Blackwater extract & pH

[ChriX]

I've been trying to create kind of a South American community tank with my 34g. So far I have Rummy Nose Tetra (H. Bleheri), Cardinals, Cory Sterbai and Apisto. Agassizii, and have plans for Marbled Hatchets eventually. The plants are somewhat of a mix and match so they don't count.

I've been reading about Blackwater extract and how it will benefit the fish and plants, i'd also like the brownish tinge to the water to help the fish show their colours. I would also like the acidic water as i'm currently at 7.2 and I think it might make the Apisto. more inclined to have children if i'm closer to say 6.

Would it be possible to add enough blackwater extract at each water change to drop the pH to 6, so that the tank water gradually drops over time? Another option is peat in the filter, but I can't grasp how you keep control of the pH using that method, surely it would just keep dropping and never become stable?

Any links to read up on it would be nice, or advice. I'm not interested in keeping the tank stable at 7.2, i'm interested replicating blackwater conditions more closely to benefit the fish and the tank as a whole.

Thanks.

 

[Doggfather]

I'd try the peat meathod, if the water becomes to unstable and falls to much you can always remove it from your filter.

Blackwater extracts can get expensive over time.

Sounds like a nice tank

 

[parker313]

Also try adding driftwood to the tank - helps lower it and keep it stable.

 

[ChriX]

I've already got pieces of driftwood, trouble is i've been using the same bits in my tanks for a couple of years already, so they don't leech anything into the water anymore.

 

[Rusty_S]

The water will stabilise eventually if you use peat, its pH can't be much lower than about 6. It won't lower the pH any more than to its own level of acidity.

 

[jacblades]

i would go with the peat. i hvae never tried it but i know it is very popular among discus keepers. blackwater extract isnt anymore expensive than novaqua or amquel. its 1 tsp per 10gal just like everything else. im not sure you can get yuor ph to drop that low without turning the water really brown though. i think you might have to add a lot of bwe.

 

[CFC]

You can make your own blackwater tonic by boiling peat in RO water, works out a lot cheaper then buying bottles of it from the lfs.

I would use both, have peat in the filter and add blackwater tonic with each water change, the addition of unsoaked good sized pieces of bogwood will also aid the process.