huge difference with my Aro. The water stays clear, but takes on an amber hue. You can go thru 10 leaves in about 2-3 weeks, I'd just order like 100, it's all in the postage coming from Singapore.

I think amylim (user id MFK) has an ad in the buy and sell forum. She's who I use, she hand picks them in Singapore.

It's basically free locally for everyone to pick. Nothing special is needed to be done to those leafs. Basically just pick the dried one and they're ready to be used. If you're paying too much for those leafs then think twice again.