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Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:37 am
by The Fisherman
Thanks YuccaPatrol. I knew they didn't go in the substrate, but I wasn't sure how to atatch it to other objects.
Nice tank too
-John (AKA: The Puffer Ninja)
Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:25 pm
by bulrush
Hello all,
I have a maple tree in my front yard, do not know what kind. But I placed 2 dried brown leaves in one shrimp tank. It has been there for about 4 days and I have not seen any tannins leaching yet, the water is crystal clear.
Lights are on 12 hrs per day on a timer. It is only a CFL light, very cheap. (Compact Flourescent Light, i.e. twisted kind.)
Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:35 pm
by YuccaPatrol
Two single leaves should not have enough tannins to be concerned about.
In comparison, my magnolia leaves have VERY high levels of tannins, which explains why the leaves last so long on the ground and why almost nothing eats those leaves.
I chose these leaves partly because I knew that they would degrade very slowly in my tanks. . . .
Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 9:58 am
by Beansly
I've also tried maple leaves I collected in my backyard. They were brown and had settled in our kids pool, which I had put in the shade to collect mosquito larvae for my fish. I put the leaves in my cherry shrimp tank, and the shrimp haven't left the leaves since! The MTS seem to like it also, so all 3 leaves I've put in there are always full of shrimp and snails. After reading this thread, I also took out the plants except for the java moss, and the tank seems to be just fine without them.
Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 10:03 am
by Mustafa
Beansly wrote:After reading this thread, I also took out the plants except for the java moss, and the tank seems to be just fine without them.
One caution: If you have a pretty heavily planted tank (even if it's just java moss) and take out a lot of plants, your tank is likely to go through a mini-cycle as the the plants were doing some of the ammonia processing. Hence, it's always better to remove a little bit at a time over an extended period of time (days, weeks etc.) to avoid a mini-cycle.
Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 6:43 am
by Beansly
I didn't take out too many plants (at least hopefully), I only had two stalks of of hornwort and some duckweed on top in addition to the wad of java moss. I took out the hornwort and about half the duckweed, and left the java moss in, which was by far the most plentiful of all the vegetation.