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Joe's 140L Amazon Blackwater Biotope Journal


Joe

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is the filter hooked up yet? If not that will help clear the cloudyness but in my experience it is to be expected in some cases. If you do have the filter running and it has something other than filter wool inside you could swap out some of the media for wool as it traps a lot of the crap quickly, you can then take it out and put your other stuff back in when you like the look. You could keep the other stuff in the tank in an onion bag or such like so it keeps growing bacteria.

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Just looks like you didnt rinse it enough. You can let it settle and the filters clean it up or you can take it out an rinse it better

I definately rinsed it thoroughly.

is the filter hooked up yet? If not that will help clear the cloudyness but in my experience it is to be expected in some cases. If you do have the filter running and it has something other than filter wool inside you could swap out some of the media for wool as it traps a lot of the crap quickly, you can then take it out and put your other stuff back in when you like the look. You could keep the other stuff in the tank in an onion bag or such like so it keeps growing bacteria.

No the filter isn't hooked up yet. I'm debating whether to take the filter off of my main tank and put it on this one (because the main tank has heaps of plants) or to leave it and buy a new one for this tank. I will need the bio media because there should hopefully be lots of little fry :D

Apart from the cloudiness, I quite liked the colour of the sand when I bought it, but now that it's in the tank it looks very yellow :-? . I think I will actually replace it and get something paler. It was only $13.00 for the bag anyway and it makes great potting sand for the plants in my main tank, so I still have a use for it :)

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I found out what is causing the cloudiness in the water - the sand has small bits of clay in it. I will definately have to buy new sand now, because this is going to be a nightmare during maintainance and also when the cichlids sift through it :( Filtration won't really help much because of these other issues.

I think I might get some silica sand. Hollywood Fish Farm sells 25kg bags for only $20.00 :P Shipping will cost a bit though.

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Maybe you could just put a bigger layer of silica over the top so you don't have to go through the rigmarole of changing it all out again.

Thanks for your suggestion but the substrate will be vaccumed because it will get dirty if I get lots of baby fish, so the bottom will still get stirred up.

Check your local Placemakers etc for silica sand.

I have read that there are two types; abrasive and smooth. I assume anything sold at a pet shop is the smooth stuff, and that most hardware and gardern shops sell the abrasive. Does Placemakers sell both or just the abrasive one? I have to be very careful with what I put in because the Apistos will sift through it and I don't want them to get hurt.

Apart from silica, what other types of sand are available for aquariums that don't leach anything into the water or alter the pH and hardness? Keep in mind that it has to be non-abrasive for the Apistos, and no darker than the stuff I currently have because in an Amazon biotope the sand has pale colouration.

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If it's sourced from Northland, North Auckland and Canterbury it should be the smooth stuff ( see http://www.collaborativelandscape.org/wiki/In-situ_concrete ) as it should be naturally created by water on rock erosion. Manufactured silica sand is the sharper stuff. Having said that my goldfish regularly suck up the Placemaker's sand and spit it out again with no issues.

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  • 1 month later...

Placemakers didn't have any sand, but I checked Centaland and the guy there gave me a sample. I haven't tested it yet to see if it is cloudy or not, and probably won't as I've decided sand is too much of a hassle, especially for a breeding tank like this, and that gravel will be more practicle. So I just put in some standard dark pea gravel which looks really nice and doesn't cloud the water at all. Mum prefers it to the sand too.

I haven't been able to get hold of any wood, but in three weeks time I will be going to Christchurch for a couple of days and I will probably get some from Redwood Aquatics as Mum said she doesn't want to go to any beaches or rivers as she isn't familier with Christchurch. She said that she wants to go to places that are easy to get to, so we are going to Organism and Redwood Aquatics and possibly a couple of other places. Redwoods has a great selection of dry wood and Mum and I can pick out some nice bits there :)

I have a trio of Apistogramma trifasciata arriving on Tuesday from Danval so I will probably breed those first, and then the macmasteri. And I will probably swap my Orange Flash cacatuoides for the Super Reds as I have decided I like the SRs more than the OFs. I know that most shops state that they only have male SRs, but I am sure there are some females out there somewhere and hopefully I will find some.

I will take some photos of the tank with the new substrate tomorrow :thup:

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I had a blank spot where I wasn't sure what to do and kind of just left it.

Once I have finished the blackwater project and bred the trifasciata and macmasteri, if I can find a female cacatuoides then I'll breed those. They don't need blackwater so I'll just take everything out bar the gravel and put a nice big piece of wood in the middle of the tank and grow Windelov fern all over it :P

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The water is still very clear. It is rich in tannic acid from the oak leaves and indian almond leaves (crushed; removed from tea bags) which is giving it that brown colour. This is the whole point in a blackwater tank.

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