Great video on this topic, packed full of info, no bs, and not half an hour long! Rose to you sir.

WOW! I had no idea I could use acorn caps, Sweet Gum spiky balls, and Magnolia pods in the tank! I'll pick some up on my walk today! Thanks for the neat (and money-saving) ideas!

Where I live in Canada, I also have safely used neighbourhood fresh leaves from nettle, dandelion. Dry leaves: maple, ash, birch, walnut, and chestnut. They’ve been Neocaridinia-shrimp safe. Also botanicals add food and surface area to grow beneficial bio-film. Another great video.

Best video I’ve seen on this topic on KZfaq, thanks!

Good video! It answered all my questions in 10 minutes. Thank you for the informative video !! Deserves a sub!

That basically covered it bro 👌 cheers i got tannins in mine the log i put in didnt have much to release being so old but soaking this other piece in a bucket made a nice tea colour to add in controlled amounts

Great video love the channel. Thanks and very nice tanks too

Awesome video got all the information I needed

Thanks I was searching exactly if I can have a black water aquarium with plants on top :)

This is awesome. thankyou for this vid. I have been boiling coconut shells and using the tannins like that

I will cut part of a tree near my pond who is making me crazy with so many leaves fallen now in autumn. I hate it. My fish and pond don't need so much tannin, but this video gave me some relief. At least I know it is not harmful if not excessive. Thank you.

Setting up a Killifish tank so this was very helpful.

Great explanation. 👍

Thank you!

Very helpful, brilliantly put together video, thank you

I'm so glad I came across this video. I just recently, and by recent I mean 5 days ago, just got back into fish keeping after about 40 years of not having an aquarium. Because I was that long out of the hobby, I did a lot of KZfaq research on how to start up and maintain a new tank. In watching dozens and dozens of videos, I kept coming across people who put soil in the bottom of their tanks then covered it with sand and/or gravel so that they could grow healthy plants and their tanks were beautiful (not a single person in all of those videos ever said the water might turn brown). Since I had decided that I was going to have lots of live plants, I decided I would also put soil in the bottom of my tank. About 2 weeks ago, I purchased a used 125 gallon tank, some soil, and some sand. I put it all together and filled the tank with water this past Saturday (5 days ago). It was a little cloudy for a couple of days but from what I saw in videos, that was normal. But then I noticed the water had a brown tinge to it. Then on day 3, it was like a dark tea color. I, of course, went into panic mode because I didn't know what had caused it. So more video research and I learned what had happened. Now it's day 5 and I had just about decided to empty the tank then start all over but this time with gravel and no sand or soil. After watching your video and a couple of other ones like this, I've decided to just keep it like it is. Me, my wife, and my two kids were looking at the tank last night and the brownish yellowish water is actually growing on us...figuratively not literally. It' a lot less cloudy now than it was a couple of days ago and that makes it easier to like, lol. Now that I know that the tannins are not harmful and can actually be beneficial, I'm not in freak out mode anymore. So, I'll continue with my plan to add plants and fill it up full of fish and enjoy the tank with brown water and all, lol.

ily thank you i’m so grateful for free education

Great video

Very very informative video. I subscribed today. Thank you 👍

Finally you’re doing tannins. Its underrated and a missin essential in the hobby. Fishes love tannins

Fluval stratum and little crush coral mixed in subtrate will adding taning lower my ph. Wethr tough crushed coral is mixed in subtrate

helpful video, liked and subscribed :)

For me to achieve the awesome Amazon blood red water I use manzanita wood its the best! almond leaves dye the water a light yellow and I find I cannot achieve that deep red colour

I was just reading a blog. This guy was saying blackwater was created by the Taiwanese almond leaf industry to sucker people. Lol. There's decades of research proving the advantages of tannic water. Blackwater and ripariums are a perfect match. I have some immersed plants, so I have to change the water when it gets too dark. I have 2 huge mopani chunks that constantly release tannins.

Omg i feel so stupid now! I took out all the wood from my 2 tanks after seeing a video here on yt saying how it would bleed tannins and make the water look bad😭😅 I will definitly find them tomorrow and put them to soak.

Informative video on Tanins... I also have a doubt on the last part you mentioned about soaking the tenants in a container. I have a similar setup where I soak the dried leaves to produce tanins and store them in a container. But how long can we have this tanin water, should we use it like within a month or can we have them for a longer period.

Thank you for the info. I’m looking for a book or some literature explaining the nitrogen cycle in a blackwater tank. Do you have any suggestions?

Great video. I'm using rooibos tea bags for my RCR/cardinal tetra tank, I was wondering can I just put the herbs into the tank ? Out of the bag, just let everything sink to the bottom (Boiled or not)

Crepe Myrtle? Can I start cuttings in the tank, like a house plant, or only dead dry pieces?

Great video! I recently added catappa leaves and alder cones to my 15g fluval fluval with 18 pygmy corys. The alder cones are growing a white film. I boiled them for 2 days changing the water many times, so theres no issues with the color. Is this just biofilm? Or a fungus? Is it harmful? Ive also got nerite snails and a bamboo shrimp in there as well....thank you

are maple leaf trees ok to get drift wood from?

I have a question about driftwood🪵. I got some driftwood 🪵out of a creek but although it is not completely spongy gross it is also not rockhard like properly solid driftwood freshly put in the black watertank. My question is do you think it’s harmful to my fish if I got it from a fast flowing Creek. I was able to cut the wood 🪵 with my handsaw just fine without anything just being complete spongy no good stuff.

can i use food coloring to give the water the look i want.is it safe. as a newbie i just like this look

I really want to try this but I'm just afraid my fish won't like it. I have a tank with yoyo and clown loaches.

I know I'm late. Are botanicals beneficial to Jack demsey, or green terror cichlids?

I have Betta and want to add tannins but a saw an article that said celestial pearl danios won't do well in it.. do you think this is true?

Me again. So...I'm thinking about adding tannins in my Samurai betta's tank. He's very skittish to the point where he will hurt himself. I think he will like this. So can I still use led light for the plants? Seems like most blackwater tanks I've seen online use little lighting or only white light. What about blue and red lights?

The filter sponge is filtering out the tannins, how to avoid this?

Can i put spiderwood in my already running aquarium with fish without boiling it?

Go out in the woods and get the leaves. Soak them in hot water with a little salt. And your good to go.

Are botanical harmful to snails ?

My crayfish keep having white fungus on them, and they die after a few days. Any advice on my tank and how to remove it?

Hope dogs haven't pissed on um yeah