Leaf identification for natural ph lowering

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badassissimo

Candiru
MFK Member
Mar 26, 2008
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Mansfield, Louisiana, U.S.A.
I'm new to using leaves for ph lowering and also do not know the difference between leaves. I tried researching but did not find all of the leaves at my house so I took a picture in hopes for help from the MFK community. IT appears I at least have Sycamore, red oak, posibly shingle oak and possibly silver maple. I could be wrong all around and I don't know what the the other two are.20171104_192031.jpg

I went ahead and bid for some almond leaves on aquabid. I look forward to these arriving. I'd like to use the leaves I have if it's possible. i did skim some threads and saw I should boil or bake them as well as expect a mess. All of these recommendations are fine with me once I know what leaves to collect or compost. Thanks in advance!
 
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badassissimo said:
I'm new to using leaves for ph lowering and also do not know the difference between leaves. I tried researching but did not find all of the leaves at my house so I took a picture in hopes for help from the MFK community. IT appears I at least have Sycamore, red oak, posibly shingle oak and possibly silver maple. I could be wrong all around and I don't know what the the other two are.View attachment 1282883

I went ahead and bid for some almond leaves on aquabid. I look forward to these arriving. I'd like to use the leaves I have if it's possible. i did skim some threads and saw I should boil or bake them as well as expect a mess. All of these recommendations are fine with me once I know what leaves to collect or compost. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...



I'm also using leaves in my Apistogramma and Ram setup but have noticed no difference in my ph but I have the tannins I wanted and hopefully the antibacterial affect from them. In the pic I do recognize a couple of Oak leaves but I'm no expert. The Indian Almond leaves your getting from Aquabid are recommended for reducing ph.

Here is a pic during wc of water removed.20171104_112948_Film1.jpg
 
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tlindsey said:
I'm also using leaves in my Apistogramma and Ram setup but have noticed no difference in my ph but I have the tannins I wanted and hopefully the antibacterial affect from them. In the pic I do recognize a couple of Oak leaves but I'm no expert. The Indian Almond leaves your getting from Aquabid are recommended for reducing ph.

Here is a pic during wc of water removed.View attachment 1282884
Click to expand...


Not terribly interested in tannins. I think it comes with the deal though... Hopefully my sponge filters do me justice. Thank you for chiming in! I'm looking forward to some specific feedback so I can know what to do.
 
I've used oak, maple, and magnolia leaves for a number of years, they really don't lower the pH much, but as stated earlier add tannins.
And because the tannins are antibacterial, to me they are more important the altering pH.
In Milwaukee I had highly alkaline tap water, with a pH near 8, but was still able to spawn soft water kills in the tannin infused water.
And the tannins seemed to prevent HLLE in some species from relatively soft waters in my hard tap water, as long as I kept up frequent water changes.


One other thing, filters (sponge and or mechanical) do not remove tannins, because tannins are "in solution", not particulate.
Filters will take of leaf particulate that occurs when the leaves break down, and they all do, some faster than others. I have found, maple leaf crumble very quickly, and will gum up sponge filters quickly.

 
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The leaf on the bottom is a sycamore, the second leaf on the right above the sycamore leaf is an oak leaf. The curled up leaf on the top is possibly a maple leaf (hard to tell with it curled up). Don't know about the rest.
 
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