Natural Tannin

[Fishy friend2]

hello everyone, do you think i should use oak leaves to release natural tannin into the water, because i have heard that they contain natural anti oxidants, is this true. if so should i use them and how many per gallon should i use
P.S i am using Red oak leaves if this matters

 

[minnnt]

I just put I handful in my filter along with some alder cones. No visable difference though.

 

[TwoTankAmin16]

Catappa, aka almond leaves, are much more effective in this respect. Tannin stained water tends to have a more acid pH. You can also look into alder cones.

 

[Bignose]

Oak leaves won't last very long, but they will do what you want them to do. Leaf litter is very natural to quite a lot of aquarium fish's habits, so your fish should appreciate them too.

That said, I can't let this thread go without saying that supposed health benefits of anti-oxidents are overstated as best. There isn't much science behind them, unfortunately. That isn't to say that food that are rich in anti-oxidents aren't good for you -- because most are -- but they are usually really good for you for reasons other than the anti-oxidents.

 

[TwoTankAmin16]

Here is a quote from the Finarama Forum about catappa vs oak. It is a site dedicated to wild angels.

Yes Chris, Catappa or Ketapang leaves (Terminalia catappa) are Indian Almond Leaves.

These are much stronger than oak when it comes to providing benefical acids, phenols, and other biosurfactants to the water than oak.

I also used oak years back but boiling a large amount of leaves to get a bit of blackwater color and they never give the result of catappa (leaf for leaf). But there free in many places.

Moreover, if you go to Google scholar and type in "catappa leaf + aquarium" or "catappa leaf + fish." you will get a bunch of good research info back. Here are just a few examples;

Goldfish (Carassius auratus) has been a popular ornamental fish which all over the world. One of the most importance parasite was Gyrodactylus sp. and Dactylogyrus sp. This study was to investigate the effects of water extracted dried Indian almond leaves on the elimination of external parasites. The highest efficacy of dried Indian almond leaf was at the concentration 3.104 g. per 1.8 liters water which can eliminate all the parasite after 2 weeks of the experiment. The lower concentration had lower effects. There was statistically significant difference between the experiments and the control group. But there was no statistically difference among the experimental groups with different concentration (P LT= 0.05).

Objective—To determine concentration of tannin, an antimicrobial substance, in the water extract of Indian almond leaves (Terminalia catappa Linn.), evaluate in vitro antibacterial activity against bacteria isolated from aquatic animals, and assess toxicity of the extract in three species of ornamental fish: a guppy, a fancy carp, and the Siam fighting fish.

Conclusion—This study indicated that the extract had a potential to use as an antibacterial alternative for ornamental fish culture.

lkaloids, celluloses flavanoids, lignins, pentosans, saponins, sterols, tannins, triterpenoids and ashes are the major chemical composition of Indian almond (Terminalis catappa L.) dried leaves. The study indicated tannins is the chemical compounds that influence quality of water and possess antiaquatic bacterial activity. Distilled water, natural water and water containing aquatic bacteria were treated with the water extract from dried leaves of Indian almond ((Terminalis catappa L.) 1500 mg/L for duration of 28 days. Results of the study showed high water quality improvement for water containing aquatic bacteria, after 14 days the quality of water became higher than the standard value, after 21 days the population of bacteria was found to be totally eliminated.