Blackwater Extract for Blackwater Habitats

[Scatocephalus]

I occasionally see questions asking about creating blakwater biotopes and the usual answer is to add oak or Indian almond leaves, peat, driftwood etc. These work to a certain extent but are messy and lose their efficacy after a few weeks.
There is also the option of adding a commercial blackwater extract such as what Tetra puts on the market but it is cost prohibitive, especially for larger tanks.
I've put together a photo journal showing how to make your own extract. Hopefully it helps someone!
3 cups of peatmoss poured into a large sauce pan

Add 6 quarts of RO or DI water, bring to a boil and let simmer for 30 minutes

Place an old towel over a 5 gallon bucket

Pour contents of sauce pan through towel

Remove towel and trapped "goop". You are left with approx a gallon and half of rich, dark extract.

Pour extract into tank as needed and enjoy!!

Regarding the ingredients. In this batch I used strictly dried peat moss but you can add almond or oak leaves for additional properties if so desired.

 

[JK47]

Great write up. I love how people are always telling others to boil wood etc to remove tannins and your "recipe" boils to put it back in. I love it...!


(sorry to derail) Love your tank as well. Allot of people who do blackwater also do sand, any reason you went tile over sand? Mechanical/maintenance or just preference?

 

[Braddo]

the other way is black tea as well used alot in the old days of Aquarium keeping

 

[arowfan]

Cool...I bought the stuff made by tetra and noticed change in color and attitude in fish in my 300 gallon-they almost come more "alive" if you will =) but def. can be costly so I wanna try n make some!

scato-this is just regular peatmoss like from a plant nursery lets say? and how many gallons does that reciepe call for? thanks man!

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

Whats happens after the first 50-75% water change?

Thats why most of us use the leaves.

I was trying out a breeding project with my hujeta's and I had a mesh sac full of oak leaves and left that in my sump. It kept the water tea colored for about 1 year. Slowly the leaves will dissolve and you can add more over time. But arpund a cubic foot of oak leaves uncompressed will tint your tank for about 1 year.

If you can't find a mesh bag then you can use some ladies panty hose.

 

[apisto]

do you have alder trees in the US? If you boil its cones you have a class a blackwater extract. Walnut tree leaves (dried) are also good

 

[Noto]

Yes, we have alder. I hadn't thought of using their cones, I may give it a shot.

I would be leary of walnut, at least our common black walnut; its leaves contain the toxin juglone. Oak and baldcypress leaves are tannin-rich, they might be better choices.

 

[Scatocephalus]

I would be leary of walnut, at least our common black walnut; its leaves contain the toxin juglone.

Agreed!

Whats happens after the first 50-75% water change?

Ideally, having a large water vat or extra tank that you can fill with water and treat with the extract or leaves works best. Use this water for refilling your tank after changes. That way you are putting back into the tank exactly what you took out.

Thats why most of us use the leaves.

This shouldn't make any difference as the water you put back into the tank is clear with no tanins and will take several days to darken up again. No different than if you add the extract to the tank after doing a water change. For the best consistancy see my recommendation above.

scato-this is just regular peatmoss like from a plant nursery lets say? and how many gallons does that reciepe call for? thanks man!

Yup, plain old fshioned garden peat moss. It is typically very acidic, 4.5-5.0 and as long as there are no added ferts or chemicals this stuff is very economical. As far as quantity, it kind of depends on how how high your pH and alkalinity are to begin with. In the recipe I show above I used 3 cups of peat which was enough to turn the 125 pretty dark. Granted, I have very soft water in this particular tank.

(sorry to derail) Love your tank as well. Allot of people who do blackwater also do sand, any reason you went tile over sand? Mechanical/maintenance or just preference?

The tile is much easier to maintain. I like sand a lot but with big messy fish it's a maintenance nightmare! If I had a tank full of Geos I'd definitely go with sand.

 

[swede]

coconut shells work well too

 

[Jack Lover]

This is sweet wish i could do that