Coffee as tannin alternative

[Fh1]

Can i use coffee as an alternative for indian almond leaves? I want to make my water to be blackwater. Do anyone tried this?

 

[Luke tomkinson]

i cant tell if this a joke or not?

 

[Fh1]

i cant tell if this a joke or not?

i am serious do anyone here try to experiment with this?

 

[kno4te]

I’ve seen drip coffee in aquariums and no I’ll effects. Also there are keepers who use tea bags as tannins.

 

[A201]

Why experiment with coffee.
Malaysian wood is readily available on line & in quality fish stores.
Malaysian is relatively inexpensive & will leach tannins eternally. Great for black water setups.

 

[Hendre]

Mopani wood will leech tannins FOREVER (at least 3 years before I removed it). Almond leaves won't stain water. Look at alder cones and other botanicals to stain it.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Actually, what you are looking for, but do not know it, is rooibos tea. Not only will it give you stained water, but it will add beneficial substances to the water. I have been using it for years. I actually brew the tea and add the liquid. But one can also put it in a fine mesh bag in a filter. When I was still selling at events I used to sell rooibos. I started out by purchasing 18 kilos. I came by it because I started keeping altum angels, I also use catappa leaves and alder cones in the same tank. I have even used rooibos as a mild med.

Rooibos Tea​

• Is beneficial for fish, 100% caffeine and tannin free and you can drink it too.
• Will stain water like peat, almond leaves or alder cones and can be used with them.
• Will not soften water or lower pH. It is more likely to bump pH up by 0.1.
• Can be brewed like tea and poured into the water or can be put into a bag in one’s filter. Once brewed it can be stored refrigerated for about a week.
• When brewing, allow it to boil for a bit after the tea is added to the hot water.
• It is hard to overdose. Start with about 1 rounded teaspoon per 10 gal. (38 L) of water and adjust from there to find the color you like.
• Buying Rooibos helps to support the local farmers in South Africa.

Rooibos tea (meaning red bush in Afrikaans and pronounced roy + boss) has nothing to do with traditional tea, which comes from the Chinese plant Camellia sinensis in the family Rosaceae. Rooibos comes from the plant, Aspalathus linearis, a legume in the family Fabaceae- it is related to peas and beans. The bush is more like a broom than a bush. The top of the bush is cut off, dried and oxidized before packing in tea bags or sold as loose tea.

Wikipedia (at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooibos) states:

Rooibos is becoming more popular in Western countries, particularly among health-conscious consumers, due to its high level of antioxidants such as aspalathin and nothofagin, its lack of caffeine, and its low tannin levels compared to fully oxidized black tea or unoxidized green tea leaves. Rooibos also contains a number of phenolic compounds, including flavanols, flavones, flavanones, and dihydrochalcones.

For fish keeping we are interested in the plant phenolic compounds that act as antioxidants and also as antibacterials (it won’t harm filters). This is similar to the humic acids found in natural “tea” stained water. Oak leaves contain a lot of the plant phenolic quercetin (from the Latin name for the oak tree, Quercus robur) and rooibos also contains some quercetin plus the compound aspalathin, which is closely related to quercetin.

Research at the University of Stellenbosch shows that rooibos also has natural stress relieving properties. It is entirely safe to use and is beneficial for keepers and fish alike. The "organic" label is unnecessary for rooibos as it is grown naturally without using insecticides and herbicides, they are just simply not needed and can actually harm the plant. Here is an email I got from an Altum keeper:

Hey Chris, just wanted to let you know that my big bag (almost gone, I guess we are using it more than my altum!) is NOT ORGANIC, just the regular.

Last night I wrapped some (rooibos) with sphagnum peat moss in a fine mesh bag that my wife made for the purpose and I simply put it in one of the overflow boxes. You gotta see how nice the water and the fish look today.

 

[FINWIN]

Actually, what you are looking for, but do not know it, is rooibos tea. Not only will it give you stained water, but it will add beneficial substances to the water. I have been using it for years. I actually brew the tea and add the liquid. But one can also put it in a fine mesh bag in a filter. When I was still selling at events I used to sell rooibos. I started out by purchasing 18 kilos. I came by it because I started keeping altum angels, I also use catappa leaves and alder cones in the same tank. I have even used rooibos as a mild med.

Rooibos Tea​

• Is beneficial for fish, 100% caffeine and tannin free and you can drink it too.
• Will stain water like peat, almond leaves or alder cones and can be used with them.
• Will not soften water or lower pH. It is more likely to bump pH up by 0.1.
• Can be brewed like tea and poured into the water or can be put into a bag in one’s filter. Once brewed it can be stored refrigerated for about a week.
• When brewing, allow it to boil for a bit after the tea is added to the hot water.
• It is hard to overdose. Start with about 1 rounded teaspoon per 10 gal. (38 L) of water and adjust from there to find the color you like.
• Buying Rooibos helps to support the local farmers in South Africa.

Rooibos tea (meaning red bush in Afrikaans and pronounced roy + boss) has nothing to do with traditional tea, which comes from the Chinese plant Camellia sinensis in the family Rosaceae. Rooibos comes from the plant, Aspalathus linearis, a legume in the family Fabaceae- it is related to peas and beans. The bush is more like a broom than a bush. The top of the bush is cut off, dried and oxidized before packing in tea bags or sold as loose tea.

Wikipedia (at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooibos) states:

Rooibos is becoming more popular in Western countries, particularly among health-conscious consumers, due to its high level of antioxidants such as aspalathin and nothofagin, its lack of caffeine, and its low tannin levels compared to fully oxidized black tea or unoxidized green tea leaves. Rooibos also contains a number of phenolic compounds, including flavanols, flavones, flavanones, and dihydrochalcones.

For fish keeping we are interested in the plant phenolic compounds that act as antioxidants and also as antibacterials (it won’t harm filters). This is similar to the humic acids found in natural “tea” stained water. Oak leaves contain a lot of the plant phenolic quercetin (from the Latin name for the oak tree, Quercus robur) and rooibos also contains some quercetin plus the compound aspalathin, which is closely related to quercetin.

Research at the University of Stellenbosch shows that rooibos also has natural stress relieving properties. It is entirely safe to use and is beneficial for keepers and fish alike. The "organic" label is unnecessary for rooibos as it is grown naturally without using insecticides and herbicides, they are just simply not needed and can actually harm the plant. Here is an email I got from an Altum keeper:

Hey Chris, just wanted to let you know that my big bag (almost gone, I guess we are using it more than my altum!) is NOT ORGANIC, just the regular.

Last night I wrapped some (rooibos) with sphagnum peat moss in a fine mesh bag that my wife made for the purpose and I simply put it in one of the overflow boxes. You gotta see how nice the water and the fish look today.

Very interesting data...I could see the benefits for fish of all water types. It would be a matter of figuring effective level dosages over a time period.

 

[Hendre]

Rooibos is cool but I'm salty since the intense farming in one mountain region is drying aquifers and with them the seasonal moss banks that many rare plants grow on... Great for fish though!