New Tank Decor Ideas

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

So here is the 55 gallon I am setting up as a black water tank so far. I am still going to add some pea gravel and larger smooth stone to ty and make it look more like a river bed, I was debating whether u should add more sand though, its about an inch deep right now. What do you guys think? Any suggestion?
Another question, does anyone have a preferred method of lowering pH in their tanks? With these pieces of wood its about 7.4, I would like to shoot for about 6.8. I've heard peat in your filter can help, but how much? Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Are you going to add plants? Lot's of plants would look good.

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

I was thinking about maybe adding some amazon sword, and maybe some grassy plant, not a lot though, I do plan on adding some almond leaves to the bottom

 

[Blondielovesfish]

You could do hair grass or vallis for a grassy look, though vallis isn't very grassy it still looks nice.
An Amazon Sword would go well!
You could also attach some Java fern or Java Moss or a type of Anubias onto the wood and it would look great!

 

[Noahsfish]

How deep depends on what type of plants. If it's plants that have extensive roots go for the extra inch. Please don't buy peat, if you research peat moss you'll find how destructive removing it from the wild is. You could try almond leaves, although they don't work at all if you have a high kh. If you really want the ideal ph look into an RO system.

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

My KH and GH usually test between 89.5ppm and 107.4ppm on the API kit. How costly are RO units?

 

[Noahsfish]

I've seen them around 150 USD

 

[tmoney7]

or u could also buy some RO water and mix it with the water you have and it should lower the pH.