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  1. dw1305

    Can I make blackwater using my tap water?

    Hi all, It floats and gets everywhere. cheers Darrel
  2. dw1305

    Can I make blackwater using my tap water?

    Hi all, Eucalyptus leaf is no good, the seed pods might be though. I've got access to a fruiting Eucalyptus gunnii, so I'll try with that (but not in a tank with any fish). I'll heat the seed pod first to get it to release any seed. The advantage would be that the seed pods are persistent on...
  3. dw1305

    Can I make blackwater using my tap water?

    Hi all, No, and worse than useless <"https://apistogramma.com/forum/threads/seachem-acid-buffer.915/#post-5410">. Perfect. Also perfect. I wouldn't change anything at that point. Where are you located? Can you pick your own Oak (Quercus spp.) or Alder (Alnus) "cones"? There are other "leaf"...
  4. dw1305

    dicrossus filamentosus or dicrossus maculatus

    Hi all, They spawned, but I never got any fry. There was a sub-adult Ancistrus L100 in the tank as well (not by design), so it may have eaten eggs or fry. They were fine all time they were juvenile, but as they matured they would have needed a much bigger tank as a group. cheers Darrel
  5. dw1305

    dicrossus filamentosus or dicrossus maculatus

    Hi all, I grew out four young Dicrossus maculatus in our rainwater, which has some carbonate buffering. They were unproblematic to keep and ended up a two pairs. I gave one pair away and kept the other pair. It all went well until they bloated, which I believe is quite common in Dicrossus...
  6. dw1305

    Macmasteri in Metaframe tank

    Hi all, I'm not sure I believe them. I've had the good / mis fortune to visit a lot of sewage works and the only place you get commercially collectable quantities of Chironomid larvae are grossly organically polluted. I have no compunction about feeding Bloodworms that I've <"ranched">...
  7. dw1305

    D24 How to improve Color?

    Hi all, Interesting. I'd guess that if they were getting a good diet, with crustaceans etc, that they were about as coloured up as they were going to be and that there wasn't any "extra" colour to develop. My fish get a lot of live food and on the rare occasions I've bought fish from a shop...
  8. dw1305

    D24 How to improve Color?

    Hi all, A diet <"rich in carotenoids"> will enhance red coloration. cheers Darrel
  9. dw1305

    Apistomaster

    Hi all, Sad news. I knew he was ill, but not that he had died. Larry will always be a hero for me. Ed Ruiz wrote a eulogy on PlanetCatfish (possibly the same one?) Cheers Darrel
  10. dw1305

    Can I make blackwater using my tap water?

    Hi all, That is where I struggle, I'm not a chemist. I think it should go down, but pretty minimally. I might try lowering the temperature and / or waiting for low barometric pressure? cheers Darrel
  11. dw1305

    Can I make blackwater using my tap water?

    Hi all, You've swapped a proton and I think that the proton (H+) would be a slightly less conductive than ions with a higher valency, like calcium (Ca++), and you swapped them 1 : 1. I think size is also important (smaller = more conductivity), and you can't get any smaller than a H+ ion, so...
  12. dw1305

    Can I make blackwater using my tap water?

    Hi all Peat would have some caution exchange capacity, (it would swap an internal H+ for a Ca++ etc. in the water column). Cheers Darrel
  13. dw1305

    Can I make blackwater using my tap water?

    Hi all, That makes sense <"https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know/did-you-know-when-you-are-drinking-tea-you-are-also-drinking-some-ink">. I think they are photodegraded as well <"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926669021011687">. cheers Darrel
  14. dw1305

    Can I make blackwater using my tap water?

    Hi all, If I was going to get a "cheap" pH meter, I'd get a Hanna one. That is one of the issues, the electrodes needed to be stored in 3 mol. KCl. The other problem is just that they work via ion exchange and the internal reservoir of potassium ions will eventually be exhausted requiring a...
  15. dw1305

    Can I make blackwater using my tap water?

    Hi all, They need calibration every time you use them, and you really need a meter with "2 point calibration". The other problem is that pH meters aren't very good with low conductivity water, and this applies even to more expensive lab. type meters. You can stabilise the reading with a...
  16. dw1305

    Advice on my two A. nijsseni

    Hi all, They are, and nice looking fish. cheers Darrel
  17. dw1305

    acidic bacteria and co2

    Hi all, I'd guess that if you re-run evolution, you wouldn't end up with vastly differing results, mainly because of the chemical structure of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O) etc., and their relative abundance on Earth. Because carbon has four bonds and nitrogen three, they offer a huge...
  18. dw1305

    acidic bacteria and co2

    Hi all, I don't think you need to worry. As an example if you have vegetated soft water the pH can be really variable during the diurnal cycle as the plants deplete CO2 via photosynthesis. This situation would be pretty frequent in S. America in clear water rivers etc...
  19. dw1305

    Introducing microfauna: scuds, amphipods, isopods into botanical tank

    Hi all, I think that is an advantage with using Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) in the culture tanks. I've never had any problems with water quality, but I know it is very common when the Blackworms are fed with <"brown paper towels"> etc. Details on UKAPS...
  20. dw1305

    BACK IN BLACK

    Hi all, On the UKAPS forum we've spoken with a couple of the leading scientific research labs about this, and their answers are illuminating. I'll add in the threads, a lot of the journal articles (and other relevant threads) are linked in. <"Correspondence with Dr Ryan Newton - School of...
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