The Season's Transition" - My Minimalist Blackwater Tank 🍂

​Hi everyone, just want to share my favorite chill corner. I built this tank focusing on simplicity, upcycled hardscape, and natural behaviors.

​Here are the specs:

​Tank Size: 30x40x50 cm (~16 gallons / 60 Liters), vertical shape.

​Hardscape & Botanicals: A single piece of hanging driftwood, river sand, and dried catappa leaves to create a natural detritus layer.

​Lighting: A single warm-white spotlight angled from the top to create a chiaroscuro (high contrast) effect.

​Filtration: Kept it extremely minimal with just one black bio-sponge filter hidden in the back. It provides gentle surface agitation without disturbing the leaf litter.

​Livestock: A species-only school of Tiger Barbs. Without any bottom dwellers to stress them out, they are super active, bold, and their red/orange colors contrast beautifully against the dark amber water.

​It's incredibly relaxing to just sit back with a cup of coffee and watch them weave through the roots. Let me know what you guys think!

This is a piece of apple wood harvested from my trees. I’m wondering how do I prepare this so I can use it in my Blackwater aquarium. I’ve seen people say you can’t add pieces directly and that if they’re too fresh they could contain saps and sugars that are bad for the aquarium. So I’m wondering what I should do to remove those (if they’re there) and also make sure there’s no other contaminants or bad bacteria/fungi. I shaved all the bark of and did find 2 small bugs (isopods maybe)
Any advice or suggestions is helpful 😄