Black water set up

[burntrubber]

Hello, anyone here with black water set ups to share? Recently inspired by some amazon biotope tanks on the net,I cleared out a 5ft tank add some driftwood, sand and pebbles. then I koped KTP leaves from QH carpark and spammed the tank with it. That was 3 days ago and the water has a slight yellow tinge now. Fingers itchy to go LFS and scoop fish. Will be mainly tetras and small catfish.

How do I maintain the KTP leaves? Do I have to change them or leave them alone?

Generally my goal is to have a cool looking tank that is relatively low maintenance.

[onlyyouknow]

You want maintain the look of black water? If so, everytime you change water will have to change the KTP leaves because they won't leech tannins forever. The leaves will decompose over time so up to you whether you wanna remove after some time.

[Ong88]

Try putting in more driftwood.

My dw leach like crazy.

My aro tank no ktp leaves, gets black water by second day after wc.

Will post photo.

[burntrubber]

Thanks for the replies.

I will stock up on the leaves and probably add 1 or 2 every time I water change. Plan to keep bio load low so I can cut down on WC (but hard lah).

My driftwood are more than 10 years old so whatever tanin is gone. The big pieces in the tank are bog wood and those don't leech much. Maybe this weekend will go Sungei Tengah walk walk. I remember one of the orchid farm ( I think Woon Leng) use to have a lot of driftwood. If not then go pick leaves again.

[Ong88]

This tank no K leaves, only dw.

[Ong88]

No need go so far to jln lekar.
My usual locations for K trees :


Dropped pin
near 63 Mount Sinai Dr, Singapore 277116

https://goo.gl/maps/Pjnybnmmw9t


Dropped pin
near 369 Commonwealth Ave, Singapore 149734

https://goo.gl/maps/giE5rx4nr8G2



Dropped pin
near 1080 Lower Delta Rd, Singapore 169311

https://goo.gl/maps/ZXGFTvga8ak