I just got dead sick of looking into my empty, gray boring little world. It just never got that poppingly exotic Amazonian beauty that you see in photos of show tanks.
I blame the Onyx Sand. Nothing like a substrate that is the color of worn concrete to ruin what was meant to be a dark, blackwater aquascape. Not to mention that Seachem has finally started mentioning the stuff has a "slight buffering capacity." (It supposedly had none at all when I bought it.)
Slight? Well if you think having a pH of 8 while running peat filtration is "slight." Um...
So anyway, I finally concocted a substrate mix that I liked, bought lots of bogwood, and got to work last night. This morning I have what looks to me like the dawn of a real Amazonian blackwater system.
Tank - All Glass 55g.
Substrate - 40% Tahitian Moon Sand, 40% Soilmaster Select Pro Charcoal, 20% Quikrete Medium Sand. I feel the attempt is somewhat successful at replicating a dark, muddy bottom without using anything organic.
Filtration - Rena XP2 and Penguin 150 (Soon to be a second XP2.)
Heat - Rena Cal Top Lite Excel
Lighting - One shoplite with two 40w 6500k plant bulbs, one Coralife T5 fixture with 28w 6500k plant and 28w Colormax bulb (soon to be replaced with another 6500k.)
Plants: Various Amazon swords, one red temple plant, (seeing if it likes the environment - if so, many more to come) and soon many chain swords to form a carpet (they're in my grow out tank getting nice and strong.)
Tell me what you think so far.
(The water is still a little hazy from the new substrate addition and all the planting.)
I blame the Onyx Sand. Nothing like a substrate that is the color of worn concrete to ruin what was meant to be a dark, blackwater aquascape. Not to mention that Seachem has finally started mentioning the stuff has a "slight buffering capacity." (It supposedly had none at all when I bought it.)
Slight? Well if you think having a pH of 8 while running peat filtration is "slight." Um...
So anyway, I finally concocted a substrate mix that I liked, bought lots of bogwood, and got to work last night. This morning I have what looks to me like the dawn of a real Amazonian blackwater system.
Tank - All Glass 55g.
Substrate - 40% Tahitian Moon Sand, 40% Soilmaster Select Pro Charcoal, 20% Quikrete Medium Sand. I feel the attempt is somewhat successful at replicating a dark, muddy bottom without using anything organic.
Filtration - Rena XP2 and Penguin 150 (Soon to be a second XP2.)
Heat - Rena Cal Top Lite Excel
Lighting - One shoplite with two 40w 6500k plant bulbs, one Coralife T5 fixture with 28w 6500k plant and 28w Colormax bulb (soon to be replaced with another 6500k.)
Plants: Various Amazon swords, one red temple plant, (seeing if it likes the environment - if so, many more to come) and soon many chain swords to form a carpet (they're in my grow out tank getting nice and strong.)
Tell me what you think so far.
(The water is still a little hazy from the new substrate addition and all the planting.)
