Adding leaves to a fish tank.

[Gingerlove05]

Calciferous rocks do tend to react to acid because they are alkali. You might get some increase in alkali water but the effect wont be as much if any at all

[TropicalFishForums]

[Libby]

I have put an almond tree leaf in mine, I bought them off eBay but my catfish are meant to like them


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[_pjn312_]

They are good leaves, they release lots of tannins and I believe decompose fairly quick making them softer for shrimp/snails/other bottom feeders to eat.

[BobaFett]

I use Catalpa leaves in my Shrimp/snail tank
I have an ancient Oak tree in my garden , its huge gets ton s of leaves from that beast , I'm just wary of using the leaves from my paranoia of infecting my tank some how lol.
Should I grab some off the tree? as its budding now , so not to long before they are out fully.
Do I just dry them out and throw them In or is there a proper method of preparation beforehand?

[B-ri86]

I drop a few Cattapa leaves into my tank every now & then they give things a nice natural feel.

What's people's experience of using Alder Cones? do you just drop them into the tank too? how long can you leave them in for?

Thanks

[_pjn312_]

I gave mine a little rinse and then dropped them into the sump, I rekon you can keep them for a few weeks.

[dmg]

With the leaves, can you use them fresh or collect them when they drop?. Will any be beneficial to bn plecos? 

[plankton]

When they drop, fresh leaves won't have the same effect, and could even be detrimental in some cases.

[blackghost]

Only use dry brown leaves that have fallen in the autumn. Green leaves contain nutrients and will just go moldy in a tank. Alder cones and almond leaves (Catappa) contain a lot of tannin and are relatively very strong. Oak leaves are weaker, and beech leaves hardly have any tannins and won't affect the water parameters much at all.

[B-ri86]

Anybody ever used guava leaves?

[Betta keeper]

I'm looking to add some Guava leaves to my 15 gal Betta/shrimp tank as i've heard they're good for Shrimp and look cool for the Betta habitat. The water where I am is slightly alkaline so adding them could also help with that but i'm wondering if adding them will cause a bit of a nitrate spike in my tank? The tanks fairly planted.

[blackghost]

Everything that breaks down will eventually raise nitrates.