Tannin Tank re-do | Episode 200
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- My tannin tank project has been a popular one here in the Fincasters video channel, but there's a huge issue with the tank. So bad, after 18 months I had to tear it down and start over.
For some reason the pH was way too high and the water hardness was like liquid rock. I wasn't sure where this was coming from, since the tanks is designed to be LOW pH and SOFT water. In the video I'll tell you my theory and take you step by step through the process of setting up an aquarium I think will be much better at creating that perfect blackwater biotope. Be sure to listen to my theory and vote on the card when it comes up to tell me what you think of my idea.
Current tank stocking:
1 pair Apistogramma
3 Blue Rams
1 Med. pleco
2 Pygmy driftwood catfish
1 checkerboard cichlid
1 pencilfish
3 med angelfish
3 large bleeding heart tetras
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Tannin Aquatics tanninaquatics...
Asking a Petco/PetSmart employee any type of advice on fish keeping is like playing Russian roulette with a full chamber of “Uh...(insert video 3 from the sales training )”.
I just want to know why the tanks are green and half fish are dead.
why a blue back ground? or was it just a color you wanted. the reason I ask is if you were going for the tannin, a clear back ground might give you a better look for natural. just a thought does blue help the fish colors?
Sadly the blue was left over from a previous set up in that tank. :(
Tank looks great. So glad you kept it as a tannin tank and I'm looking forward to future updates to see if your PH levels confirm your hypothesis (and I'm looking forward to seeing the water more tannin tinted, too).
Love the new scape John! Great job! That gravel is perfect for this setup. Only thing i would do is a black background but even the blue looks great. Love your channel
Thanks! I’m working on that background !
I like to use black sand for Amazon setups. I think black water fish like it more.
Your tank is beautiful. Great job. Thank you for sharing.
Such a shame you had to break it down but seems essential. Good job re-setting it. It looks great. Love the Apistos.
This was a GREAT review and so few people are talking about this. I've been considering doing a semi-tannic tank (Malaysian Driftwood - 1 lb in 40 breeder) and I've been soaking my wood for about two weeks. Today, I tested my water with an API test kit and my nitrites were higher than zero. Not sure what is causing this and trying to find out the reason why? Was curious to know what your NITRITE readings were for this tank?
Phillip Taylor once it was running I had zero nitrites.
That cockatoo is looking good John. As the males get older their lips get big and the colours get better...
John i like the clean water, the aquarium looks fantastic.
I think your dead on with your theory and need to look into this more, i have a very similar issue with one of my tanks, had it running for 2 years and it stayed constant 5.9 to 6.2 PH, added a bunch of oak and catappa leaves with some extra drift wood to get it lower and saw the expected dip in PH going more acidic into the 4.8 to 5.2 range for a while. but then its started dramatically spiking with a rapid onset after 5 month and went from a 4.9 to a 9.5 in about 5 days time no water change, at one point it also hit 17 on the hardness test (lost some nice fish, and had no clue what happened till I heard what you just said here and it makes perfect sense), I was diluting with tons of RO water daily just to keep it in the 7 to 7.5 range till i got a backup tank running and broke it down to move all the fish over to avoid loosing them, the only substrate I had in that tank was the quikrete pool filter sand and no rocks just wood, I have another Black water with the quikrete play sand and there is no issue in that tank and its been running over a year now 4.4 - 4.8.
Good info! Thanks!
Wow
I think the new tank or redo looks awesome, great job, but what I don't understand is why would you put hi ph water into what you want to be a low or a netural ph tank? & what kinda light do you have over that tank, I LIKE it & am goin to do a redo with my 30g long also, I want to do away with the canopy or hood...tks!
I agree with your comment. I keep and breed apistogrammas and my tap water is 7.8-8.0 ph and more alkaline. I have a ton of driftwood and almond leaves in my breeder tank. These items only have a slight affect if any on softening the water and lowering ph(at least in my experince). The only other options- use peat in my filter, buffered substrate to lower ph or use RO/DI water and mix it in with my tap.
Well i have come up with the right mixture of RO/DI combo with my tap water and i have been breeding them now for over a year. Same approach works as well when i have german blue rams.
Once fry are about 2 months i finish raising them in straight tap water for another few months before i trade them into my LFS. This way they are hardier and acclimated to our higher ph local water.
I admit...it can be a pain, but i enjoy doing it and i love my apistogramma agasizii fire reds. They are great fish and great parents in raising their fry.
Hi Guys. The light is a 4 bulb high output flourescent. I usually only run two of the bulbs. The bulbs are about 6 k designed for plants. Now the big question about pH. The problem is that I'm using my tap water that goes into the tank at about 7.2. After it gets in the tanks for a while it's jumping to 8.4. The question is why! Ditto with the hardness. As Mrdds said the leaves and driftwood should soften the water and tannic acid should slightly lower the pH. Mine was going the other way. My theory is that the acids from the botanicals (tannic acid) was breaking down the rocks and or substrate, which were leaching hardness and alkalinity into the water. That's what I'm hoping I fixed with the do-over. Still too soon to tell. Thanks for watching!
No problem. Love your videos. Keep them coming. Always very informative. Plus you're one of the only youtubers that I see on RUclips that has apistogrammas. And I love to see how people are keeping their apistogrammas. Thanks for sharing
The tank looks great again. Next time you do an update can you update us on the PH? As far as your theory it really does sound spot on.
I’ve been resting. Hardness came down. pH still high. Arrrgh
The gravel has nothing tho do with a South American blackwater tank
Thanks for the comment. The issue was the BREAKDOWN of the substrate causing hard water and high pH
Very interesting video 👍👍 tank looks great !
Thanks 👍
Fill up a cup of tap water and check ph for me straight from the tap it was around 7.2, leave the same cup of tap water for 24 hours come back and check it again it should have risen to 7.8 to 8.0 ph this has been my experience .and another thing I have discovered go to your tank check the ph then after checking turn your filter/ pump up a few notches and wait a few hours and see if the ph has jumped up as well
Test substrate is not so complicated.. what about water change? RODI mixed?
Hi Charles. How do you test the substrate? I'd like to know. I have an RODI system for my reef, but I'm hesitant to do all the extra work involved with using it in the Tannin tank. Not lazy, just busy! :) I'm hoping I solved the problem with the new substrate and removing the rocks. We'll see. Thanks for watching!
@@fincasters you can for example put it in white vinegar and check if little bubble of gas (CO2 prob) are produced. This reveals limestone that will slowly dissolve in the water, increasing its hardness and prob pH as well. Same test can be performed with stones and rocks as well. If you can video some tests that could be cool ;)
Thanks!
I honestly think you’re right with your theory. That’s why you don’t use aqua soil in Blackwater aquariums
for amazon fish hard water is defintetely a killer, had the smae issue in my neighborhood, tap water comes out with PH of 8 or even more with GH of 18 to 20 so now my aqueriums have 6.6 to 6.8 but initially I used a azoo water softener product inside my filters and that helped drive it down and dont use tap water any longer and instead use commercial water of RO that has low PH and not so hard and now with the softener my GH is around 3 and KH around 1 or 2 with acid PH, woud say that with the tanins and stuff you have it should get PH even lower, please give us an update after sometime on this tank, beautiful work.
Thanks! I'll be measuring later today! So far all the fish look happy!
Awesome!!! Glad to see for Fincasts coming
PH is still high, but hardness is way down. Still trying to solve the riddle!
What's the pH of your tap water?
that's a great theory that i whould have never thought of
Only 4 people voted
Are you gonna make the water brown again? Maybe with rooibos tea?
Still trying to decide!