# Creating Blackwater conditions



## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

For those who don't know, I have a betta and ever since I set up his tank back in July of last year, I have considered making it a blackwater tank for him since that's what bettas come from. The only thing you have to do is add peat to the filter but I know this will soften the water. I would only try a small bit of peat and I'd probably soak it for a couple of days before using it since I've heard of people doing that before.

Has anyone ever done this before to a tank that is already set up? I have very hard water and the water in the tank is even harder then the tap water because of the gravel I'm using so I really don't think I'd have to worry about the water becoming soft on me.

I'd appreciate any info on this.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

You shouldn't worry about softening the water. If anything the plants will do better in the softer water and so will the betta. Soften away!


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

AaronT said:


> You shouldn't worry about softening the water. If anything the plants will do better in the softer water and so will the betta. Soften away!


Great! The GH in my tank water is at 28dGH and my KH is at 22.15dKH but I think the reading of that may have been altered by the tannins in the water. The pH is at 8.3. As long as the GH stays above 8d and the KH above 4d, I'll be happy.  I have snails in there too so I don't want it to be too soft for them.

I'm going to get some Peat fibre that is made for the Fluval filters. I know I can use peat from a garden store but I don't want to take the chance of getting some that has fertilizers in it. What I need to know is, how much should I use and does it need to be soaked first?


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

I have used Hagen Peat Plates to keep the water pH from getting too high. None of my tanks has filter. So I just broke a peat plate into pieces, stuff them into a filter media bag, and have it weighted down. There is no need to pre-soak a peat plate.


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

bartoli said:


> I have used Hagen Peat Plates to keep the water pH from getting too high. None of my tanks has filter. So I just broke a peat plate into pieces, stuff them into a filter media bag, and have it weighted down. There is no need to pre-soak a peat plate.


I had just bought those tonight. I'm just going to put a piece of it in a nylon sock and place it in my filter.


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

Wouldn't any sort of decomposing material reduce the pH?


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

With KH so high I doubt the peat is going to lower the pH much, if anything. 
I would start with about 1 teaspoon per gallon and test to see that conditions are OK. You could add more. No need to pre-soak for days. If the peat is very dry it is hard to wet, so I would soak it for a few minutes in hot water. By the time it has cooled to tank temperature it will likely be wet. 
A nylon stocking makes a good media bag for peat. When the water color fades it is time to change the peat moss.
For one small tank the (expensive!!) Fluval peat beads are OK. For all my tanks that need this sort of thing I use a bag of Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss from the garden store. Read the label to be sure there are no fertilizers or surfactants added. It will say so on the label.


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

Sounds like we are getting a little more complex. Diana recommends not fiddling too much with pH (especially the chemical way, peat being more natural).

Her book states low pH plants can do well in high pH (high kH, gH). Again, low pH plants do better in that water than amazon sword. In the wild the amazon sword wins against low pH/high gH/kH water but then again we get to prune and control our plants


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Diana K said:


> With KH so high I doubt the peat is going to lower the pH much, if anything.
> I would start with about 1 teaspoon per gallon and test to see that conditions are OK. You could add more. No need to pre-soak for days. If the peat is very dry it is hard to wet, so I would soak it for a few minutes in hot water. By the time it has cooled to tank temperature it will likely be wet.
> A nylon stocking makes a good media bag for peat. When the water color fades it is time to change the peat moss.
> For one small tank the (expensive!!) Fluval peat beads are OK. For all my tanks that need this sort of thing I use a bag of Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss from the garden store. Read the label to be sure there are no fertilizers or surfactants added. It will say so on the label.


I don't care really care about my pH. It's the GH that I'm getting a bit worried about which is why I would like to try to create a blackwater set up for my betta so the water won't be so hard for him yet it'll still be something that plants and snails will like. I know that a lot of people just buy peat moss at garden stores but isn't it possible for peat moss to be processed on a line that had fertilizers on it? I was told about that when I was asking about carnivorous plants. Sometimes, some mosses have small amounts of fertilizers in them even though it doesn't state that on the bag. I hope that made sense! lol

Well I added the peat to the filter. Since it was pressed into a rectangular plate shape, I just broke a piece off and crumbled it up as best as I could. It was difficult to measure it going by the 1 teaspoon per gallon method because some of it was still a bit clumped so I roughly judged it. I don't think I have enough for 10 gallons of water but I'll just keep an eye on things to see how it turns out. I just tied off the nylon in a knot so I can remove or add peat at any time.

Does anyone know when I'll notice any changes aside from the water changing color?


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

newbie314 said:


> Sounds like we are getting a little more complex. Diana recommends not fiddling too much with pH (especially the chemical way, peat being more natural).
> 
> Her book states low pH plants can do well in high pH (high kH, gH). Again, low pH plants do better in that water than amazon sword. In the wild the amazon sword wins against low pH/high gH/kH water but then again we get to prune and control our plants


I am aware of the opinion that maintaining a stable pH is more important than having a specific range of pH. However, what I have observed on neon tetras suggested that they don't do as well with relatively high pHs (while higher pHs tend to be more stable).

And here is some info on how pH affects fish:

http://freshwater-aquarium-fish.com...content&task=view&id=26&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=1


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

I forgot to mention this before.

I have a bit of algae in my tank. Will peat make this worse? I've been trying to get some olive nerites so I can get rid of it but they are so hard to find here and some of the places that do have them, won't ship during this weather.


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