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Leaves for blackwater aquarium

JimmyTheFish

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
9
Location
Perth, Australia
Hi everyone,

I done some reading and seen that one can use oak leaves in a blackwater biotope. Being summer here in Australia I'm not gonna find any dried leaves on the ground. I have picked some green ones and I have them in a drying oven at 60 degrees Celsius. Just wondering how long I need to dry them out for before I can start adding them to my aquarium?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

samurai.cichlid

New Member
Messages
6
i might be wrong, but i believe you ideally want the tree to "shed" the leaves naturally. that way before shedding the leaf it absorbs all the junk from it--sap, other tree-ish juices, etc--because you don't want that stuff in your tank you see.

i'm new to apistos so i might be wrong, but that was my understanding.
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,850
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
i might be wrong, but i believe you ideally want the tree to "shed" the leaves naturally. that way before shedding the leaf it absorbs all the junk from it--sap, other tree-ish juices, etc--because you don't want that stuff in your tank you see.
That is right, when the tree sheds a leaf it withdraws the proteins and sugars from it first. If you pick a green leaf, and dry it, then the sugars and proteins are still present.

You don't have to use Oak leaves, any dead leaves from Camellia, Banksia, Magnolia grandiflora, Psidium & Eriobotrya leaves are suitable. I probably wouldn't use Ficus, Rhododendron, Eucalyptus or Acacia leaves.

cheers Darrel
 

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