phoenix44 Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 Yeah, I'd be going smaller fish too and not larger ones. The tank looks great too, and that substrate is awesome! I would carefully contemplate plant placement because once they dig in and grow, altering anything is going to be a pain and hassle. Lots of whiptails would be brilliant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruju Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 Can't beat a jaguar cichlid if you want a large S.American agro. Although their personalities do vary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted January 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 I can see the appeal of keeping the inhabitants small and spacious, but it's an 800 litre tank and I'm going to have some things bigger than 10cm in it. :roll: Probably seems small to the guy with the 1400 litre tank. I'll keep the stock fairly low at least. I'd said in an earlier post that I'm planning cardinals, angels and geos, but those all look a bit too fishtanky... I'm pretty tempted to lose the plants and get some striped metynnises to have something with more of a wild look. Any other fish species I should consider that don't look so familiar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted January 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 wtf? http://www.aquascapeonline.com/products ... liath.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony law Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 look you are going to have a nice little setup..cant wait to see it when its has mature.. and fish in it.. :bounce: :bounce: when finnsh what the next tank going to be someting biigger :nilly: :nilly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted January 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 look you are going to have a nice little setup..cant wait to see it when its has mature.. and fish in it.. :bounce: :bounce: when finnsh what the next tank going to be someting biigger :nilly: :nilly: Thanks; yeah I thought mine was big until I saw the 1400 litre monster that David R has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony law Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 ive got a bigger one... 2800 liter :bounce: :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted January 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 ive got a bigger one... 2800 liter :bounce: :bounce: Well that's a swimming pool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony law Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 Post subject: Re: First post: Amazon blackwater biotope tank anthony law wrote: ive got a bigger one... 2800 liter Well that's a swimming pool. nar its just a fish tank.....12000 liters is a simming pool... :happy1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 I'd said in an earlier post that I'm planning cardinals, angels and geos, but those all look a bit too fishtanky... I'm pretty tempted to lose the plants and get some striped metynnises to have something with more of a wild look. Any other fish species I should consider that don't look so familiar? You're also likely to lose the long fins on the geos and angels if you add metynnis, and you may end up losing cardinals as the geos get bigger. Stick with the plants and go for a large group of angels I reckon. Could add a small number of S. leucosticta but you may find the substrate gets moved around too much for the plants if you have a decent group of them. If you don't want it to look "fishtanky" then larger numbers of less species will look a bit more natural than a one-of-everything stamp collection, but its entirely over to you really.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted February 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 Here's the latest view of the tank. I have to say it photographs extremely badly and looks a lot better in person. Tanning up pretty well; it's greener than I'd hoped though. I'm using peat moss and indian almond leaves, both of which look brown, so I'm not sure why it's ending up green. Anyone have any experience with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisP Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 could be green from too much light from the window behind. The tannins take a while to really build up and they get more and more intense. I'm not too sure on the bamboo sticks though. Would look nice with a big piece of driftwood in the center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insect Direct Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 too much light, fertiliser or food or a combination and or all three maybe lol sorry not much help here, really just wanted to say, nice tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted February 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 could be green from too much light from the window behind. It could be, but there's absolutely no visible algae on any surface so far. I'm not too sure on the bamboo sticks though. Too asian? I'm not totally happy with the look of it yet. I went for the bamboo because I noticed that most of my plants and driftwood were reaching about the same height halfway up the tank and creating an imaginary line there, which the bamboo is helping to break up. I'm trying to get a look something like these pics: http://www.amanotakashi.net/portfolio/a ... water.html, and trying to create interest without blocking the open spaces. Would look better with actual tree branches instead of bamboo, but it cost just $4.40 and came heat treated. Bamboo does grow in the Amazon, so it's not implausible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted February 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 too much light, fertiliser or food or a combination and or all three maybe lol sorry not much help here, really just wanted to say, nice tank Thanks. I'm not using any fertiliser, and no food since there aren't any fish in it yet. I don't think the green is algal since it was crystal clear until I added the peat moss and indian almond leaves. Just would have preferred a browner tint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 Would look better with actual tree branches instead of bamboo In the past I've cut 'shapes' off teatree (better if its dead, but should work ok with live?) soaked it for a while to sink it and soften the bark, peeled it (probably not necessary?) and hey presto, "designer driftwood". As for the lack of tannins, have you boiled the leaves or just added them to the tank? I think you'll find you need to add a ridiculous amount of leaves to get a decent amount of colour in the water. Probably best to make your own blackwater extract by boiling the leaves and/or alder cones and/or peat then adding it gradually to get the desired colour. Obviously you'll need to top it up after a water change, I usually make a big pot full and store it in a plastic container. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted February 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 In the past I've cut 'shapes' off teatree (better if its dead, but should work ok with live?) soaked it for a while to sink it and soften the bark, peeled it (probably not necessary?) and hey presto, "designer driftwood". I've got plenty of teatree. Might be an idea. As for the lack of tannins, have you boiled the leaves or just added them to the tank? I think you'll find you need to add a ridiculous amount of leaves to get a decent amount of colour in the water. Probably best to make your own blackwater extract by boiling the leaves and/or alder cones and/or peat then adding it gradually to get the desired colour. Obviously you'll need to top it up after a water change, I usually make a big pot full and store it in a plastic container. I filled up the Hailea BT1000 with peat moss and emptied 11 teabags of crushed indian almond leaves into a media bag and hung it in front of the filter's outflow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 I'm sure the green is from the light coming through from behind. You may have to black out the back of the tank to stop it getting worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted February 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 I'm sure the green is from the light coming through from behind. You may have to black out the back of the tank to stop it getting worse. I don't know, but there's absolutely no visible algae growing on any of the surfaces so far, and when I had the 330 litre tank in the same place (without peat moss or indian almond leaves) it never got green like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 I took David R's advice and made up some concentrated blackwater in a bucket by soaking bagged peat moss and indian almond leaves in boiling water, added that and the tank's starting to look a lot better. It's not quite this dark in real life but it's getting a nice whiskey tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 *Likes* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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