future 30g blackwater tank

[goatnad]

After having kept betta fish for a bit and getting used to the brown tannin water look I have found myself wanting a blackwater tank. I've seen many on here with natural and simple tanks that I find beautiful. I figured why not give it a go? Here is what I'm thinking...

Tank: 30g(not dead set on this but it will be at least 30g)
Co2: none
Filter: undecided as of yet
Heater: eheim jager 100\150 watt
Lights: undecided
Substrate: pea gravel and sand in some places
Plants: jungle val, narrow leaf java fern, anubias nana petite, floating plant(red root floaters or dwarf water lettuce)
Extras: local leaf litter( oak and water else I can find)
Fish: 2-4 chocolate gouramis, 6 corydoras, 6-8 marbled hatchetfish

Now on to all the questions and unknowns. First up is cedar wood. I know a lot say not to use cedar and some say hard cedar is fine but I would like to get all of your opinions on it. Do you think it would be OK to use? I love the look of cedar and think it would be beautiful for this tank. Next is fish. Are these fish OK and do you have any other mid to bottom level fish to add? Lastly for you with Blackwater's already. What were some key do's and dont's did you learn? Also do you think using local leaf litter will be OK?

So a recap on questions

Is cedar OK to use?
Is local leaf litter OK to use?
Are these fish a good combination?
What do's and dont's did you learn?
What other fish would you recommend adding?
Not asked earlier: do you have a tank in the 30-40 gallon range that you would recommend?

 

[Fresh2o]

Welcome to the other dark side!
Personally, I would be wary on using cedar. The consensus appears to be if the wood is old and seasoned, you should be fine. Nothing fresh or soft.
That stock looks fine. In my tank I was originally aiming for S American (otocinclus, dwarf cories, nano tetras) but stumbled upon some emerald eye Rasboras and Forktail Furcata Rainbows. The blue eyes of the latter two really show themselves in tannin stained waters. You may want to consider green neons or cardinals for the similar reasons. In my tank, the cories occupy the bottom/lower half, tetras in the middle, and the rest are upper (probably because they are active and hungry all the time).
The pH will drop due to the driftwood and decaying leaves. GH and KH may drop as well. I would monitor them early on.
If you know that the locally collected leaves are free of chemicals and pollutants, then they should be fine. Harvesting away from roads and buildings is ideal. When in doubt, order out. I find that maples breakdown quickly. Oak lasts a decent amount of time. Indian almond and sycamore take a long while to breakdown. I let the leaves decompose completely.
The tannins will decrease light penetration so keep that in mind when dealing with plants. I have primarily subwassertang and guppy grass. Very little maintenance.
Not much else to it. It will look like weak iced tea when doing water changes in a white bucket.

 

[King Fisher]

I've heard of Southern swamp cedar and Western cedar root being used. Make sure it's dried out well and cured. Cut off soft or rotted areas of the wood. Soak it well. I'd even run some carbon for several months after adding it just in case.

Personally I wouldn't use local leaf litter Unless I knew what tree it came from and if pesticides, herbicides, insecticides or fertilizer was used around the tree. If you are wanting to build tannins use driftwood, almond leaves and peat moss. There's probably members here that could give you some of thier maple leaves. Idk what area you live in or what you have access to.

I don't see a problem with your stocking. If you wanted to up your options and school sizes you could go with a bigger tank.

40 gallon breeder tanks are nice and roomy to provide you more options.

 

[goatnad]

Welcome to the other dark side!
Personally, I would be wary on using cedar. The consensus appears to be if the wood is old and seasoned, you should be fine. Nothing fresh or soft.
That stock looks fine. In my tank I was originally aiming for S American (otocinclus, dwarf cories, nano tetras) but stumbled upon some emerald eye Rasboras and Forktail Furcata Rainbows. The blue eyes of the latter two really show themselves in tannin stained waters. You may want to consider green neons or cardinals for the similar reasons. In my tank, the cories occupy the bottom/lower half, tetras in the middle, and the rest are upper (probably because they are active and hungry all the time).
The pH will drop due to the driftwood and decaying leaves. GH and KH may drop as well. I would monitor them early on.
If you know that the locally collected leaves are free of chemicals and pollutants, then they should be fine. Harvesting away from roads and buildings is ideal. When in doubt, order out. I find that maples breakdown quickly. Oak lasts a decent amount of time. Indian almond and sycamore take a long while to breakdown. I let the leaves decompose completely.
The tannins will decrease light penetration so keep that in mind when dealing with plants. I have primarily subwassertang and guppy grass. Very little maintenance.
Not much else to it. It will look like weak iced tea when doing water changes in a white bucket.

Lol ty. I have to say those forktails are very beautiful fish. I'll have to look into those more. I live in Mississippi. We have a lot of places where you can go several miles into the forest on dirt tracks and roads away from cities or buildings. I'm sure I can find some uncontaminated leaves yea I was thinking about the darker water. I'm trying to stay in the low light plant range. I wasn't to sure about Val's since the only time I had them was in a high light tank. They grew like mad and I absolutely hated them since I do dirted tanks. Its a mess uprooting them. Thank you very much for your insight.

I also meant to say thank you for the weigh in on cedar.