I would recommend Kent Blackwater Pro as an additive. You'll get a lot of bang for the buck. Keatapeat Nuggets are also very highly regarded (because of the Ketapang leaves), but you will have to put into a micron bag and suspend in your tank. Also, I would omit carbon. With blackwater additives, carbon is not only pointless, but also counterproductive, since it will adsorb the humic and fulvic acids, etc. Of course, toss in the requisite Malaysian driftwood and you're all set.
Newbie Setup Blackwater Pros Welcome
- Thread starter cmoazz
- Start date
like I said in my first post its for peacock bass.
I saw that kents black water on bigalsonline.com i might even do the nuggets also on just one filter return. What do you recommend I fill my emperors media container with instead of its regular carbon replacements?
Appreciate the help thanks guys
I saw that kents black water on bigalsonline.com i might even do the nuggets also on just one filter return. What do you recommend I fill my emperors media container with instead of its regular carbon replacements?
Appreciate the help thanks guys
zerelli;1744997; said:
thats my untreated tap water stats, without using prime or black water extract, you think even after I condition it it'll be high still?
brianp;1744989; said:
I can put the nuggets in the emperors media container!!!(in a micro bag, inside the container) that way its flowing thru!!! that solves the problem of having them floating ifo the power head in a bag. are the nuggets good as a media though? Should I have some other type of chemical media in the cartridge before the nuggets?
Love to see pic's of this tank, been thinking of turnning my tank over to black water for my rays and p-bass...
It's true that a pH of 8.4 is out of sync with blackwater conditions. It's also true that an RO unit is a good solution. Nonetheless, you may want to spare yourself the expense by seeing how much mileage you can get out of simply treating the water in advance. You can go to Home Depot and purchase a 65 or 95 gallon, thick-walled rubbish container (the one I have is green) and fit it with a small circulating pump and heater. You will need this equipment anyway to age water for water changes. Fill it with water and dechlorinate. Toss in some mesh bags with peat or nuggets, add some Kent Blackwater Pro and let the water circulate for a week. Take a pH reading. If this method is sufficient to drop the pH to at least 7.5, I personally would go with it. Yes, it's not true "blackwater", but it's close enough (IMO). Also, bear in mind that after a month or so, your tank will tend to become progressively acidic on its own, due to all of the metabolim occurring therein. So, combined with the pretreated water changes, you may establish a system which provides the desired pH, au naturale.
Yea I thought the Prime, and black water solution would drop the pH, those stats are of bare tap water straight from the faucet.
I have 2 x 36 gallon rubbermaid to do my water changes. I didnt even think of heating them.. makes sense so theres no temperature shock. I also didnt know I should prepare it 1 week before, sheesh!
I plan on having about 5 pieces of driftwood, so that should help the blackwater once theyve been in there a while.
Once I get the tank filled and I add the conditioners ill take pics and post the water results. Should I add cheap feeder fish to help cycle the tank?
I have 2 x 36 gallon rubbermaid to do my water changes. I didnt even think of heating them.. makes sense so theres no temperature shock. I also didnt know I should prepare it 1 week before, sheesh!
I plan on having about 5 pieces of driftwood, so that should help the blackwater once theyve been in there a while.
Once I get the tank filled and I add the conditioners ill take pics and post the water results. Should I add cheap feeder fish to help cycle the tank?
Dechlorinators will not drop the pH. You don't necessarilly have to condition the water one week in advance, but you have to give the peat, nuggets, etc., time to acidify the water for your desired conditions. For my Dat tank, I condition the water at least 24 hours in advance to give it time to warm up. Of course, this isn't blackwater. Keep an eye on the pH as your tank matures...no kidding, the pH may begin to drop more than you want. Finally, I will be setting up a new 350 gallon tank in my garage this Summer and I will be using Biospira to cycle it.
