Adding Indian Almond Leaves to the rotation

HI all, I have a 55 gallon, stocked with angelfish, harlequin rasboras, neon tetras, a little BN pleco, an oto, and bolivian rams.

I have had a large back of indian almond leaves for a while just hanging around, and I never used them because my pH was pretty low on the acidic side as is. Now, in the new tank I've had much higher pH (has to be the substrate at this point, tried finding specific items), and I though maybe some leaves would look nice.

I put just three in last night and I kind of love it. The tannins really haven't made much change to the water yet, but I like the shade it is providing (I don't have floating plants and my other planted ones are still only halfway to the top) and the fish seem to like it.

Does anyone with experience using Indian Almond Leaves think they will provide a negative impact to my current stock? I've done some minor searching around and I can't see why keeping a steady rotation of leaf debris would negatively effect them, but I wanted to check with the experts!

Thanks!

 

I actually don't have any info for you. The dirt in my tank (Mirical Grow Organic Garden Soil, it contains wood), is providing tannins to my tank. I thought it might drop the PH (8 out of the tap, well water) and it is holding steady.

 

I can't think of any reasons for you to not use IAL's. They help provide tannins and a more natural environment. Many tetra breeders use IAL'S to stimulate breeding conditions. I use them for my shrimp and they seem to like them. I don't think they will have too much effect on your PH, although it may lower it a little bit. I think to have any noticeable effect on PH, you would need to use a lot of them and replace often.

 

I was told that IAL is a good stress reliever for Betta's and it has calming effects for them. As for other fish, I dunno....

I have used it ( when I got my Betta shipped from Thailand it came with IAL in the bag ) and I loved how the tannins made my tank a light yellow. I don't use it now but I have one of the calmest Betta's ever!!!! He's the "non-flaring" variety.....

 

Hey I use almond leaves in all my tropical and betta tanks softens water really well while maintaining ph 6.8-7.0 and works well as a detergent for the fish I was told too.
I use about 6 in a 75l tank don't know what that is for you guys.
Shrimp love to eat it aswell and my prawns love to hide under it adds a natural bed look to your tank.
I use them in my water when doing changes, just let them sit in the water for a day or so.
I met a breeder who has a community fighting fish tank and when I seen it I nearly fell over, it looked like a cup of black tea with leaves everywhere I mean everywhere so I guess there isn't much harm in adding just a few lol
Looked good but, like an amazon leaf litter stream with drift wood.

 

Ha, great input everyone. I put three leaves in, I like the way they float. After 20 hours there was a significant change in the color of the water. All the fish seem to like it so far! I'm probably just going to do a leaf at a time, doing my tests tonight so will see what impact it has on the water quality.

 

Just a heads up if you didn't know the leaves should sink so they won't be floating long.

 

Just a heads up if you didn't know the leaves should sink so they won't be floating long.

And if you have mts snails, they eat it after it sinks

 

Very interesting!

 

Since you are from NYC, as I am. Our tap water ph is 6.4 suitable for invert. But if you add IAL it will lower your Ph and it might go below 6. Some fish might spawn at a lower ph, but you will have to do water change after a week or 2 to bring back the ph around 6.4. By any chance, is your 15 gallon still available?

 

HI Summo,

Yes, I noticed how acidic the tap water is, didn't realize that was a city-wide thing. I had about 6.6-6.8 from the tap, then it dropped to about 6.4 in my old tank. I expanded into a larger tank with new substrate, changed types of filters (AQ70 and eheim with all the eheim mech stuff) now I'm running at 7.4-7.6.

I miss the good old days. Yes, it is still available.

 

Can I add them to both my main and betta tank just because they help my fish?

 

Yeah sure! Just beware of tannis (if you weren't already) as some don't like the look of it

 

What would the tannins do?

 

Tannins stain the water brown, may alter the pH slightly if you have a lot of leaves in at once.
The browning of the water would depend on how large the volume of water is and how many leaves you add. Also ripping the leaves into smaller chunks will leak tannins much faster as they break down more quickly if you tear them first.

The tannins are no harm to the fish, they are actually believed to have medicinal qualities in the form of antibacterial/fungal properties. If you keep shrimp, the leaves are a great producer of biofilm for the shrimp to eat.

 

Also, you may not like the look of rotting leafs in your tank (in a while you will be left with only leaf skeletons ) but otherwise go ahead and add them

 

What if I just put them behind my plants?

 

You will still get tannis but you won't see the leaf skeletons

The leafs may float for the first few days when you get them, but they will sink eventually

 

Is there a way to avoid the discoloration with like purigen, or putting them near my filter?

 

I don't think so, but someone else (especially Flowingfins CindiL Aquaphobia to name a few) will be around soon to confirm this

 

Purigen will remove the tannins thus the color. So I think you can't have the leaves without the brownish water.

 

Most fish love tannins though !!

 

Why? How brown will it make the tank? 40B

 

Have a look on google s for aquariums with tannis. It ranges for how many you put in. One may only ever so slightly tinge your water, but a substrate of them will make your tank seem rusty in water colour

 

Ya I won't add any, are there any alternatives?

 

I use one leaf in my five gallon and get a faint tint and it doesn't change my PH at all. In my ten gallon one leaf doesn't give a noticeable tint. There are other leaves you can add besides the almond leaves but all would give tannis.

You could also rinse the leaves until you don't get any tannis coming from them if it's the tint that bothers you. Usually it's the tint that the fish actually like though, makes them feel more secure.

 

If I put 1-3 in the 40 gallon do you thing it would be noticeable? Maybe ill put 1 in the 5

 

The 40 gallon should be fine. There will be a tint in the 5 but it shouldn't be too noticeable (I think...)

 

Thanks