# Noah’s 40g planted blackwater aquarium journal



## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

I’m starting a journal for this tank to keep stuff organized. I just uploaded a YouTube video of my aquarium here:


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

Update another one of my tetras looks pretty off, he might not survive the night. I think he will be okay though. Besides him, everybody is doing great.


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

https://lrbaquatics.com/products/cycled-mulmy-bag-o-water this looks like a good product I should invest


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

Ok I tested my water today, should I do a wc b/c I just got new fish on Friday? I have 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 2.5 nitrate


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

(Forgot to mention I dosed my ferts just before)


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

another hyphessobrycon bentosi died, I have 12 now. I think the rest should survive, they all look prettt healthy. 1 more might die but I doubt it’s from anything I did.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Enchanting video, but on closer examination, I see more rocks and sticks than rooted plants. Those small stones in front are inhospitable for plants. Moreover, debris is going to percolate between those stones and fester. You have created a beautiful and interesting biotope, but will it be healthy for the fish? I would not recommend this setup unless you plan to do LOTs of water changes and gravel cleaning.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Yeah, those well scaped tanks you see are cleaned at least twice a week.


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

So when I make a sagitaria carpet I should move the leaf litter/debris away from the plants?


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

I want to try growing some kind of sagitaria or some kind of locally collected plant, I am trying to use the gravel becpause my tanks never get a nice mulm bed for microfaun so gravel will make hiding places and will collect mulm. I’m curious if it’s feasible to use pond mud? to kickstart the mulmification process. In my experience with the Previous iterations of this tank, similar to this setup have shown no bad effects besides they are a pain to clean and convert into a more tidy Setup. I am trying to emulate one of those Clearwater but blackwater habitats, like the pantanal where there is submerged vegetation and things and lot of boulders and washed away branches. I think if I add some local plants like anarchias and mabye like milfoil and some random riparian plants. (I’m praying I can find sagitaria and some echinodoru, (I live in Indiana so I don’t know if they exist here). I’m trying to do some research on it and I think sagitaria exists where I live. I also am trying to see if There are some warmer water tolerant fish that are where I live. (Around 75) I am trying to emulate what I’d see and Give my tank an identity to make it more fun. I am planning on making my 10 gallon into a tank with As much biodiversity as possible


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

I’m planning on looking for aquatic plants after school. I hope I will find some


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

One thing I learned about fishkeeping from a lot of my friends is that if you just let things sit and Do their thing sometimes really cool things happen. And I think I’m starting to realize that I tend to rescape a tank on a whim without any real reason. I am going to try sticking to this tank for at least 3 months continually upgrading it with new plants and life like scuds


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

One example of this is when I just let my 10g sit and I just added a bit of hornwort and water lettuce occasionally I didn’t even feed it for like a month, I had tons of fry just from the plants and a insane amount of microfauna.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

I'm over in Ohio. I see lots of Ludwigia & Spike Rush/hair grass in the wild. There's another aquatic I see but forgot the name of but it's not used in aquariums because they don't look very good. If you're lucky, you'll find aquatic fissidens.


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

Can you link pics? I have some dissidents I think


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

aquatic fissidens.


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

Most likely I will just go to the pond just grab whatever I can fidn then pray it’s aquatic. I’m not going to like grab random land weeds though


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

LOL Ludwigia grandulosa is in Indiana, I could literally sell it for like 10$ a bunch.


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

Time to collect invasive hygrophila polysperma and other plants and then say they are just hygrophila corymbosa and other plants


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

You won't find invasive hygrophila in our growing zone. They die off in the winter. There are look-a-likes but not aquatic or hygrophila.


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

Oh ok. Where should I look? There are a few plants in my neighborhood.


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

and a river too


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

It’s like a shallow creek


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

Noahlikesfish said:


> Oh ok. Where should I look? There are a few plants in my neighborhood.


ponds*


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

What kind of plants would be alive at the moment? I’d assume only like duckweed hornwort and elodea and things and maybe lillies


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Look for river banks, creeks, ponds, lakes. I'd wait till it's a little warmer. Aquatic moss will grow on rocks or wood that's always wet.


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

Ok it’s going to be like 80 tomorrow. And it’s 70 today. Is it warm enough to look or will the plants not be grown in?


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## jake37 (Mar 18, 2021)

The subject indicates this is a blackwater tank. Blackwater tank tend to have a lot of leaf litter and shadows and not so dense of planting. Also the ph tends acidic with extremely low tds clean water (i.e, no fertilizers). 

so my question is do you want a blackwater tank or a planted tank ?


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

It’s a bit of both, I have botanicals like it’s blackwater but I have plants too. Basically like a creek with a natural look also all the plants are in the back of the tank


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

I plan to get more rootlike wood and get some plants for the front area, it willbe like emerging vegetation and ephiphytes in the back, then like Val and stems and things in the mid ground then in the front just like sagitaria and lots of botanicals


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

what’s the minimum tank size for The smallest fw ray (1 ft long)? I would probably change it out when it grows. Im considering taking this up a notch with a 50 lowboy and making a pantanal biotope


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Yikes, do you know how much they cost? I'm reading you need 120G for an adult.


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

Oh dang never mind. I see rays in all these biotope videos and they look so cool and they don’t bother other fish. Any other fish that are kinda like this? I was thinking of getting a larger but peaceful fish like maybe a couple festivum or rainbow chiclids.


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## Noahlikesfish (Apr 17, 2021)

I like having size difference in my tanks because if I get closer I can look at stuff in more detail but if I’m far I still can see cool things


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