Blackwater At Last

[Akasha72]

I finally bit the bullet and added the redbush tea to my tank this morning during my weekly water change...
 
I took some before and after photo's to share with you all
 
Before
 

 
 
And After
 

 

 
 
Please bear in mind it's late morning here and so the photo's were taken in daylight. I'll see if I can get better photo's tonight once it's dark.
 
 
So, for now I've just darkened it very slightly. I may go darker before the end of the day. I added 3 Tetley (other brands are available ) RedBush Pure tea bags to a clean glass and added boiling water. I let it seep for a good 5 minutes and then added a small amount to each bucket before adding to the tank.
One thing I noticed was the effect on the fish. It was virtually instant. Within minutes of the darker water being added I watched them stop darting around and start to chill out. It was like watching a child go to sleep! 
Before I did my water change I'd been crashing around in their home - pruning plants and topping up my sand and cleaning the algae off the glass so by the time I got to adding fresh water they were very stressed and not happy with me! To watch them instantly calm down with the darker water was really nice. They seem to really like it!
 
So, the big question .... should I go a bit darker?
 
I know blackwater isn't for everyone so please keep negative comments to yourself if your not a fan. Cheers

 

[Vethian]

I like the look of darker water. Also, it is nice that the fish are calm.  I've learned something, however, about change.  You've made a change.  Wait some time to see how you like it.    Then make it darker or not.    

 

[Akasha72]

yeah that was my thinking Vethian, I didn't want to go too far and hate it. This is why I only added a small amount to begin with - thinking I could go darker later if I liked it. I do like it but more importantly the fish seem to like it. It was my harlequins that reacted first ... they were darting about obviously stressed and after two jugs of dark water had been added they instantly stopped darting about and chilled out.
 
I'll see how it looked later on when my lights come back on and I might add another two bags to some boiling water and mix in a bit more (no, I don't mean add boiling water to the tank I mean that I'll seep the tea and get a bucket full of water out and add the tea to the bucket before adding back to the tank!)

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Rooibos is known to have a calming effect on fish.
 
There is one issue you may discover as you stain your water, it changes light and this can affect live plants. If you think about the wild Altum vid shot in the Atabapo, a blackwater river, you will see algae but no aquatic plants. Most of the plants you see are submerged land plants during the rainy season when rivers can overflow their banks for miles. Here is another great vid shot in the Pantanal in Brazil
[media]https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=sisEsYGmpjY&list=UUZHuEhmXzuA1iT-zGgKdPKg&feature=player_detailpage[/media]

 

[Akasha72]

okay ... so does that mean my plants might suffer TTA? 
 
My tank lights have just come on and things have settled now. I think it's dark enough to be honest. I've just got a gentle yellowing and not a dark murky brown. It seems to look darker at the bottom than it does at the top but common sense tells me that that is just the effect the light is having. 
 
Here's an updated photo taken with closed curtains and a darkened room
 

 
 
It's also slightly darker in real life than it looks in the photo's

can you also let me know where I stand with my plants ferts. I add easycarbo and easylife profito (both work well for me) I'm guessing by adding this I'm not going to get any interactions with my ferts? 
 
Also - will the darkened water affect my water tests? Will it give me false results?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

It may change test results. You are testing colored water with a colormetric test.
 
When you add color to the water it changes the light penetration as well as affecting the color frequencies a bit. Turbidity (tiny particles in the water) is also a known cause of testing error.
 
The more you color the water, the greater these affects will be. But in looking at that tank I cannot see why you would be testing unless something was wrong. The plants are handling a lot of the ammonia and I would be surprised if you had nitrate issues either unless you have it in your tap.
 
I have been running 15 - 20 tanks for 12+ years now and I have had to replace my test kits because they expired unused. Testing has its place and different tanks and water parameters will dictate how often one might need to test. One's water parameters from the tap can change over time as well. My water, when I set up my first tank, was pH 7.4 and the TDS were about 110 ppm (GH 6 and KH 5). Today some 14 + years later the pH is neutral, or a tad above 7.0 and the TDS are now in the low 80s, even lower after big rains. The GH and KH have also dropped. This is due to the local population increase. Water gets used faster so it does not have as much time to mineralize underground before it is pulled up and used.

 

[Akasha72]

I only generally test my water if I suspect something is going wrong - if the fish are looking sickly for instance. I do tend to get high nitrate if I'm not careful as I have major problems with high phosphate in my tap water. This means I run a phosphate remover in my filter all the time and try to keep water changes smaller as I'm just adding more and more PO4 and expiring the remover faster. It's a delicate balance and it sometimes gets on top of me. 
 
The phosphate and nitrate issue is the reason I use Profito as it contains neither - it means I'm not adding to my issue. My plants get enough of the two from the water and so I add ferts for the things they lack. Profito seems to do this well so I stick with it.
 
I am wondering if the stained water will mess up my PO4 test as I reply on that to warn me when I need to change out my remover

 

[NickAu]

 
I didn't want to go too far and hate it.

If you go too dark the fix is a water change LOL.
 
I think it looks great.

 

[frapadoodle]

Always a fan of the "stained" tanks.
Crystal clear tanks may be popular, but it just doesn't look natural.
I think the tank looks great, as per the usual.

 

[Akasha72]

thanks guys
 
Fish still all seem happy. I've got an elderly harlequin looking sickly but he was sickly before yesterday and it's obvious his days are numbered. Curviceps is still the same this morning - hanging out in the plants by himself. I think the only option for him is a new mate ... he's just not himself without his mate.
My angels seem really chilled out since the change and I'm seeing more of my cories too.
 
It's all good