Roobios tea

I usually only use Indain almond leaves in my betta tanks, but I can't get the kind of IAL that I usually buy due to covid, etc.
So I bought some roobios tea (Numi organic, not flavored).

I don't know if I am over-doing it or not. Can anyone tell me how much is a good amount to use? I made 2 cups using one tea bag, and I spread that over my 2 five gallon tanks and my one 2.7 gallon tank, and the tank water in all 3 looks really dark. Am I using too much? Is it possible to use too much?

The fish don't seem to mind it at all.hilarious

 

I don't think you can over-add tannins- If your fish don't seem to be affected I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I usually only use Indain almond leaves in my betta tanks, but I can't get the kind of IAL that I usually buy due to covid, etc.
So I bought some roobios tea (Numi organic, not flavored).

I don't know if I am over-doing it or not. Can anyone tell me how much is a good amount to use? I made 2 cups using one tea bag, and I spread that over my 2 five gallon tanks and my one 2.7 gallon tank, and the tank water in all 3 looks really dark. Am I using too much? Is it possible to use too much?

The fish don't seem to mind it at all.hilarious

I was going to use it but rooibos tea is naturally high in copper. Dont use it if you have inverts, otherwise feel free as its very beneficial

 

That’s interesting to know Pfrozen . I had never heard that. Without knowing any difference I use roobios tea in all my change water. I toss a tea bag straight into small 10 gallon tanks often. Almost all my tanks have pest levels of cherry shrimp.


I don’t know if it’s possible to add to much of these tannins. My routine is to try and keep the tannins stable. To help try and achieve this I add tannins to all change water. My thinking is to try and avoid sudden changes.

 

That’s interesting to know Pfrozen . I had never heard that. Without knowing any difference I use roobios tea in all my change water. I toss a tea bag straight into small 10 gallon tanks often. Almost all my tanks have pest levels of cherry shrimp. View attachment 723279

I don’t know if it’s possible to add to much of these tannins. My routine is to try and keep the tannins stable. To help try and achieve this I add tannins to all change water. My thinking is to try and avoid sudden changes.

Wow, love those cherry shrimp!!!!

 

I don't think you can over-add tannins- If your fish don't seem to be affected I wouldn't worry about it.

Will it stain my light colored decour? Silk plants...things like that?

 

That’s interesting to know Pfrozen . I had never heard that. Without knowing any difference I use roobios tea in all my change water. I toss a tea bag straight into small 10 gallon tanks often. Almost all my tanks have pest levels of cherry shrimp. View attachment 723279

I don’t know if it’s possible to add to much of these tannins. My routine is to try and keep the tannins stable. To help try and achieve this I add tannins to all change water. My thinking is to try and avoid sudden changes.

One teabag has 7% of the adult RDI for copper, its not a lot and it would only cause issues for your inverts if it was allowed to accumulate.. you probably won't run into issues with it but its better to tell people to steer clear of it knowing that it does contain some copper knowing that you have it in your tanks with RCS is encouraging though, I think I'll stop telling people that, I might even try half a teabag in my own 10g

 

Will it stain my light colored decour? Silk plants...things like that?

I don't know if it will stain, I have only had it in tanks with live plants. Maybe test it by cutting a leaf of the silk plant off and soaking it in a jar of the tea? I have never had problems with the copper contained in the tea, but my only inverts are pest snails...

 

One teabag has 7% of the adult RDI for copper, its not a lot and it would only cause issues for your inverts if it was allowed to accumulate.. you probably won't run into issues with it but its better to tell people to steer clear of it knowing that it does contain some copper knowing that you have it in your tanks with RCS is encouraging though, I think I'll stop telling people that, I might even try half a teabag in my own 10g

I too was interested to hear this. I have nerites and ramshorn snails in a tank I use rooibos tea in fairly regularly, and they never showed any odd behaviours so I was a little concerned to hear that.

 

I looked into it a bit and I was definitely right about the copper content but so many people on here have said positive things about rooibos+shrimp.. and the amount isn't in the lethal range at all.. so I gave it a try! My water is nicely stained and so far no complaints