Why Is My Aquarium Dark And Brown? AQUARIUM NIGHTMARES

Have you noticed that your aquarium water is starting to get dark and look like iced tea? Well in this video Lisa will explain exactly why that's happening and offer some tips for correcting it.

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[itsamBsunrise]

Hahaha. The cat cut scene drinking the water and pawing is hilarious! Nice humor and add on!

[jeffh]

We watched her putting her scape together at Aquashella. There's so much to learn from just watching these experts work. Having her help would be cool but we've watched you scaping on your own, you got this👍

[melanieholmes]

Yay for Blackwater tanks getting the love they deserve ❤ this was a fantastic video with so much great info, you are such an awesome resource! Can I say I’m beyond excited about the possibility of working together on a future scape 😍😍. Thank you for the shoutout!!

[MandyJane]

The river where I live is a black water river. I have swam in it, and I'm sure drank a bunch of the water. lol I have a piece of driftwood in my 70 gallon that's about 2yrs old, and it still makes the water a little yellowish. I used to worry about this, until I found out tannin softens the water (I have super hard well water). Oh and also, I am so glad to learn I can put magnolia leaves in the tank! I have two trees in my yard, and I was wondering about that. I have an empty 20 gallon that I was thinking about making dark water.

[reginaphalanges]

Great video! Carl is so funny, always trying to steal the show! I love your discus tank, the perfect amount of tannins!

[LisasPaintbrush]

Your helpers are the best! I've really been loving the darkwater look in my tanks. I add oak leaves from our yard to it. This is a great reminder to store some up before winter ;)

[PaulZyCZ]

I'm always adding some tannins to my Angelfish tank, just a tint, so plants can still grow, but fish get some benefits. When I set 40gallon, the fresh finger(?) wood was leaching tannins fast... I thought it's over after few days, went away for a weekend. When I returned, the water was purple with brown tint, almost black and half the plants melted away. Full water change, bacterial treatment and few more plants from other tanks fixed that.

Again it depends on the wood, some don't leach tannins at all, but the heavy tropical woods usually do.

[jeffhester]

Definitely a joint scaping project with Melanie for your discus would make for an incredible video. Maybe break it into parts. Great video thank you for sharing with us.

[curtiscrump]

Great info. Not a fan of dark water myself. I soak and boil to minimize the impact.

The cats make sure you have help and supervision.

Collaborations with others is great. You can find good info and be introduced to other YouTubers.

[johnd]

I video with that lady doing a natural aquascape would be awesome. Thanks for the videos.

[matthewbassett]

Thanks for the vid it was really helpful for my knowledge. I have been a viewer for years and recently got a account and gave a well deserved subscribe. Thanks Lisa and John

[dawnt]

I LOVE wood in my tanks, but I do NOT like the tannins tinting the water, especially if it's dark. Unfortunately, they pretty much go hand-in-hand, at least during the early stages of a tank that's using new wood. Even pre-soaking and boiling won't stop it, in my experience. I've currently got 2 tanks that have tannins too heavy to suit me. The quickest and easiest way I've found to remove that is a good size water change.

[austrelforgefeu]

Would be amazing to see yoy work with her to do an aquascaping 💖

[James_Hande]

I remember back in the day when I first wanted a South American dark water themed setup. I let the driftwood leach the tannin's in the tank. Once they stopped leaching I would regularly add Tetra Black Water Extract. When my parents seen the tank they asked me why it looked so "dirty". I had to explain to them about tannin's and the benefits. They just gave me a weird look and as they walked away I heard mom tell dad - "he must know what he's talking about because his fish are always doing fine".

My dad added a new piece of driftwood and didn't like the tea colored water. I told him frequent water changes and it would eventually go away. Well he wasn't a fan of doing "extra" water changes so I added activated carbon to his filter which helped speed it up.

Lisa, to bad you don't have magnolia leaves available on your website. I would love to try some small sized leaves. I'm always breaking up oak leaves to add to my 40G breeder because full size leaves just look to big in the tank with small fish. But they just don't look nice and natural being little broken bits. 😒

[rockyandmiles]

Great info! I’ve noticed that sometimes even the presoaked wood still leaches tannins. Poly fill in a hang on back filter can help remove it. I love the look with certain scapes and fish like neon tetras! Especially with all those leaves!! 👍🏻🍂

[PoipuTorres]

LOVE how you and John ALWAYS bring in baby kitty!!! SOOO

[sandradolbel]

Ummm heck ya it would be a great idea..I love a dark water tank...but tips on how to keep it that way...eventually my wood doesn't leach as much...so that would be cool to know

[juliaheinritz]

One of my favorite tanks at Aquashella Chicago was the dark water tank that had the dwarf gouramis. Stunning!
My large pieces of drift wood that don't fit in my kitchen pots just soaked for a LONG time in a plastic tote with several water changes.
Oh, your kitties are telling you: "mom, don't you know that what's mini is mine and what's yours is mine now let me play with that water and all those leaves and scratch that big chunk of wood...meow:))🐈‍⬛

[havik]

So ADORABLE, 😊 when she says everything you want all in a bottle!!!!

[Jeswald]

I’m 100% into having natural material in my tanks. My shrimp eat the leaves down to nothing. But, I’ve never had “dark water, ” meaning a murky tank. Because I have live plants, too? IDK. Love the kitty bombs! Keep them coming!