# A journey through the Rio Sucuri



## DeepMetropolis (8 Dec 2020)

Woke up this morning seeing this beautiful vid. Probably most of you know the channel, but I just wanted to share.


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## GHNelson (8 Dec 2020)

Thanks for posting....there is something mesmerizing about fish and plants in their natural habitat!
🍻 hoggie


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## Wookii (8 Dec 2020)

DeepMetropolis said:


> Woke up this morning seeing this beautiful vid. Probably most of you know the channel, but I just wanted to share.




Love that, brilliant video - I've seen less fish on some reef dives - that river was packed! It reminds me why I miss shimmer in my tanks too, it brings the underwater view alive.

It's also interesting how much some of the those plants were pearling up - where does a river like that get a sufficient CO2 source from, decomposing matter?


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## DeepMetropolis (8 Dec 2020)

Wookii said:


> where does a river like that get a sufficient CO2 source from, decomposing matter?


I atought about it too then I was imagining some natives fine tuning their co2 reg with a really big cylinder 🤣


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## tiger15 (8 Dec 2020)

Rio Sucuri in Bonito, Southern Brazil is one of few freshwater habitats in the world  that truly resembles Nature Aquarium in water clarity, and diversity of aquatic plant and fish species.  The scenery looks just like Amano forested aquascape..

Most (estimated over 95%) tropical water  bodies in the Amazon basin,  Congo basin, and  SE Asia Mekong basin are too turbid or dark to support submerged aquatic plants or snorkeling.  Bonito region, underlain  by karst formation, is a rarity with clear spring fed alkaline water comparable to Lake Malawi and Tanganyikan in Africa.  Spring water is high in dissolved CO2 and clarity for plants.  No wonder Bonito is a hot spot  for eco tourism marketed  as Natural Aquarium for snorkeling..
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## dw1305 (8 Dec 2020)

Hi all,


Wookii said:


> where does a river like that get a sufficient CO2 source from, decomposing matter?


I think the spring water <"welling up through the stream bed is carbonate rich">, the <"presence of Charophytes"> is usually a good indicator for hard water and the spring water would continually replenish the HCO3- ions for those plants that can use bicarbonate as <"their DIC source">.

There are images of similar situations in @plantbrain and @zanguli-ya-zamba threads.


tiger15 said:


> Bonito region, underlain by karst formation, is a rarity with clear spring fed alkaline water comparable to Lake Malawi and Tanganyikan in Africa.


Edit: Beat me to the post.

cheers Darrel


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## tiger15 (8 Dec 2020)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I think the spring water <"welling up through the stream bed is carbonate rich">, the <"presence of Charophytes"> is usually a good indicator for hard water and the spring water would continually replenish the HCO3- ions for those plants that can use bicarbonate as <"their DIC source">.
> cheers Darrel


Spring water is not necessarily hard water or bicarbonate saturated unless it passes through limestone formation. Spring water is emerging groundwater clear and free of sediments, and high in dissolved CO2 as it is filtered through bacterial active soil zone.   Surface runoff fed streams tend to be sediment and tannin rich, and CO2 saturated from rainwater passing through the atmosphere and running over decaying matter.  In either case, there is natural replenishment of CO2 from natural inflow fish tanks do not have.

I notice in the video the plants are lush and free of algae except in one area.  This is by far closest to well maintained Nature Aquarium and demonstrates that healthy plant mass  will out compete algae.  Even in that one area, the algae is lush green thread algae not uncommon in over lighted healthy aquarium.   This  is different from  habitats I’ve seen in Peruvian and Venezuela Amazon habitats where brown and hair algae covered submerged wood and plants along with human trash.  Bonito is a tourist destination and I’m not surprised they do regular cleanup of human trash.


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## dw1305 (8 Dec 2020)

Hi all, 


tiger15 said:


> Spring water is not necessarily hard water or bicarbonate saturated unless it passes through limestone formation.


No, spring water doesn't need to be hard,  it is more the presence of the Charophytes that tells you the water is hard. Where I live it is all limestone and a lot of the springs are <"tufa forming"> where the CO2 has some out of solution at the spring  head and calcium carbonate (CaCO3)  is deposited.

Have a look at @plantbrain's comments in the linked thread. 

cheers Darrel


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