Blackwater extract by boiling

[ButtNekkid]

Hi,

How can I make my blackwater extract more dense?

I boiled 5 extra large sized Catappa leaves in 1,5 L of water for about 10 minutes and that mix does not seem tint water. The mix was dark brown in color.

Can I mix different sources of tannins in my "soup"? I have sphagnum peat, alder cones and catappa/oak leaves at disposal. Any benefits in this?

The skeptical aquarist stated that oak leaves are rich as a source of tannins.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160101130818/http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/leaf-litter

Are there different kinds of humic substances/acids/tannins?

 

[abrooks12376]

Just get the humic acid for gardening off amazon. Stuff is a dense as it gets.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Alder cones produce a lot of dark tannins.

cheers Darrel

 

[gerald]

I dont see any problem with mixing different kinds of leaves, bark, seed pods, peat, etc to make a "soup" of tannins, lignins, humic acids, etc. No doubt the chemistry is slightly different from different plants, but I don't think anybody has studied the differences in detail, and a wide range of totally unrelated plants seems to have similar beneficial effects on soft-water fish, regardless of where they're from. Also, boiling is optional. Letting leaves and bark soak at ambient temperature works fine too ... (that's what rivers do).

 

[ButtNekkid]

Hi all,
Alder cones produce a lot of dark tannins.

cheers Darrel

Should the cooking time be different for different kind of tannin sources ?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I've never tried to make an extract. I just add alder cones to tank to get to the colour I want.

cheers Darrel

 

[regani]

if you want to make a concentrated extract you will need a lot more leaves. for an example of recipe see here http://www.bettawan.com/blackwater_mix.html
as abrooks12376 pointed out, you can also get humic acid as a granulate, it is used in agriculture as a soil improver
I have used 1 tbsp. of that in 1L of water to make a concentrate and then used just a few mL per tank to get the colour that I wanted
the agricultural stuff comes in 25kg bags, which will probably last you for about 150years of fish keeping
just keep an eye out on the different grades, some of them may contain insoluble stuff which you will then have to filter off

 

[ButtNekkid]

Hi,

Any benefits of using DI water, or is that a bad idea?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

.....Any benefits of using DI water, or is that a bad idea?

I'd use rain (or DI) water if I had it to hand, but I wouldn't be too bothered if I had to use tap water.

cheers Darrel

 

[gerald]

That depends on how hard your tap water is. If your tap water hardness (Ca +Mg hardness) is 3 dGH (50 mg/L) or less, then don't bother with D.I. or R.O. If hardness is much higher and you're hoping to breed specialized blackwater species, then yes, rain or D.I. or R.O might be helpful. For most of the common Apistos in the trade, they'll still breed OK in moderate hardness up to 6 dGH, or even higher for some species (cacatuoides, macmasteri, borellii, etc). We've discussed this many times before in this forum. Search through the old posts for "hard water".

 

[ButtNekkid]

Hi,

According to my water supplier, hardness is 0-1,10 mmol/l or 0-6 DH.

 

[ButtNekkid]

Hi,

Any ideas why my extract´s conductivity has risen to 580 µS. My tap is 120 µS.
I boiled 5 xl sized Catappa leaves in 1,5 litres of water.

 

[regani]

There are small amounts of salts and organic substances in the leaves that dissociate into ions in the water, like the humic acids. And don't forget that you are trying to make a concentrate so you will have higher concentrations of 'stuff' in there. This raises the conductivity of the solution.
As you put only relatively small amounts of the extract into a tank, this will have only a negligible effect on the conductivity of the water in your tank.