leaf litter tanks

[One_Trick_Pony]

i am think of making my amazon theme tank a leaf litter substarte for realism.

i would start with a gravel base as its not teh right time of year to gethr leaves if belive?

would it be ok to add them on top??

secodnly beofre i decide to do this does anyone have any pictuers of any leaf litter tanks.

i have tried goggle images but with no luck, alhtough that could be cause of my dumb spelling!

cheers guys and heres hoping

OTP

 

[BigC]

Dried oak leaves (collect them in the fall and give them a good wash) make a good substrate for the type of tank you are trying to create.

 

[CFC]

I wouldnt recomend putting leaves on top of gravel or sand. It is the nature of substrates for the heaviest particals to rise to the top so what will happen is that the leaves will all get burried in the substrate where they will rot causing poisonous gasses to build up. Eventually the gasses break out of the substrate and can poison the water killing all the fish.
It would be better to go bare bottomed for a few months until you can collect some leaves, as said oak leaves are good but you can also use beech leaves (dried beech branches can be used too) if oak is difficult to obtain or a mixture of both to make a more interesting substrate.

 

[GSD]

hmmm im sure someone hon the forum had a puffer tank with leaf litter on the bottom

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

thats convinenet i got beech and oak trees over hanging my garden!!!!

 

[Griz]

I used oak leaves in my tank over this past winter and will be gathering up more this fall. I'll try beach leaves next year too. I have a sand substrate and this worked quite nicely. The leaves will break down over time and the trick is to replace them before they get too far gone. The small leaf particles will sit on top of the sand and are easy to vacuum up. Gravel would be a problem, I think, since the leaf particles will work their way down into the substrate. Start with a small quantity of leaves and watch them closely so that you get an idea of how long they take to break down in your tank. You don't want to toss in a huge handful right away as there IS the potential to end up with a huge mess in there. Like most things in this hobby, go slow.

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

do u have any photos griz

 

[Griz]

Sorry, but no. For a while there I had quite a lot of oak leaves in there but unfortunately I didn't take any photos.

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

ok no probs does anyone