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summer leaves for aquarium

NatureBoy

Member
Joined
27 Aug 2008
Messages
374
if your looking for a source of fallen leaves for aquarium during summer

I added some dead "holm oak" leaves at the weekend, it's an evergreen oak that sheds dead leaves in summer, they kick off loads of tannins and look great because they are smaller than beach and standard oak.

I gave them a bit of a boil first and couldn't find anything to suggest they could be toxic, no ill effects from the fish at all. So unless I'm offering dodgy advice: give it a go!
 
is boiling important, does it not denude things as it does with say boiling vegetables or could you rather steam the leaves ?
 
Hi all,
I added some dead "holm oak" leaves at the weekend,
Holm Oak is Quercus ilex, I've used these without any problem.
<http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/creating-blackwater.9306/page-2#post-117277>
is boiling important, does it not denude things as it does with say boiling vegetables or could you rather steam the leaves ?
I don't boil any of the leaves I collect. If you are worried about using them untreated I'd suggest freezing them instead.

cheers Darrel
 
30 seconds with "Instant Cook"' should be adequate and enough time to distract her or alternatively as a decoy open up a bottle of Microbe Lift Special Blend in another room :)
 
What about picking leaves already submerged in a stream? They can be plenty of interesting critters (for you... Not sure if for wife ;) )Don't understand why it is recommended everywhere to boil, sterilize, microwave, etc. them. I really enjoy these new additions to the tank, and to be honest those critters disappear in some hours (food for fish or conditions not suitable). Maybe if you have extremely expensive and sensitive fish or so... But otherwise it makes no sense to me.

When I was a child I used to have a 60 liters tank in my bedroom with a bottom filter and half of the water... It was the place to release all I could hunt (mainly insect larvae and Crustacea), it was dirty, sometimes ugly, sometimes cruel (you realize that there are some animals that should never be put together), sometimes embarrassing (your mom isn't happy when your bedroom is plenty of mayflies one morning)... 20 years later my planted tanks are beautiful compared to that, but I still miss the incredible things I saw in that glass cube!

Jordi
 
Because they were dry and v buoyant I found that giving them a bit of a boil helped sink them quickly and so could be "scaped" a bit. Was also thinking that given they were evergreen (once) they may be a bit toxic so figured a quick boil might dilute them a bit.
 
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