20 Gallon Glowlight Tetra Tank

[utahfish]

First thing is that it is possible to supplement/supply the nutrients. I have zero GH/KH and a pH that is below 5 in some tanks, in the 5's in others. I used to use Equilibrium to raise the GH to 4 or 5 dGH. The plant sources generally say 4 dGH is as low as you want. Then I had an issue in one of my tanks with the fish, and a marine biologist asked me point blank why I was using Equilbirum, and did I not realize what it could do to fish? I discontinued Equilibrium, but started using Flourish Tabs every alternate month. That was four or five years ago, and to date I have had no calcium deficiencies like I had before any of this. So, the tabs with one dose of Flourish Comprehensive Supplement provides the hard minerals along with the trace.

Second thing is the plant species. I have mentioned in other threads that I stay with plants that can manage with what I provide in terms of light and nutrients. I cannot grow fast growing lower plants or red leaf plants. But I can grow healthy swords, like in the photo below. This photo was taken last week, and I put one Flourish Tab next to each of the sword plants, replaced every three months now. Plus one weekly dose of the liquid. My camera is on its last legs, but you can see the situation nevertheless.

Maybe the spindly leaves on my swords were due to them being new. I use seachem root tabs as well and i use easy green from aquarium co op as my liquid fert and when do my weekly water changes i add calcium chloride and magnesium sulfate that brings the GH to about 4 DGH though im slowly adding less in an attempt to bring the GH down. Maybe the spindly leaves on my swords were due more to being in a new tank than not enough calcium because l your swords look great without the added calcium.i also back in the day used equilibrium to mineralize my RO water and it never seemed to be beneficial to my plants and was expensive but thats what i get for listening to LFS

 

[utahfish]

Well actually...
View attachment 99118
This tank has GH=KH=0 and pH around 5.5. I do use root tabs and the vals don't go as crazy as in hard water but they are thriving. In fairness they do attract a fair bit of algae but its the first place the otos go to feed .
FWIW the hygrophila at the back is costata.

cant get costata where i am its an invasive species and is illegal to transport, having said that so is MJ but people manage to get that

 

[Byron]

Maybe the spindly leaves on my swords were due to them being new. I use seachem root tabs as well and i use easy green from aquarium co op as my liquid fert and when do my weekly water changes i add calcium chloride and magnesium sulfate that brings the GH to about 4 DGH though im slowly adding less in an attempt to bring the GH down. Maybe the spindly leaves on my swords were due more to being in a new tank than not enough calcium because l your swords look great without the added calcium.i also back in the day used equilibrium to mineralize my RO water and it never seemed to be beneficial to my plants and was expensive but thats what i get for listening to LFS

Equilibrium seemed to work for me re the plants. Prior tousing it my large swords developed brown blotches which increased until the entire leaf was dead (stem would rot through). I was advised it was calcium deficiency which causes plants to take up excess iron in the place of calcium, but the iron kills the leaves/plant in time. Equilbrium solved this; my larger swords grew like weeds and were bright green, see the photo below of my 5-foot 115g tank during the Equilbirum period. When I decided to stop Equilbrium, I went to using Flourish Tabs ever other month and the swords responded almost as well. The 40g tank in the previous post is today. I now replace one FT next to each of the swords every three months, plus I use one dose of FC liquid.

 

[Austin Burgess]

What would be your suggestion for the botanicals, wood, and litter to create the black water effect if I don’t have the access/ability to dry my own?
Amazon? Tanninaquatics?
I apologize for all the questions. I genuinely am a novice trying to learn all I can

Rebumping this message because I’m not sure if people saw It.
But where would be a good place to buy?
I’ve gathered from other posts that collecting outside is time consuming and dangerous to the fish, LFS supplies can be very expensive, but eBay and Amazon both can be a decent source for driftwood, leaf litter, and plants?

 

[Naughts]

Rebumping this message because I’m not sure if people saw It.
But where would be a good place to buy?
I’ve gathered from other posts that collecting outside is time consuming and dangerous to the fish, LFS supplies can be very expensive, but eBay and Amazon both can be a decent source for driftwood, leaf litter, and plants?

I've used Indian almond leaves from Amazon which colour the water well and the fish enjoy them. I've collected oak leaves and alder cones but they didn't change the colour. I think the most convenient and reliable way to darken the water is adding rooibos tea.

 

[Retired Viking]

Rebumping this message because I’m not sure if people saw It.
But where would be a good place to buy?
I’ve gathered from other posts that collecting outside is time consuming and dangerous to the fish, LFS supplies can be very expensive, but eBay and Amazon both can be a decent source for driftwood, leaf litter, and plants?

That can be true depending on where you live. You have to be concerned about farm and industrial run off. I live in an area where there are farms but not much heavy industry. I do not look for driftwood along a nearby river but there is a spring feed steam and a woods next door that should be alright. Also not too far away are sand dunes that run along a lake and woods and a swamp in a forest that when it dry out is a great place to look. You need to know where the water is coming from to find safe driftwood.

 

[Austin Burgess]

Heard Cory from Aquarium Coop hyping up the dwarf aquarium lily and it does look really good in the planted tanks I saw it in. Thoughts on it in a blackwater setup?

 

[Byron]

Heard Cory from Aquarium Coop hyping up the dwarf aquarium lily and it does look really good in the planted tanks I saw it in. Thoughts on it in a blackwater setup?

If this is the species Nymphaea stellata, it is red leaf so that means higher light requirements and good red in the spectrum. It sends up floating leaves, and allowing these to develop (cutting them off encourages lower growing leaves) would mean the leaves would be floating and thus light would be stronger. The effect of the stems reaching up through the tank can be quite authentic, typical of swamps. Trying to grow the plant with shorter leaf stems would be very difficult in a blackwater setup due to the low level of light getting down.

 

[Austin Burgess]

If this is the species Nymphaea stellata, it is red leaf so that means higher light requirements and good red in the spectrum. It sends up floating leaves, and allowing these to develop (cutting them off encourages lower growing leaves) would mean the leaves would be floating and thus light would be stronger. The effect of the stems reaching up through the tank can be quite authentic, typical of swamps. Trying to grow the plant with shorter leaf stems would be very difficult in a blackwater setup due to the low level of light getting down.

So it could be quite interesting/authentic if the long surface stems are allowed to grow naturally?

 

[Byron]

So it could be quite interesting/authentic if the long surface stems are allowed to grow naturally?

Yes. I had a similar plant, Nymphaea lotus, the Red Tiger Lotus, and as I had moderate light I planted the two bulbs and allowed the leaves to grow to the surface. There were no lower leaves, but dozens of floaters. Photo of this tank attached; this was not "blackwater" in the sense of water tint, but the parameters were the same (zero GH/KH, pH below 5).

 

[Austin Burgess]

While having Nymphaea stellata seemed like a good idea, something in me just really wants to stick to the biotope idea and it being a Asian plant, plus the fact that a 20 tall might be a little tall for it has me deciding against having it.

Another random side question, what do you think are the chances Hemigrammus erythrozonus and Corydoras habrosus encounter each other in nature? Seriously fish says they both inhabit the Orinoco river system, meaning there is a chance of course, but that system is massive and covers so many different biotopes.

 

[Byron]

Another random side question, what do you think are the chances Hemigrammus erythrozonus and Corydoras habrosus encounter each other in nature? Seriously fish says they both inhabit the Orinoco river system, meaning there is a chance of course, but that system is massive and covers so many different biotopes.

From my own profiles of these two species I would think it unlikely, as they inhabit different river systems. Hemigrammus erythrozonus occurs in tributaries of the Essequibo River basin, Guyana, while Corydoras habrosus occurs in the upper Rio Orinoco basin in Columbia and Venezuela. I don't know how extensive this data was researched by the sources I used, and there is always the possibility of streams and creeks not previously explored being found to contain this or that species.

Edit. Just went to SF to check this, and they agree with the two different regions for these species. Like to stay on the same page.

 

[Austin Burgess]

Do you have any recommendations then for a substrate dweller in this glowlight/ember/pencilfish tank?

 

[Byron]

Do you have any recommendations then for a substrate dweller in this glowlight/ember/pencilfish tank?

If you want to stay biotope authentic, no I don't. But there is nothing wrong otherwise about any of the Corydoras species in this tank. Given the upper species, one of the dwarfs would seem most suited. I have C. pygmaeus (a group of 8 which all happen to be fry that appeared over the last 3-4 years now) in with my N. eques pencils, P. simulans green/false neons, and H. amandae Ember Tetra.

 

[Austin Burgess]

If you want to stay biotope authentic, no I don't. But there is nothing wrong otherwise about any of the Corydoras species in this tank. Given the upper species, one of the dwarfs would seem most suited. I have C. pygmaeus (a group of 8 which all happen to be fry that appeared over the last 3-4 years now) in with my N. eques pencils, P. simulans green/false neons, and H. amandae Ember Tetra.

Those are actually far more common and easy to find here than hasbrosus, however I have read they are far more often mid water swimmers than substrate dweller. Would you say that's true? Would that be a problem in a 20 tall with 20 ish mid to low dwelling tetras?