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Can tea be used to add tannins and colour to tank?

Robbie X

Member
Joined
20 Mar 2014
Messages
407
Location
South Wales
Hi all.
I recently watched a YouTube vid were a chap was using tea in a hang on tea infuser to add tannins and colour to his blackwater tank.
Is this a legitimate method?
I know that botanicals and certain types of wood leach tannins and I’m curious what other methods I could use when setting up a blackwater tank?
Cheers
 
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Hi all.
I recently watched a YouTube vid were a chap was using tea in a hang on tea infuser to add tannins and colour to his blackwater tank.
Is this a legitimate method?
I know that botanicals and certain types of wood leach tannins and I’m curious what other methods I could use when setting up a blackwater tank?
Cheers

You probably can, but I wouldn't... there is a lot of caffeine in tea among other things. I would just boil a bunch of almond leaves and use that water (Don't drink it as tea :lol: ).
 
It's food safe, the only things i can find on it is caffeine changing some biomechanisms in fish... but the study said it did not induce oxidative stress after 168 hours...

I just use leaves and wood myself.
 
You probably can, but I wouldn't... there is a lot of caffeine in tea among other things. I would just boil a bunch of almond leaves and use that water (Don't drink it as tea :lol: ).
Would probably taste a bit bitter 😹
I have bought some almond leaves to use as decoration and to add tannins but did not consider boiling a load. They are quite expensive, how many would I need to boil for a 60L tank, and how long does the colour last?
Cheers
 
Would probably taste a bit bitter 😹
I have bought some almond leaves to use as decoration and to add tannins but did not consider boiling a load. They are quite expensive, how many would I need to boil for a 60L tank, and how long does the colour last?
Cheers
Forage up a load of beech and oak leaves to make a brew, wash them, dry them, then boil em up into a dirty gravy, just make sure you are collecting responsibly and away from footpaths and such, not near trees marked with spraypainted dots in red and green because of pesticide spraying, surely some nice places to collect home grown stuff in and around south wales.
 
Forage up a load of beech and oak leaves to make a brew, wash them, dry them, then boil em up into a dirty gravy, just make sure you are collecting responsibly and away from footpaths and such, not near trees marked with spraypainted dots in red and green because of pesticide spraying, surely some nice places to collect home grown stuff in and around south wales.
Many thanks. I have a mixed woodland at the rear of my house that has plenty of oak, hazel, willow etc. I just never thought of boiling the leaves to extract the colour.
 
I have bought some almond leaves to use as decoration and to add tannins but did not consider boiling a load. They are quite expensive, how many would I need to boil for a 60L tank, and how long does the colour last?
Hi @Robbie X I honestly don't know, but it certainly depends on how stained you want the water and how much/often you change water. I would think you could have a decent bag of almond leaves for quite a while. Someone who are actually doing this will be able to say. You could also consider boiling peat moss. That may give you more bang for the bucks. Either way, I dont think it will break the bank for a 60L tank doing say 50% WC weekly and adding the extract from boiled almond leaves of peat moss to maintain the stained water.

Cheers,
Michael
 
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In my experience Indian almond/catappa darkens water much more readily than beech. I bought a very cheap unbranded bag of catappa ages ago and just stick half a leaf in whenever - I do mostly now blanch them before hand.
For proper oxtail soup brown, cut up a bit of small bit of bogwood and chuck it in. Here speaks the voice of accidentally having a v blackwater tank. And a sore arm. Bogwood is very hard.
 
Their website does look a bit 'basic', but you soon get the hang of it, and they have some great stuff.
 
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Alder cones are also highly effective at adding tint to the water. And this time of year, they're widely available! Alder trees are normally near water, so go take a walk by nearby rivers and streams and you'll more than likely find them. For reference, I normally can find more than enough to keep my 110l tank tinted for the whole year from a few trees. a small handful of cones, boiled for 10 mins in some RO water is normally enough to replenish a whole 30l water change.

EDIT: Rooibos tea bags are also used for this purpose.
 
If you search for a hobby shop in or Garden centre Dry Flower arrangement section and ask/look for natural untreated materials you can find all sorts of decorative dried seed pots and nutshells etc.


I guess SEED PODS gets them from the same wholesalers but gets a tad exclusive on the prices... :)
 
Alder cones are my go to for tannins as well. The trees near me have very small cones, so they don't stain the water much on their own making it easy to control and I simply chuck a cone in when it looks a bit clear.
 
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