non dried leaves dying in the tank...

[Magnum Man]

this is kind of similar to the adding grass thread...
You alway hear about adding dried leaves to tanks, and I have added dried oak leaves, and have a big bundle of dried almond leaves here...

but I have not witnessed any ill effects to the occasional pothos leaf, that grows too close to the waters surface, ends up under the water, and dies being submerged, and then being left in the tank...

and I don't remove any Java fern, or anubias leaves that die in the tank...

what is the danger, or is there danger of adding a green leaf or two to the tanks, instead of adding dried leaves... I'm not talking about adding bush basket of green leaves to rot in the tank... but if you add 1-3 dried leaves at a time, is there really a problem, adding 1-3 clean green leaves to the tank???

 

[GaryE]

My read is you have to have a purpose for anything you add to a tank. That probably came out on the grass thread. Dried oak leaves add tannins and decompose slowly. I would expect green ones to rot faster, and to never have the look we want. They're the only leaves I add because of the goal I have defined before I put them in.

I could test the rotting idea with a leaf picked off the trees out back, but it wouldn't give the the look I'd be seeking. I don't know about tannins. And I have tried maple leaves (they decompose too quickly) and a few other deciduous trees suggested in the hobby literature. From now, only red oaks. They serve my purposes well.

As long as you do regular water changes, a few dead leaves do no major harm. Plants die in my tanks sometimes.

I'd rather remove every dead leaf if I could (except the ones I add for tannins and cover) but I do mess up. That's a far cry from randomly dropping organic matter into a tank.

 

[anewbie]

Just be careful with random leaves as some are quite poisonous.

 

[Magnum Man]

right now the dying leaves are only plants that are growing in the tanks, Pothos, peace lilies, java fern, and various anubias...

however Mulberry is often touted, for dried leaves, we have many Mulberry's on the farm, to either dry my own, and or add a few green, as well as Northern Red Oak... I'm not sure if there would be much difference in the beneficial growth / foods that grow on the dried leaves, compared to the same leaves added green...

tannins are a different story... um maybe... the brown color, wouldn't be there with green leaves, but I suspect the same ph dropping effects would???

 

[GaryE]

It's an area where I'm not inclined to reinvent the wheel. The goal of adding leaves isn't to feed micro-organisms. Most tree leaves begin to turn into small, trouble causing particles if you leave them that long. If your water is soft, they also harbour and nurture Oodinium parasites, should they be present in small numbers.

They're for looks. And they provide a natural appearing substrate for the many species that live in leaf litter. And since leaf litter releases tannins, they add colour to the water.
The leaves are changed out regularly or they powder into your filters and clog them.
The consensus leaf types come from past experiments, measurements and observations.

I have a degree of trust in the observations I've read from older aquarists, many of whom were really meticulous, curious people. They found some very good things in pursuit of thought out goals. They weren't just throwing grass or creeping charlie into tanks because they wouldn't have to buy plants that way. It wasn't just decoration.

They looked at the chemical properties of what they added, and considered how they could affect fish. They tried to do no harm, and the tannin sources they found were great for many rainforest fish. I know they also identified other leaves, but those tend not to grow where I am. I have several tree types that were shown to do harm around here though.

I look at their research with a goal in mind, and have tried a few things over the years, carefully. Red Oaks are great, and I planted a couple since I plan to be here for a while, and I can harvest leaves in the autumn. It's the tannin farm section of my garden. I tried maples because I'm surrounded by them, and they were chemically similar, but their structure wasn't tough enough.

Since the goal is substrate leaves, I wonder if green leaves would even sink?