What Types Of Leaves Can I Use And What Will They Do

[noobgamers]

OK the title says it all what leaves can i use from the garden we have pear apple lots of plums and cherry's kiwi these i am sure i can have a year round supply of which ones are usable and will hey leech tannins and/or affect pH because that was part of the intended affect oh and what do i have to do to make sure they're aquarium safe
 
it is the 50 gal listed in my signature

 

[Byron]

Leaves from oak, beech and maple are said to be safe; I use oak as I have an oak tree.  Make sure they are completely dry, meaning that they fall from the tree naturally when dead (as in the autumn, this is the first "dry" as the leaf will contain no liquid) and you can collect them and lay them out to dry (the second "dry").  Other leaves may be safe too, I will leave that for other members to say, but these three are fine provided they have no pesticides, fertilizers, etc.
 
I do not boil the leaves I collect, as I know they have no chemicals, and boiling will naturally remove much of the benefit you are after.  You can give them a quick rinse before laying them out on paper towelling to dry (not newsprint as the leaves can absorb the ink).
 
Leaves like any plant matter will leech tannins.  This can affect the pH (by lowering it, making it more acidic) depending upon the amount of leaves, water volume, and initial GH and pH of the water in the aquarium.  With soft water fish this is not going to cause any problems.  The tannins leaves release do benefit by acting as an inhibitor of some bacteria; some fish suppliers put leaves in with fish for transport.  The leaves also cause infusoria, microscopic live food on the surface as the leaf breaks down, and this is excellent food for fry.  My 10 gallon tank is home to growing Farlowella vitatta fry and my pygmy corys which spawn regularly, and several fry survive largely by eating this infusoria.  The Farlowella are always browsing over the leaves and this is their main food source.
 
Byron.

 

[noobgamers]

Leaves from oak, beech and maple are said to be safe; I use oak as I have an oak tree.  Make sure they are completely dry, meaning that they fall from the tree naturally when dead (as in the autumn, this is the first "dry" as the leaf will contain no liquid) and you can collect them and lay them out to dry (the second "dry").  Other leaves may be safe too, I will leave that for other members to say, but these three are fine provided they have no pesticides, fertilizers, etc.
 
I do not boil the leaves I collect, as I know they have no chemicals, and boiling will naturally remove much of the benefit you are after.  You can give them a quick rinse before laying them out on paper towelling to dry (not newsprint as the leaves can absorb the ink).
 
Leaves like any plant matter will leech tannins.  This can affect the pH (by lowering it, making it more acidic) depending upon the amount of leaves, water volume, and initial GH and pH of the water in the aquarium.  With soft water fish this is not going to cause any problems.  The tannins leaves release do benefit by acting as an inhibitor of some bacteria; some fish suppliers put leaves in with fish for transport.  The leaves also cause infusoria, microscopic live food on the surface as the leaf breaks down, and this is excellent food for fry.  My 10 gallon tank is home to growing Farlowella vitatta fry and my pygmy corys which spawn regularly, and several fry survive largely by eating this infusoria.  The Farlowella are always browsing over the leaves and this is their main food source.
 
Byron.

thank you very much my ph is round 7 but due to the fact all my fisha re amazon iwould like to bring that down to 6.5-6 sort of region my water is quite hard though but then again i do intend to use some in the tanka bout 2 handfulls and then put some in ym filter between the filter wool and carbon (its 7 months old so i think it wont work i just leave it there for biological purposes since its in a bag made out of filter wool like stuff) but hopefully my 13 corydoras and tetra which i do intend to spwan should like this as the leaves will provide a hiding palce and food for fry and possibly act like marbles in that the eggs fall through the leaves and give them a chance to hide from my angels ty for all the info

 

[Pickle]

Im new to this and was wondering if you could tell me why you would put leaves in the tank?

 

[evan47]

if your fish are amazonian it is just as well to get yourself some almond leaves and put one in the tank.
they are not that expensive and are endemic to the same region as the fish.
some will release a slight tea brown colour while others can leach a slight black colour ( my faves ). it will be the luck of the draw as to which you will end up with.
aquarium safe peat is also said to leach black tannins too. it can be placed in a mesh bag in your tank or filter.

 

[noobgamers]

Im new to this and was wondering if you could tell me why you would put leaves in the tank?

it releases tannins into the water which dye it tea colour this can make some fish more secure like tetra due tot he fact it makes it like the tank is a bit more heavily furnished or planted well that's the effect it has anyway. it can lower pH in some tanks due to my hard water this probably wont happen very much but it might lower it by 0.1 so that's good because all of ma fish tin the tank are Amazon fish. it acts likes glass marbles in that when fish scatter eggs they fall in between so fish don't eat them and also provides them with some cover when they've hatched also small creatures will eat them when they're submerged i believe they're copeopod although i may be wrong when small fish and fry can eat this as a food source.
 
basically its all good for fry but you do need to replace it every 2 months or so i believe personally i will staggerdly add it so i only need to remove some each week and also means if any fry are in there they can move to adjacent leaves while its being replaced otherwise they would basically be fish food

 

[noobgamers]

if your fish are amazonian it is just as well to get yourself some almond leaves and put one in the tank.
they are not that expensive and are endemic to the same region as the fish.
some will release a slight tea brown colour while others can leach a slight black colour ( my faves ). it will be the luck of the draw as to which you will end up with.
aquarium safe peat is also said to leach black tannins too. it can be placed in a mesh bag in your tank or filter.

hmm just wondering i have hazelnut and cobnut at the back of my garden would either of these suffice my idea was that i sourced them from my garden so they are there for free when i need them and it runs no risk of them not making it through customs or a delay on shipping e.t.c

 

[Byron]

Rather than buying leaves, find a forest and in the autumn which is nearly upon us collect a bag or two of leaves.  I particularly like oak leaves because they have a nice shape, and do very well.  I won't hazard a guess as to hazelnut or cobnut, another member may know of these.  You can leave these in until they completely disintegrate, just add a couple at every second or third water change, depending how fast they break down.
 
Pickle, aside from the reasons we've already given, if you look up photos and videos of the habitats of many of the fish we keep you will see that they frequently come from streams and creeks where the substrate is thick with dead leaves.  So it is quite a natural thing to add leaves, aside from the benefits we've already mentioned.  One just has to make sure that the leaves are safe and not going to release toxins.  In the wild this is not critical as the water is moving and fish can swim around, but in the confines of an aquarium anything toxic in the leaves or wood or rock willvery quickly get into the water at levels dangerous to fish, plants and bacteria.
 
Just for illustration, here is a photo I just took of my 33g to show the oak leaves.