Leaf Litter Other Than Oak In Apisto Tank?

[Reine Louve]

Is there a leaf other than Oak that anyone has used in their Apisto tank? I have easy access to Maple, Thimbleberry ( :lol: )..
Also probably Alder & Cottonwood, as well as Fir, Cedar, & Hemlock needles. What affect would these have on p.h?



Liz

 

[Randall]

Leaf Litter

Dear Liz,

One needs to be careful about leaf litter selection as to not kill the fish. Both thoroughly washed Oak and Beach leaves are safe and will soften and acidify the water. As for the others that you asked about, I don't have any prior experience with them.

Whatever you do, please don't use conifers (evergreens). As far as I know, they are poisonous to fish.

Depending on your objective here, conditioning your water with peat moss will soften and acidify it as well.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn

 

[Reine Louve]

I am not looking to condition the water, just add some more hiding places, as well as make the tank more natural. Anything that would make the water softer & more acidic is fine, I just don't want to raise the p.h. I don't have much of a selection of decidious trees here, but I might be able to find some Oak leaves this fall... Big Leaf Maple & Red Alder are our most common decidious trees, with some Black Cottonwood & various Willows (Scouler's, Sitka)around the rivers & some Bend Oak in the fields. All the other leaves I could find would be smaller berry bushes (Elderberry) Red-osier Dogwood or Roses (Indian Plum) etc. The smaller ones in my yard are mainly Pacific Red Elderberry, all parts of which are supposedly quite poisonous. :lol:
Also Pacific Madrone.. I wouldn't try that one, although I am curious what effect that would have on the water... It's a fairly unique tree, when compared to decidious & coniferous ones. It's evergreen, but not a conifer. It is a Heath, I believe. That would be interesting to see. I wonder... :wink:

Liz

 

[aspen]

don't use hemlock. isn't that used as a a poison? maybe i'm being cautionary without knowing anything, but until ted judy says it's ok, put that idea on hold.

rick

 

[Reine Louve]

No, this is a very different Hemlock. Western Hemlock is a tree (A Pine), not poisonous. The ones used as poison are members of the carrot family. Poison Hemlock is believed to be the poison that killed Socrates. We do have those Hemlocks here, but they don't have very large leaves... :wink:

Anyway, there's no rush for me.

Liz

 

[Neil]

Reine Louve,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

Do follow Randalls advice here and be careful about the type of leaf you use. Some will leech material into the water that can be harmful to your fish.
Neil

 

[Randall]

Leaf Litter

Dear Liz,

Please do yourself a favor and scrap any leaf that is sappy. Certainly Elderberry is out of the question, as are any hemlock needles. If it's a more natural looking tank that you're after, might you consider aquarium safe wood?

Please be careful.

Randall

 

[mk_ultra]

I have read and see Almond leaves for sale for this purpose.

 

[Bissot_J]

I have read and see Almond leaves for sale for this purpose.

ho yes
and they call that "magical almond leaves"

http://www.belowwater.com/products/wild-almond-leaf/index.html