Peat moss for black water

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Beetlebug515 said:
I use AC110 mesh bags. Not sure exactly how much they hold, I would guesstimate that I put about half a litre in them. I don't put too much in them though. I don't want to pack them with too much and have some of the peat not leach. The absolute easiest source of tannins I have found is oak leaves. If you live anywhere near deciduous forests, oak leaves will provide a ton of tannins per leaf if that makes any sense. I went out a couple times and collected them from a nearby state park, boiled and added the water to the tank. One thing I forgot to mention, some brands of peat will leach fertilizers into the water if ferts are used to grow the peat. When I first started using the peat I use now, I soaked some for a day and then tested for nitrates and I recommend you do the same.
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I know the peat is fertilizer free but didn't think about the use of fertilizer in growing the peat, if I soak it do I still need to you the peat? I wanted to get oak leaves but I haven't hand a day off in a month and was afraid it would snow before I can collect, how fresh do oak leaves need to be,?
 
bbortko said:
I know the peat is fertilizer free but didn't think about the use of fertilizer in growing the peat, if I soak it do I still need to you the peat? I wanted to get oak leaves but I haven't hand a day off in a month and was afraid it would snow before I can collect, how fresh do oak leaves need to be,?
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I just did a small amount in a glass of water for 24 hours then compared my tap Nitrate to the glass Nitrate. If you do oak leaves, they should be dry and brows, but not decomposing. No green.
 
bbortko said:
I don't know what my hardness is but it's fairly hard so I assumed pH wouldn't change to much but tannins are my only desire, if pH drops some I should be ok as I'm in the upper end of the ideal range.
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Your main concern would be a swing in ph related to low kh. I doubt it would happen as most hard water is higher in TDs and generally has good buffering capacity. The method in which you add it will change ph, but if you only want tannins add a heap of moss to a pot and let it boil for an hour, strain the solids and dump the rest in. Your ph woes would be minimized by this, but if you wanted to soften the water it wouldn't be ideal. I drip water constantly so it wasn't feasible for my application but I could see getting away with boiling once a month if you have no vested interest in a low pH or particular brown water ratio.
 
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Beetlebug515 said:
I just did a small amount in a glass of water for 24 hours then compared my tap Nitrate to the glass Nitrate. If you do oak leaves, they should be dry and brows, but not decomposing. No green.
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sounds good, I'll verify nitrates and if I'm lucky me and the dogs will go round up some make leaves.
 
Woefulrelic said:
I use 6+x the amount shown here, not sure that it is efficient or anything but I'm mixing a thick soup before it enters my tank. Way more thick than the stuff listed here.
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+1 I also use way more than what is listed here, but I like my blackwater tank to be as dark as I can reasonably get it. The fish show a marked change in behavior. Activity, color, and appetite both change notably when I am using my blackwater regimen.
 
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Aquanero Aquanero
 
almond leaves are a lot more potent but more expensive. I switched to peat. I through a large cup into a filter sock and hang in my tank. Probably could use 3times the amount I do, but whatever.
 
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