10g Rio Negro biotope build

[alex07]

looks good! when you gonna tint it?

I am boiling the peat moss as we speak, so by tomorrow it should be tinted.

 

[ilostnemo]

sounds good! cant wait!

 

[alex07]

Me either, tomorrow I should be working on the 10 gallon.

 

[alex07]

Update: My ammonia and nitrites disappeared, nitrates are between 80-160 ppm. Going to dose the ammonia up to 4, hopefully it converts overnight.

 

[alex07]

Oops forgot to add the pic

 

[ilostnemo]

id say your good now personally

 

[alex07]

id say your good now personally

I think so too but I just want to be safe. How is your tank doing?

 

[ilostnemo]

pretty good got me some DW today.

 

[alex07]

Update: Tested today, nitrites are at 1 & nitrates are off the chart. Going to do a 50% water change and dose the ammonia to back up to 1. Hopefuly this time I can convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate in less than 24 hrs.

 

[IvanMike]

one of the old tricks is to boil the peat, squeeze off the black fluid, and then stick it in an old nylon stocking (or one of those tiny nylon foot coverings they have gratis at payless shoes for trying shoes on) and then sticking the peat in that, tying it off, and sticking it in a hang on back power filter or box air driven filter. Some discus aficionados recommend not boiling the peat and just sticking it as is in the stocking. You can use the same method to prepare the next batch of water in a bucket or spare tank. The latter method will soften the water and bring down the PH more. Both methods work well - I used the former in my apisto tanks - much cheaper than buying blackwater extract.

 

[alex07]

Update: After redosing my ammonia back up to 4 decided to tested the water and my parameters are Ammonia 4, nitrite .25, nitrate 40-80 & ph 7.4.

 

[alex07]

one of the old tricks is to boil the peat, squeeze off the black fluid, and then stick it in an old nylon stocking (or one of those tiny nylon foot coverings they have gratis at payless shoes for trying shoes on) and then sticking the peat in that, tying it off, and sticking it in a hang on back power filter or box air driven filter. Some discus aficionados recommend not boiling the peat and just sticking it as is in the stocking. You can use the same method to prepare the next batch of water in a bucket or spare tank. The latter method will soften the water and bring down the PH more. Both methods work well - I used the former in my apisto tanks - much cheaper than buying blackwater extract.

I would try that in future, in the past i just add about 1 gallon from the boiled peat moss if i want it darker i'll add another gallon.

 

[ilostnemo]

I added almost half a bottle of brightwell blackwater. Boiled moss. And have dw and its now the color I want lol ph is 5.8

 

[alex07]

I added almost half a bottle of brightwell blackwater. Boiled moss. And have dw and its now the color I want lol ph is 5.8

Yeah it takes a couple of days to get the color you want. I've added 1.5 gal of boiled moss to the 12 gallon tank and it gets like a dark orange in 2 days.

 

[ilostnemo]

How's it going now?

 

[alex07]

How's it going now?

I tested the water this morning and my ammo & nitrites were at 0, my nitrates was off the chart. I did a 75% water change and decided to test the water 20 min. later. My ammo came up to 1, i have to test my tap water when I get back home.

 

[alex07]

Update: So before I went out earlier today I dosed 1.5ml of ammonia which was around 4 pm. Just tested the water and noticed the ammonia converted to nitrite, hopefully tomorrow the nitrites converts to nitrate. My parameters are ammo 0, nitrite .25, nitrate are less than 5.

If by later on this afternoon the nitrites convert to nitrates then I'll be adding the blackwater & the cardinals.

 

[alex07]

This is what it looks like now. I'm still debating on leaving the woods the way it is now or not.

 

[TotallyCoral]

Hmm, why don't you change the driftwood so that they are sitting up-right? Kind of like roots sinking into the water. That's what I will be doing in my biotope aquarium. I think it'll look awesome!

 

[alex07]

Hmm, why don't you change the driftwood so that they are sitting up-right? Kind of like roots sinking into the water. That's what I will be doing in my biotope aquarium. I think it'll look awesome!

I tried it tonight and didn't like how it looked.