OK, so we're all getting busy with leaves or yours should be there anyday. So far, it seems that 2 tanks have dropped .4 in ph. My fish are happy, active, mellow, eating fantastic I've noticed a big change in the entire aquarium. So lets compare results and see what this experiment is all about, input, input!
Almond Tree Leaves Hit MFK
- Thread starter meiling
- Start date
1 observation: Hella funny when skillzdatkillz gets busted for "contraband" when trying to receive his leaves.........oh geez! It's already goin downhill.
I have mine, but have yet to open up the filter and put it in... I'm going to be putting them into my new Eheim pro 3 that is coming next week!
Wow aren't you fancy, I hucked a few dry leaves in the tank and made some tea, total blackwater, oops! fish love it. Dropped my ph from 8.8 to 8.4 I think dry leaves in a filter would be a nice slow release. I can't see my fish, the tea was overkill. An excessive amount does not seem to drop the ph past .4 points <that I've heard so far>
This is getting funny! Now Tankbuster has reported a similar false accusation upon receiving his envelope of "Contraband" as well.
figures...my postal worker out here just smiled and winked...meiling;487860; said:
WasteportWa. gotta love it...
edit: putting together a write-up of my results...please stand by
i dont know about putting it in the filter, i just prepare mine in a separate bucket and just add the extract to the water directly. but i guess putting it in the filter could work, thats what we do with peat granules, which are basically the same thing.....peatWyldFya;487765; said:
Terminalia catappa...
Indian Almond, Tropical Almond, Ketapang, Lingtak, Poor man's water conditioner, it's all the same tree.
The leaves that naturally fall from the tree seem to be the best for our use. The tree produces a poison in it's sap and leaves that defends itself against insect parasites. When the dried leaves are put into water this anti-bacterial substance is released. The water is also turned into a " tea" color creating what is known as "Blackwater". They also release organic acids," tannin" and "hummic". These are the organics that naturally lower the PH in our aquariums. They help to absorb harmful chemicals, and that makes for a soothing environment for our fishes.
I started with 2 leaves in 150 gallons of H20. Four hours later I added an additional 4 leaves. At the 6 hour mark I was seeing a slight tea color to develop and I did a water test.
My water is normally:
PH 7.2
KH 120ppm
GH 150ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Nitrates 20ppm
For 6 leaves in 6 hours of soak time, I saw a
.2 decrease in the PH and
20ppm decrease in KH and the
GH was at 100ppm
I then took another 2 leaves and the 6 that were in the tank already and cut them into .25"strips and put them in some netting material. I hung this on the filter return line so the flow of H20 was directed over and through the netting.
The next morning when I turned on the lights
I found the tank to be a true example of" Blackwater".
My Arowana looked to be a shade or two darker on his back and his silver shine was really looking gold.
Now I am sure he didn't actually change color, but that gives you an idea of how dark the water is.
Water test was taken and I was happy to see the
PH had lowered to a 6.8
The KH was at 80ppm and the
GH was at 75ppm.
It has been another 12 hours, 24 in total and the parameters are holding steady.
My fish are eating and doing their regular thing.
I really haven't seen agression from my Aro towards the Plecos today, usually he will snap at them if they are too high up on the glass!
Maybe it's the dark water or maybe the softer lower PH water gives him a better disposition.
Either way I can say for the money, so far, these leaves ROCK!!
Thanks Meiling for making these available, you will have more for me soon YES?
...doin' it with Blackwater ~ZENNZZOstyle
Indian Almond, Tropical Almond, Ketapang, Lingtak, Poor man's water conditioner, it's all the same tree.
The leaves that naturally fall from the tree seem to be the best for our use. The tree produces a poison in it's sap and leaves that defends itself against insect parasites. When the dried leaves are put into water this anti-bacterial substance is released. The water is also turned into a " tea" color creating what is known as "Blackwater". They also release organic acids," tannin" and "hummic". These are the organics that naturally lower the PH in our aquariums. They help to absorb harmful chemicals, and that makes for a soothing environment for our fishes.
I started with 2 leaves in 150 gallons of H20. Four hours later I added an additional 4 leaves. At the 6 hour mark I was seeing a slight tea color to develop and I did a water test.
My water is normally:
PH 7.2
KH 120ppm
GH 150ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Nitrates 20ppm
For 6 leaves in 6 hours of soak time, I saw a
.2 decrease in the PH and
20ppm decrease in KH and the
GH was at 100ppm
I then took another 2 leaves and the 6 that were in the tank already and cut them into .25"strips and put them in some netting material. I hung this on the filter return line so the flow of H20 was directed over and through the netting.
The next morning when I turned on the lights
I found the tank to be a true example of" Blackwater".
My Arowana looked to be a shade or two darker on his back and his silver shine was really looking gold.
Now I am sure he didn't actually change color, but that gives you an idea of how dark the water is.
Water test was taken and I was happy to see the
PH had lowered to a 6.8
The KH was at 80ppm and the
GH was at 75ppm.
It has been another 12 hours, 24 in total and the parameters are holding steady.
My fish are eating and doing their regular thing.
I really haven't seen agression from my Aro towards the Plecos today, usually he will snap at them if they are too high up on the glass!
Maybe it's the dark water or maybe the softer lower PH water gives him a better disposition.
Either way I can say for the money, so far, these leaves ROCK!!
Thanks Meiling for making these available, you will have more for me soon YES?
...doin' it with Blackwater ~ZENNZZOstyle
Thanks for the writeup zennzzo. I'm curious about everyones results...............A 5 gal change took it from dark blackwater back to beautiful.
