I was recently given 10 (large) dried almond leaves and I want to put them in my community tank to soften the water for my L14s and L333s.
Can I just drop 1-2 of these leaves into my tank?
Should I put them in whole or break them up in a few bits?
Do I need to add weights to them so they don't float around?
Suggestions welcome
Q) Why are dead fish harder to 'wind up' than live fish?
A) Because dead fish never take the bait! ;)
You can add them any way you choose - it is not that important as long as they are in contact with the water, however their benefits are sometimes negligible if your water is hard to begin with - you'd need tons of 'em to get any effect.
they do provide good cover for some bottom dwellers though
Lou: Every young man's fantasy is to have a three-way. Jacob: Yeah not with another fu**!ng guy! Lou: It's still a three-way!
You could try to add some rhubarb to your tank, but other than that, I don't think vegetable/plant matter will have much effect on the pH. 10 Almond leaves certainly won't make much of a difference - the water may turn a little bit towards "very weak tea".
Remember when you get streams of black-water in nature, it's not so much the acid in the leaves and other deteriorating plant matter, but the lack of hardness that causes the pH to go south of 5.0.
Yea to all the above, I tried leaves in an attempt to complete the bio-tope look, which worked to a degree; I found they got in the way when hoovering the substrate. They also just ended up bunched in one place due to my half-decent current.
I've got some Oak leaves in one of my tanks, I just grabbed a double handful from the storage box where thay have been drying out for the last few months and dumped them on the waters surface. The leaves stayed on the surface for a few days and then started to slowly sink over the next day or so, I think I took about 4-5 days for then all to sink. I leave them where they fall and dont 'arrange' them in any way, I think it looks more natural that way rather than trying to get an even spread over the bottom.
