# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Anabantoids >  Ketapang vs peat for wild bettas

## illumnae

Does anyone know if there's a difference between putting "ketapang extract" (soak/boil ketapang leaves in water to get a concentrated solution) into your tank and putting peat in your filter?

both achieve low ph/kh and brownish water, but i've read before that ketapang has medicinal properties as well...so would ketapang extract put in weekly be better than filtering peat 24/7 for wild bettas?

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## leeruisheng

Blackwater is derive from peat. It too contains trace element and vitamins. Helps fish to resist diesease. I think the differences are blackwater does not really lower the pH whereas ketapang extract does. Blackwater does not stain water whereas ketapang extract does.

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## illumnae

but peat filtering does stain the water  :Smile:  so between peat filtering and ketapang extract, what's more beneficial? ketapang extract more cost efficient, but peat filtering less troublesome  :Grin:

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## leeruisheng

Yeah but i'm referring to blackwater which is extracted from peat. Very minimal staining.

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## illumnae

haha thanks but i'm only trying to compare the 2 that i mentioned...bottled blackwater is expensive, and in my past experience doesn't seem to make any difference at all

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## wasabi8888

A dilema that I am in as well...

For sure, blackwater, ketapang leaves and peat all stain the water ie water will turn "tea" brown. I have used peat before and it lowered my PH rather well...

Now I am trying out Sera morena which is a blackwater extract. Not sure how it will turn out though, but PH down from 7.6 to 7.3 with 50ml of Sera Morena.

I supposed all 3 has its pros and cons and I will list them down

Ketapang Leaves (thrown directly into tank)

1. Can become messy after it disintegrates (Con)
2. Ph cannot be controlled (Con)
3. Natural (Pro)

Blackwater such as Morena, TR7 etc

1. Not sure whether it's a natural substance and whether chemicals have been added (con)
2. Not messy. Just does after WC (Pro)

Peat

1. Must put near inlet/outlet or in filter cannister (Con since it's an ugly sight in the tank, and a hassle to put in cannister)
2. PH cannot be controlled as well (Con)


My 2 cents worth.... Please feel free to challenge and comment

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## leeruisheng

Since blackwater is extracted from peat. Then they should have the same properties unless other substances are included. So whatever blackwater claims to do, peat should do the same. Thus I feel that the only difference is that ketapang is cheaper.

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## wasabi8888

Agree with Ruisheng on pricing differences. Ketapang much much cheaper compared to TR7.

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## cwtan12

You can place peat inside your filter if you don't want ugly sight. I prefer peat because it's not as messy.

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## wasabi8888

cwtan

I know i can. Just that with the peat in the filter, sometimes need to open the filter to add more or take out some peat etc... such an hassle...OK. I admit I am lazy as well

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## cwtan12

Jeff,

I use Sera Super peat. I admit peat will lose it's ability to reduce pH over time but usually what I do is add more peat but with some coral chips together so that the initial pH won't be too low. You need to change your filter wool anyway, right? Just change them at the same time. Those peat in my tank has been more than a year old now and I dont care about them anymore.

When Ketapang rot, your plants and tank wall will look dirty and it also clog your filter wool faster.

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## leeruisheng

I think addition of these is mainly to reduce pH and create softwater conditions so as to induce spawning? I used to have ketapang leaves as leave litter cause I wanted to create a biotope but disaster struck. After a week, parts of the leaves got infested with very micro white worms. So I promptly removed them. That aside, I'm using ADA soil and manage to get a pH of 6.6 to 7. Without any addition of peat or ketapang leaves, all of my bettas still manage to spawn. But of course I'm not saying that is not a necessity to use them.

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## wasabi8888

> Jeff,
> 
> I use Sera Super peat. I admit peat will lose it's ability to reduce pH over time but usually what I do is add more peat but with some coral chips together so that the initial pH won't be too low. You need to change your filter wool anyway, right? Just change them at the same time. Those peat in my tank has been more than a year old now and I dont care about them anymore.
> 
> When Ketapang rot, your plants and tank wall will look dirty and it also clog your filter wool faster.


I have the Super peat as well. probably will go that route soon. Where do you place the Super peat? I am using a 2028, above the white wool or below?

And the coral chips? next to them?

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## illumnae

Since ketapang is messy, how about the use of ketapang extract instead? not messy...but the downside is that it's troublesome to make.

i highly suspect commercial "blackwater extract" is all chemicals, so i'm trying to find alternatives to them. ph is not that much of an issue for me as apparently my betta falx lives in waters as high as 6.8ph anyway, but i'm thinking more about the other medicinal/natural benefits of peat/ketapang. 

cost wise, from what i've calculated, both are pretty negligible (for me anyway), but ketapang would probably cost less than 10&#37; of peat. even peat is negligable for me as i think with my small tank i'll only use 1/5 a pack ($10) of peat at one time, and if i change the peat every 2-3 months, it'll last me 10-15 months...that's on average $1 a month anyway. for ketapang, using 2-3 leaves to boil out the extract will yield me about 10 weeks worth of extract...$1 packet from C328 will give probably 50 weeks (about 1 year) worth

so do sera peat granules give the natural benefits of ketapang when put in the filter as well?

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## cwtan12

It doesnt matter where you place if they are inside a filter bag. Usually I place mine in the middle tray.

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