Need to make a black water

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
H

h1n1

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 14, 2011
315
0
0
N/A
alright I got a wild caught rhom commin soon and I gotta try to make a soft water set up... But my tap waters kh and gh are off the scale on my water test and my ph is 7.8ish.. So I assume that I have a lot of carbonates and bicarbonates(kh) in my tap water but I need to get them out if I wanna soften up my water. I don't have a ro system and it's just way too much effort to boil all my water than let it cool at a gallon at a time.. So is there any other way to remove aklinity from water fast? I also have a ro membrane in my canister but idk how well it is gonna work. Any one got ideas?


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
I think adding drfitwood helps a bit? But not sure if it lasts when tannins have all leeches out?


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
If it's clean, you can use rainwater to cut your tap down a little. The real question is, what species is this? Plenty of wild fish will do great at that pH and in high hardness.

For tannic action, it's hard to beat a few fistfuls of alder cones.


Edit: Piranha are very adaptable as far as I know.
 
I have a very dark amber BW setup with my pygos. Its taken me 2+ months to get perfect. I have the hardest water u can get, off the scales. I use peat moss homebrew + 12"x4" media bag full of peat in my ac110 plus a extra lg piece of driftwood, i change my peat media every 3 weeks and all this has lowered my hardness and hasnt jacked my ph!

My homebrew consist of 4 cups of 100% organic peat in a media bag put in a 5 gallon bucket (4 gal filled) w/ scalding water, rinse ur peat put in bucket, keep squegeing the peat over for about 5 min in bucket then put peat bag on bottom and hold in place w/ heavy rock. Let sit 2-4 hours and put a towel double folded over another 5 gal bucket and pour slowly, do a water change add peat brew and insert. Water will soften in 1-3 days slow enough not to stress ur fish. I took params twice a day and perfect. But i prefer DARK water!

Or u can just buy "api water softening pillows" their kinda exp tho
 
you have some of my tank water lol i have a manzanita driftwood.. seems to be aging a bit and i must have boiled it 4 times already.. still cannot get my water to stay clear of tannins. if you want black water, get manzanita driftwood with lots of creaks in the structure like this one

driftwood.png

also, i've never tried it but there is a black water extract you can buy. i believe aquascape sells it

driftwood.png
 
DammitKhoa said:
you have some of my tank water lol i have a manzanita driftwood.. seems to be aging a bit and i must have boiled it 4 times already.. still cannot get my water to stay clear of tannins. if you want black water, get manzanita driftwood with lots of creaks in the structure like this one

View attachment 755327

also, i've never tried it but there is a black water extract you can buy. i believe aquascape sells it
Click to expand...

My new piece of DW hasnt leached at all. But to jumpstart or keep ur water dark "tetra bw extract" is awesome. It does soften water but is about 7$/200gallons of water, which is why i switched to my homebrew cuz its cheaper.

I dont feel like being flammed for tetra bw extract, its not a med or a miracle, ALL IT DOES IS DARKEN UR WATER AND LOWERS HARDNESS A TINY BIT.

Looks good tho
 
thanks for the feed back and im already making my own bw extract with boiled water and peatmos. but i kno if i add a lot of acid to my water than my ph will go down but that wont effect my gh or kh they will still be super high and i wanna remove my minerals and this will make it so i dont need super black in color water i can add a lil bw extract and my ph will drop more bc i wont have any kh to keep my ph in line. so any ways i need to get arid of my minerals without ro any ideas? and im gettin a wild caught blue diamond thats only been in captivity a few months
 
seachem says about their neutral regulator-Neutral Regulator adjusts pH to neutral (pH 7.0) from either a low or high pH and maintains it there. It softens water by precipitating calcium and magnesium while removing any chlorine, chloramine, or ammonia. The use of Neutral Regulator makes other conditioning unnecessary. To lower pH below 7.0 use Neutral Regulator with Acid Regulator (or Discus Buffer).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom