Aquarium Build (Blackwater Riparium Part 1) - Planting a Nano Blackwater

After we upgraded our bookshelf aquarium (the Rapa Nui Jungle), it left us with a spare tank which we decided to turn into a planted blackwater aquarium.
As you'll hear in the video, I had a few plants in storage which unfortunately for one reason or another ended up with the roots rotting. I cut off the bad roots and replanted in this one in the hope I could rescue them. I also bought some new plants, just in case.
The aim was to have this as a no filter aquarium and the addition of emergent plants/riparium style scape means that the plant roots act as a filter by taking nutrients out of the water column.
Part 1 includes the build/scape - Part 2 will follow shortly with the botanicals and critters to allow some cycling of the tank.

[@NyteFlyer]

I am not a blackwater fan, but am looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I like the wood and the peace lily should be a really nice touch.

[@bottlingnature]

I certainly wanted to make it as planted as possible which is less common in blackwaters - we'll see how it turns out when the botanicals are in! :)

[@spaz91s]

I'm so glad I stumbled upon your channel! Excellent video, beautifully done! I can't wait to see part 2 👍🏻

[@bottlingnature]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it 😊

[@akvaristugur9479]

Hello my friend, nice post

[@bottlingnature]

Thank you 😊

[@thanatosor]

I like the process but I think it's better to have the tank in overview after the setup is done and water is crystal clear. You may delay the video publishing just to include everything at once. As everyone would love to know the result in the end.

[@bottlingnature]

It’s good feedback thank you. I was in a dilemma with this one as that was my intention, however if you can see part 2 there was a series of things which went wrong which I wanted to give people some more detail on (as I found little on the web to help with these) - unfortunately it would have made the video an hour long, so I made the decision (rightly or wrongly) to keep it in shorter segments. Hopefully I won’t have so many problems in future builds, so I can include the end result in the same video 😊

[@thanatosor]

@@bottlingnature Sure, we always learn from our mistakes. I think your process is great, it just the editing need to be improved, perhaps better planning. Also, 10-20 mins are already perfect duration for a tank setup. Take as much time you need in the next one tho. Even mistakes you can include into the video after result, so we can learn together.

[@bottlingnature]

@@thanatosor thanks for the feedback. It’s a steep learning curve doing the KZbin thing! 😆 Now I just need to find more time for the videoing/editing (if anyone knows how I can warp the passage of time, that’d be great 😉)!

[@thanatosor]

@@bottlingnature Hey sure, I envy you for doing it already :D I'm still scared to do the whole thing by now.

[@bottlingnature]

@@thanatosor I try not to set too high expectations for myself - thinking up content is part of the challenge - and mostly, I just wanted a record of what I was doing. The fact that people like them and it’s sometimes useful is just a nice bonus 😁

[@jenpink4298]

Very nice!

[@bottlingnature]

Thank you! 😁

[@MrPwnk1]

Very nice :)

[@bottlingnature]

Thank you! 😊

[@XCellenTruckerBellz]

5:42 ads watching, Keep up the Wonderful workamigo !! let's be friend.

[@bottlingnature]

Thank you. Pleased you enjoyed it! 😊

[@IndoorEcosystem]

Nice looking scape! I recently set up my first blackwater tank and am really enjoying it so far. I'm curious what you end up deciding to stock this one with. So many cool options available.

[@bottlingnature]

Thanks - yes it makes a nice change to the others. Next vid will should show some stocking! 😁

[@Deweycheatemnhowe]

Beautiful setup. I always wanted to try to set up a tank like this but was afraid of poisoning the fish. I don't Know why. I put too much thought into it ( It's nature ). Quick possible dumb question. Can you use any stick or bush for scaping? Thank you and Keep up the Wonderful work!

[@bottlingnature]

Thank you. You’ll need to do a little research on which wood you can use and how to prepare it. While wood bought from aquarium stores is more expensive than sourcing in the wild, they will have spent the time and effort to ensure it’s treated. You’ll want to ensure you know what species of wood it is ideally and make sure it’s not toxic; it also needs to be weathered/not green or live wood; bark can also rot so you want to take that off. It can be done, but you’ll want to do some research to ensure your fishes are safe. If you can get a good piece of weathered oak, that tends to be good for the tannins. 😊 good luck and have fun!

[@People853]

Wow nice very relaxing. Can we be friends?

[@bottlingnature]

Thank you. I’m glad it was relaxing for you 😊

[@austinedwards308]

May I ask exactly which mesh bags you used for this? Thank you!

[@bottlingnature]

To be honest, it was just a cheap set of mesh bags from Amazon. As long as you ensure they've got a plastic zip, then they work. Searching 'aquarium mesh bags' comes up with a wide variety and I picked an option which had several different sizes/colours. It will also depend on what substrate you're using: the fluval stratum is large enough that it doesn't go through the fine mesh but still small enough for the bags to be manipulated. :)