Back 2 Basics - Blackwater Edition

A place to keep us informed of the goings on in your tanks. - Tank Logs.
Post Reply
User avatar
fr499y
Admin - TOTM Winner
Admin - TOTM Winner
Posts: 9161
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2018 16:04 pm
Location: West Midlands
Has liked: 2000 times
Been liked: 4714 times

The time has come! Its time for a dark, dimly lit aquascape.
The plan is to keep minimal amount of plants ( Water lettuce, my tiger lotus and maybe a crypt or two ) and fill it with litter, twigs, pods and other botanicals that I can find.

It's going to be a strange one, mainly because I'm keeping the gravel and not changing it to sand, but I'm hoping with it being rather fine gravel that it looks ok!

So far we have the wood on order:-
Image

I just need to figure out the lighting. I'm thinking of using my E27 pendant and creating a 'bracket' out of some 10mm round wood i have floating around.
This should give me the flexibility to choose the colour temp and style of light bulb i want to use to create the dim look I'm after.
User avatar
Andys temperate tank
Tank of the Year Winner 2020-21
Tank of the Year Winner 2020-21
Posts: 3616
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:14 am
Location: Sunderland
Has liked: 4378 times
Been liked: 2897 times

Not half going the other way here Fr4ggy. It will end up just as good.

Will you not miss all the colour?
64l kitchen tank: 16 golden tetra.
5ft 425L: 3 blue angel fish, 30 rummie nose tetra, 20 black neon tetra, 1 longfin bristlenose plec, 2 corydoras sterbai, 24 corydoras duplicareas,2 SAE.
BigBen
Previous TOTM Winner
Previous TOTM Winner
Posts: 2330
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2020 16:19 pm
Location: Truro, UK
Has liked: 732 times
Been liked: 1846 times

Love a black water tank! What fish are you planning?
Instagram - @the.cornish.fishkeeper
User avatar
fr499y
Admin - TOTM Winner
Admin - TOTM Winner
Posts: 9161
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2018 16:04 pm
Location: West Midlands
Has liked: 2000 times
Been liked: 4714 times

Andys temperate tank wrote: Mon Dec 07, 2020 20:35 pm Not half going the other way here Fr4ggy. It will end up just as good.

Will you not miss all the colour?
Still got the nano which the co2 will go into. Thats full of java fern trident at the moment though so will need so planning. Plenty of green in that one with a hint of red. I will put the other plants in there as well so they will grow out the top and flower :)
BigBen wrote: Mon Dec 07, 2020 20:44 pm Love a black water tank! What fish are you planning?
Sticking with the current stock of neons, endlers and the harlequins.
User avatar
mantis
Senior Member
Posts: 526
Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2020 15:53 pm
Location: Durham
Has liked: 691 times
Been liked: 252 times

Looking forward to seeing another TOTM winner in the making :D
User avatar
Ricrhys
Previous TOTM Winner
Previous TOTM Winner
Posts: 716
Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2019 20:00 pm
Has liked: 469 times
Been liked: 560 times

Looking forward to this.
User avatar
fr499y
Admin - TOTM Winner
Admin - TOTM Winner
Posts: 9161
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2018 16:04 pm
Location: West Midlands
Has liked: 2000 times
Been liked: 4714 times

I thought I’d test a few light ideas out and post the looks.

First up is using a single 3w Cree XPE LED

Image

I would use 2 or 3 in total if going this route.

Will try another setup tonight and see what it looks like.
User avatar
Andys temperate tank
Tank of the Year Winner 2020-21
Tank of the Year Winner 2020-21
Posts: 3616
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:14 am
Location: Sunderland
Has liked: 4378 times
Been liked: 2897 times

That looks cools fr4ggy lad.
64l kitchen tank: 16 golden tetra.
5ft 425L: 3 blue angel fish, 30 rummie nose tetra, 20 black neon tetra, 1 longfin bristlenose plec, 2 corydoras sterbai, 24 corydoras duplicareas,2 SAE.
User avatar
Ricrhys
Previous TOTM Winner
Previous TOTM Winner
Posts: 716
Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2019 20:00 pm
Has liked: 469 times
Been liked: 560 times

Also love the shimmer effect.
User avatar
fr499y
Admin - TOTM Winner
Admin - TOTM Winner
Posts: 9161
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2018 16:04 pm
Location: West Midlands
Has liked: 2000 times
Been liked: 4714 times

Yeah, the shimmer effect is what I really want. As the tank has front and back brace bars, its proving a little difficult to find a suitable light that gives off the shimmer effect. It needs to be a 'high powered' single chip or cluster of LED's in a tight array ( Matrix Array ) *Sigh* I'm slightly put off using a E27 bulb, purely for the fact its 240v inches above water..
Post Reply