# Botanical style aquarium



## Hooky (15 Feb 2018)

I am considering setting up a botanical style aquarium for some appistogramma. I want to use lots of leaves / wood and pods as well as other botanicals I can get my hands on. My question is can I sustain this on tap water alone? I am aware that the botanicals ect will lower the PH but this isn't my aim, they will be used more for decorative purposes rather than lowering PH. I know this will also produce tannins which will stain the water which I am not particularly bothered about either. I just want to know the best method of using the botanicals without using RO or rain water for waterchanges.


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## dw1305 (15 Feb 2018)

Hi all, 





Hooky said:


> I am considering setting up a botanical style aquarium for some appistogramma. I want to use lots of leaves / wood and pods as well as other botanicals I can get my hands on. My question is can I sustain this on tap water alone? I am aware that the botanicals ect will lower the PH but this isn't my aim, they will be used more for decorative purposes rather than lowering PH. I know this will also produce tannins which will stain the water which I am not particularly bothered about either. I just want to know the best method of using the botanicals without using RO or rain water for waterchanges.


It depends on how hard your water is and which _Apistogramma_ species you want to keep. 

_Apistogramma cacatuoides _is the best one for harder water, but a lot of the stock I've looked at lately has been pretty poor quality. 

cheers Darrel


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## Hooky (15 Feb 2018)

To be honest I am not entirely sure on the hardness of my tap water, I have always assumed its fairly soft as I have always kept soft water species. I have just searched by my water suppler which states the below hardness:





As for appistogramma I was looking at Borelli Opal is I can get my hands on decent quality fish.


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## dw1305 (15 Feb 2018)

Hi all,





Hooky said:


> As for appistogramma I was looking at Borelli Opal is I can get my hands on decent quality fish.





Hooky said:


> o be honest I am not entirely sure on the hardness of my tap water, I have always assumed its fairly soft


Nice fish, you are fine for them, your tap water is "very soft" at just over 2 dKH.  

cheers Darrel


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## Hooky (15 Feb 2018)

what I am still confused about is if the leaves ect lower the tanks PH this will make the tap PH for water changes different. So how do you undertake water changes without trying to correct PH, or do I even need to worry about unstable PH?


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## Edvet (15 Feb 2018)

I wouldn't worry about the pH effect from waterchanges, soft water will give pH variations the fish are able to cope with. If you have eggs of young fry, you could "prepare"water beforehand ( make the amount you change ready by adding some catappa leaves 1/2 days before), just because they can be a bit more sensitive.


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## dw1305 (15 Feb 2018)

Hi all, 





Hooky said:


> or do I even need to worry about unstable PH?


No, you don't need to worry. Like @Edvet says pH is a movable feast as you approach pure H2O.

_<"Apistogramma borellii"> _is fine in slightly harder water if you do want to add a small amount of dKH.

The problem is that pH is a hugely misunderstood reading and you can't extrapolate from hard water to soft water. I like to think about it in terms of the changes in water chemistry, rather than just pH.

If you have a look on <"Apistogramma forums"> there is a lot more about this on there and "Regani" is a proper chemist.

cheers Darrel


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## alto (15 Feb 2018)

I just got so many laughs (in a good way) out of this post (& the linked topic)
- especially liked  _Apistogramma regani_ as a "proper chemist" 
then comprehension dawns


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## dw1305 (16 Feb 2018)

Hi all, 





alto said:


> especially liked _Apistogramma regani_ as a "proper chemist"


I'd never really thought about it, but I assume that is why he has his forum name, and I should have put @regani. He has helped me a lot over the years.





alto said:


> I just got so many laughs (in a good way) out of this post (& the linked topic)


I'm still scarred by the tie incidents.

Les (the chemist) also did some work on wool shrinkage, and he used to dispose of his liquid ammonia by opening the lab door and sloshing it outside onto the gravel, where he explained that it would "_diffuse harmlessly into the atmosphere_". It certainly made your eyes water if you got there shortly after disposal.

Other snippets he told me was that he had had a summer job at the <"Dounreay fast nuclear reactor">, and about a week later they found a large amount of unexplained nuclear contamination around the plant and that a lot of his cohort of colour chemists at Bradford University had already died of cancer.

I saw him about a year ago, he must be in his 70's and is still going strong.

cheers Darrel


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## alto (16 Feb 2018)

dw1305 said:


> I should have put @regani


but then I'd not have had such a laugh 
(or admired your cleverness so )

Sorry @Hooky for this meander


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