From what I understand, the electrostatic charge of polyfill materials (called an electret) is how it interacts with the highly polarized molecules of tannic and humic acids, binding them and pulling them out that way, rather than mechanical filtration. The more densely packed the material, the more it produces these charges, able to produce a triboelectric field. Certain fibers maintain the electret better in water than others, using the polarity of water to continuously recharge. A fun way to see what I mean is to take a big wad of polyfill and scrunch it together tightly, rub it around a little, then pull it apart slowly. Usually you can hear some crackling from the static electricity, or if you do this in the dark you might even see some sparks. Depends on which poly-material it is (polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester). It is funny because when using these materials in air filters, humidity disrupts the process, but when fully submerged it works again. These properties have led to the development of other materials designed to uphold these charges even better in water, which happen to have the most application in filtering out acidic compounds! Trust me, I am not a materials scientist so if someone is and corrects me, I will be fine with that---my exposure to this stuff was through my work as a microbiologist, not a materials chemist ;)

@SuperDaveP270

2 жыл бұрын

Also: I LOVE Bolbitis!

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

LOL, I should have run this by you. I thought for sure it was because of how dense packed polyfill and water polishing pads are, it was somehow trapping whatever compounds tannins bind to. Thanks for the thought-provoking comment!

I finally figured it out!! Silly Simply Betta. Now the tank looks much nicer and is slowly getting more and more tannin-heavy ;)

@WhatIsMisophonia

2 жыл бұрын

I have a heavily planted Walstad dirted tank with a betta and some driftwood. There's no filter, and I have to do water changes because the water gets so dark it's like black tea. Soft water plants tend to grow just as well in hard water as in soft water provided you keep the ph low, as hard water tanks tend to want to rise in ph over time. Hard water plants on the other hand will not survive in soft water and require the alkalinity.

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

@@michaelalexandercanade3449 I only go on insta sometimes - is it a question?

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

@@michaelalexandercanade3449 I don’t see a message from you. Make this easier for me LOL

@abhishekDeepankar

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the vid, I almost gave up on having a black water tank, could you please suggest a tannin friendly mecanical filteration media?

You are really good at these videos! Very enjoyable! Congratulations

Yay! Thank you for all those tips! Your tank looks great!

Glad you figured it out, great video 👍👍

Thank you for this!!! I’ve had the same issue with losing tannins in my pea puffer tank!!! Now I know to take out the filter floss! And my manzanita took forever to soak through and sink, too!!

I love learning all these nifty things from you. Putty on the wood, perfect idea!

Awesome job

It looks amazing! I love the little brazil nut husks! They are adorable!!! I'm sure the bettas will love it!

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Layla! :D

I hate to say this, but my blackwater tanks are all on sponge filters only with ordinary black sponge. I add both blackwater extract and botanicals. The colour still fades and needs renewing on a weekly basis- and I don't touch the filters the vast majority of the time. It's worse in tanks with active substrate but even the ones with inert substrates need renewal- during a water change, my "water coming out" is distinctly less tannin-stained than the "water going in"! Bolbitis is great! I threw one pot of it in my community tank about three years ago and I now have buckets and buckets of the stuff! It even appears to be recovering from melt after I took a bunch it out of a softwater "focused on Gouramis" tank and chucked it into a "extreme softwater with 0kh" tank!

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

I've noticed a slight fade, too, but it isn't literally overnight anymore! Hah! I'm jealous of your bolbitis, mine is growing sooooo slow

three cheers to Phoebe for being a good dogge in the beginning!!!! also Taylor? how do you make SO BEAUTIFUL TANKS?!?!?!

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Phoebe is the best! Haha you're too kind, I feel like all my tanks have been algae farms lately :P

Great video. Will be watching this again in the future.

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for always being in the comments section!

Looks great 👍

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks 👍

Hello Phoebe and hello Taylor!! I'm really excited to have learned about blackwater tanks over the past year I think they look amazing and dramatic 😍 The Mystery of the disappearing tannins 🤔 I never thought about the polyfill removing tannins? Good to know 🙌 Oh that moment when you know your Driftwood isn't going to float back up 🙌🎉🎊 I always enjoy the videos!! Thank you for sharing and I hope you have an awesome day 🙏🌿🐟🌿💚

@pjp9383

2 жыл бұрын

The moment when you know your driftwood isn't going to float back up being preceded by the moment when you hold your breath as you lift off the ugly extra rocks you placed on top to hold it down. And it's followed by the moment when you sit back and sigh contentedly as you view the aquascape looking as you intended.

@marypaigeflynn4512

2 жыл бұрын

@@pjp9383 Yes♥️🙌💪🙏

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for stopping by, Mary ♡♡

The double filter hack has me shook! I can’t wait to use that at some point. Freaking genius!

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Lol! It's a lot easier than filling and siphoning over and over

Hi. Love your pupp. She looks exactly like my first one many years ago. Hope tank does better, thanks. Bill

my first aquarium was a blackwater, 29 gal with wood, a pearl gourami, neons, corys, and some cherry barbs. the ph was at around 6.5ish. I got mega lucky and had minimal failings. I did have rocks that buffered the ph, so even though it was very tea coloured it stayed somewhat neutral for some reason, in hindsight it shouldnt have worked for a beginner. but it did.

No idea what a lot of this means but I'm invested in the saga lol.

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Lol!!

Looks great! Thanks for the tip. Phoebe is so needy and cute as always

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Haha she is the neediest!

like the rescaping😀

Omg what a fun video! I love those fish :)

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you 🤗

Oh that’s cool, I was at Petco buying shrimp and they had a leaf of that second bulbitus with the leaves that look like they’re from a tree. It was just him with the shrimp so I floated it in my tank because it look like it had a little sprout coming off of it and I figured it was a type of Java fern and it grew some of those little sprouts out and I’ve got about six of them now. They grow really really slow but they’ve stayed alive. Lol i’ve looked on the Internet and all over and nobody seems to know what it was. Lol. Can’t wait for the coconut bra video. I hope you do a mermaid tale as well. 😂

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Hah! Well I hope your bolbitis does well! Mine has for the most part, my "wide leaf" one has done alright but doesn't grow much compared to the others

From personal experience I found alder cones to give a tannin that stays for a long time. Even after a couple of water changes.

You can add Rooibos tea into your tank for tannins. Make the tea in a pot, cool it to room temperature and add it to your tank

Phoebe is adorable. ❤ I recently saw the mini java fern somewhere for the first time, but it was freaking flipping expensive! And I'm still figuring out how to grow java fern well (for an "easy" plant, it sure doesn't do that well in my tanks) so I couldn't justify spending the money on it. But maybe one day - it would probably work much better than the regular stuff in my 10g tanks, especially if adding to driftwood, rocks and other decor.

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Phoebe knows it! D: Oh man, I must have got a great deal on the mini java fern, lol! I'm pretty sure I got it from a hobbyist selling it online, it's been a long time though so I can't remember

@pjp9383

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyBetta Maybe it just seemed so expensive because it was such a small plant. Or maybe if it's a bit new in the Canadian market (at least in terms of the chain stores) they can ask a bit more for it.

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

@@pjp9383 That makes sense ;)

I use rooibos tea bags to color the water for my wild bettas. Two tea bags per 60l of water gives a nice light brown tinge. I also add Indian almond leaves, alder cones and oak leaves : )

5:23 Glad it finely stayed sunk! I had a large really old cedar driftwood in my 55g then 20g long tanks (it didn't smell/give off any oils that would hurt fish/beneficial bacteria) but that sucker NEVER sunk. It was screwed onto a piece of river rock and submerged for 3 years THREE FREAKING YEARS! I tried unscrewing it and it shot straight to the surface.. ugh x.x Its sitting in dry storage now.

Try alder cones. You can either buy or collect them (alder trees grow at water streams). The cones are even dekorative.

When boiling the pods (which are so awesome!) do the make blackwater you could save to use in your tank?

I place 10 almond leaves in a stainless steel coffee pot and let it sit for a week. Then I pour the dark water in to the aquarium. The betta will do fine if the water is as dark as coffee. 😁👍

@blammer

2 жыл бұрын

Gotta be a lil careful with that, sometimes the batch of almond leaves goes bad then grows mold in the dark water too. Best would be to use boiling hot water instead of normal room temperature water to soak the leaves

You kan also make your own black water by making strong rooibos tea and add it into your tank. There are some videos out on that metode.

Thank you for this video! I was using super ick cure on one of my tanks and the blue would disappear after a few minutes. My filter has no carbon but also has a lot of sponges and filter floss as well.

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Oh interesting, I hadn't heard of that!

Awesome!! :)

Great to see your Macrostoma juveniles are thriving, if they don't kill each other. Very nice plants. They will be very happy. Best of luck with your project. Your dog is a real cutie, too.

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

It might be time to separate them, sigh : ) Thanks William!

@williamamely7038

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyBetta You are welcomed, Taylor 👍👍👍

You could totally drill a hole in those husks and make betta huts!!

Great thing for sinking driftwood is super glue with a paper towel. Glue it to rocks and it stays down when you flood it. Looks better over all!

@Simply Betta Hi there I have been trying to find a pair of

can you add thea leaves for tannins? Or does the caffeine kill the fish

Nice tank what size is it ?

I have thay same green algea

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah I get a lot of that :P

so, the broad leaf bolbitis looks like a "nino fern"... are they the same thing, is it just a nickname? It would explain why they aren't doing so well in my water parameters...

First! I can't wait to watch!!!

Tyler, hopefully you can get those bettas to breed? Thank you from NYC

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

I'll try :)

After watching your videos I started collecting the Indian almond leaves from my neighborhood.....never knew that such a good treasure was just fallen on the roads ..... Edit ( after watching the video ) :- I am going into Indian almond leaf and bark hunting.... I am going to make a black water tank for my galaxy bettas ...😬I hope it works

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Good luck! I'm jealous you have them in your area :) Go slow! If it affects your water chemistry, adding too much too fast will stress your fish ♡

@vedantkhamkar4413

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyBetta yes I will keep that in mind ...😁

hi Phoebe!

That "Wide Leaf Bolbitis" is B. heteroclita. It is notoriously difficult to grow under water. Hopefully you do better than me and everyone else that I know who has tried to grow it. Cheers, Chris

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Interesting! Thanks for letting me know. So far it's held pretty steady but I've seen no real growth ;)

@Cgraseck

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyBetta I've read that it does eventually grow but I've never seen it happen. It's a neat lookin plant though certainly worth a couple of ties. Cheers, Chris

Tannins in my aquarium keeps disappear and pH keeps rising although I don't use filter, activated charcoal or anything. Just some akadama soil, some rocks and floating plants

🍂💗🐠

Have you ever thought about a wild betta splendens tank?

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

I've done mahachai, imbellis, and smaragdina! That's it for the splendens complex ♡

╔══╗ ╚╗╔╝ ╔╝ (⁀`v´⁀) ╚══` .¸. Simply Betta !! Glad you sorted you're tannin issue out, As always much love !!

This video is right on time. Last week i setup my 6.5 gallon lowboy Betta tank with a lot of tannin in it. But i noticed that my water actually going clearer every day, like "isn't this water look like a tea before ?". Turn out it was the quilt bathing media in the overhead filter is the culprit (because i'm 100% sure no activated carbon in it) 🥲. Now I'm in dilemma, should i remove the quilt bathing in exchange of tannin and less "polished" water from debris or just keep using quilt bathing and give up on tannin 😶.

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Hah! Well I'm glad this video came in handy. I guess it depends on what you want your tank to be! A coarse sponge can do pretty much the same job as the batting, you might not even notice the difference!

@RioCahyadiDrayka

2 жыл бұрын

Ok, i might try to replace the batting with fine sponge or maybe a body scrubber and see the results if I'm satisfied or not. I want my water to free from debris as much as it can, it trigger my ocd to see something floating in the water 🤣.

Fffff no ff way I was thinking the same thing ……. I will be removing polyfill from my filter wasn’t aware of such thing iv always added it. Does that mean the sponge filters do the same thing ? Because when I squeeze them out they are extremely dark brown

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

The polyfill and any water-polishing pads in your filter will do it! It probably has to do with how dense it is. A regular sponge filter shouldn't remove tannins, most likely that is just gool ol' mulm

I prefer alder cones

I must not have a good filter because all I did was buy a moss ball and a small little bark looking log for my Betta just basic and the water stayed black.

I also have a theory that live plants have some ability to remove tannins from the water column. I haven't been able to find scientific evidence of this, but after keeping planted blackwater aquariums for an extended amount of time, its a conclusion that makes sense to me. What do you think?

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

I have no idea! :D Lol I'm so helpful. I've read that water alkalinity can affect how quickly tannins disappear, various substrates or filters. Tanninaquatics would be a good person to follow and learn more from their blog. Also, I've learned that just because the tint disappears, the beneficial humic acid and compounds don't necessarily always disappear with them!

@DylanRenke

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyBetta I absolutely follow TanninAquatics, Scott is the best. From what I know, alkalinity just affects tannins being drawn out of materials like wood, leaves, etc.

@lilybeaumont683

2 жыл бұрын

I had the same thought the more my plants grow the less tannins..I only have a small filter with black sponge..I don’t water change that tank much because it has just 4 micro guppies and a ton of cherry shrimp..

Any updates on the Macrostoma?

@SimplyBetta

Жыл бұрын

I tried and tried but my macs never spawned successfully again. My male started hiding all the time and slowly degrading in health, maybe he was just too old. Lost him a few months ago T_T

If one adds too many tannin items in one go, you can very quickly notice how both fish and shrimps start to linger at the surface for oxygen. The exact reason why I'm not sure of. For me it is always a safe bet with (only) almond leaves. Anything else extra than that (even if pre boiled and cleaned etc.) starts messing with the water quality, so follow the advice in the video here. Add only a little at a time.

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Yes! I gave a warning at the end to take it slow when adding things that can change your water chemistry

I Love Wild betta Creator From indonesia

😘👍

Broad leaf bolbitus looks like poison oak or ivy😳

My water stays dark but I have a huge root ball from under a tree

Hi Phoebe.

You can just throw a bunch of Indian almond leaves in there or a piece of new Mopani wood and that should keep it pretty dark. I bought a piece of my pony wood and I boiled it 10 times and had it in the tank for a year and it still keeps the water brown. Lol I just use a sponge filter. For me this is good to know because I didn’t really want a dark water tank, it just sort of happened. Lol. I don’t like carbon but I’m fine with polyfill. Lol

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Lucky! I wish my mopani stained my water. Maybe I should be careful what I wish for, lol! I bet not many people *WANT* tannin water : P

@ShaneZettelmier

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyBetta I thought it was cool for about a week, then I kind of got sick of it. Lol

I won't to cuddle Phebby

Did you drop your dog😢? 😂. Love your idea of using a spare filter to polish the water. Less work!

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Haha no! She wiggled away and I had to catch the little bugger :)

I had blackwater at first too, but Andrew seemed to get more defensive in it (constant flaring if he saw me watching him, nipping and ripping his greens, random puffy faces at his stuff, etc). But after letting the water stay clear, he became (relatively) more easy-going.

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

Interesting!

I put my wood in my tank and it turned yellow.

Not gonna lie, but Phoebe kinda reminds me of my cat Chessie

@SimplyBetta

2 жыл бұрын

She's basically a cat who is shaped like a dog

@dylans.1741

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyBetta Basically. Chessie is very overweight like one 😂

Di New York City🌙🌃🗽Rumah Klasik 🏠 Saputra Maulana 😉🎃👻😊👨🍷Minum,

I am a little sad...😢 i want a new dance video.....just one minute please 😉

1stt

@katsukibakugou5718

2 жыл бұрын

Shoutout to me miss simply betta for being first in you next video🥺🥺🥺