Apisto new tank

Looks great!

Very nice. I hope to have an Apisto tank no later than fall. Feel free to share more pics if you like.

FishyD said:

Very nice. I hope to have an Apisto tank no later than fall. Feel free to share more pics if you like.

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Ty. I was aiming for the tea color haha the water isn't supposed to be so clear.

Magnos said:

Ty. I was aiming for the tea color haha the water isn't supposed to be so clear.

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I haven't tried stained water in a tank larger than a 20G. I used some driftwood, leaves on the floor, and also expandable peat pots I could stuff in HOB filter. It worked out OK enough. In my limited experience there are a lot of challenges. Your wood will run out of gas and not put out nearly as much "tea" within a few months. I had to add more leaves before the old ones were really used up. The peat disks or whatever they are called made the quickest effect when a new one was used. The biggest challenge is water changes. I am not going to boil up a fresh batch of botanical tea everytime I do a WC. The debris will settle out, and your filter will try to clear the water Only time I felt like I was winning the tea war was when I only had a couple fish in the tank. I cheated on the WC % some. There was no nitrate problem, and my well is loaded with minerals so no depletion problems there. I actually thought about experimenting by putting down a couple inches of peat in the bottom, and capping it. Probably all I will accomplish is making a mess that keeps the water hot for too long, so it will be a small tank experiment if I do it.

Alder cones stain the water well. You can also simply use Rooibos tea.

I use rooibos to stain water. I'm surrounded by alders, but the cones from the local species do nothing major in terms of tannins. Oak leaf tea, if you collect dry leaves in autumn, also works. But a tea bag on a string is very convenient, and cheap.

GaryE said:

I use rooibos to stain water. I'm surrounded by alders, but the cones from the local species do nothing major in terms of tannins. Oak leaf tea, if you collect dry leaves in autumn, also works. But a tea bag on a string is very convenient, and cheap.

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Any idea if it was a white or a red oak species that worked for you? They are cheap and easy most places. I have only tried white oak so far.

And I just learned that rooibos is actually tea.