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What Autumn stuff can I add to my shrimp tank

RolyMo

RolyMo

Member
Joined
19 Jun 2012
Messages
430
Location
Fareham, UK
Now Autumn appears to be upon us. I wondered if there were certain leaves and other tree based seed type things that I could take advantage of in my local surroundings for my shrimp and fish tanks.

BTW I live in England.

I was swear I have several Adler trees nearby me. Or should I say to the little cones that are on the tree look remarkably familiar to the ones I got from one of the sponsors.

Are there other leaves and bark I can utilise in my shrimp tank?

What do you use or recommend and why?

Cheers
Roland
 
I use oak and beech leaves, as I have both in my garden. I would use alder cones if I had them too.
 
Alastair said:
As long as there not from near roadsides etc just give them a quick rinse mate and plonk them in
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aliclarke86 said:
How do you prepair fallen leaves?

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Large cup or bowl.

Boiling water from kettle.

Leave stand for 10 mins.

Leaves will be as clean as possible and should readily sink rather than floating for days - a week (dependant on leaf).
 
When selecting leaves make sure that:-

  • They are harvested away from towns, roads etc otherwise they may have a layer of pollutants. Also avoid selecting from areas close to farmers fields as they may have pesticide on.
  • Make sure that they are naturally fallen ie fully depleted from chlorophyll, saps, sugars etc otherwise they will continue to rot in your tank and cause water quality issues.
My wife wrote quite a nice document on leaf litter use, including some detail on which native leaves can be used and how best to select and prepare them. I'll try and get it uploaded later 🙂
 
I have just started keeping shrimp, so will use oak leaves
I live on the edge of a forest, miles and miles from any sort of polution, and have 5 oak trees in my garden, enough supply to last a life time I think! anyone want some leaves? :lol:
 
RolyMo said:
Really appreciate the discussion on this subject, especially how to prepare the leaves them.
Basil - Looking forward to seeing that document
As with Catappa leaves and banana leaves are their any health properties that Oak and Beech leaves have?
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I, although never used oak and beech, would say they would act in A very similar way. Releasing tannins into the water, lowering Ph and providing some antibacterial qualities.

I would be more inclined to use oak leaves, than beech, though, as they will probably have better results.
 
I can't figure out how to upload the document sorry. Will try to have another crack over the weekend. 🙂
 
basil said:
I can't figure out how to upload the document sorry. Will try to have another crack over the weekend. 🙂
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Could you not upload to Google docs then post a link? Or drop box or well any cloud service and make it public?

You could email it to me if you like and I will sort it.

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RolyMo said:
Are pine needles ok?
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I'd Sway more towards Hardwoods than softwood trees. I dont know if its logical.
Hardwoods Release Tannins as oppose to Sap. Which is the course of Redmoor going nasty when fist put in water.
 
How do fallen leaves get on with Purigen, out of curiosity? I have some Almond leaves in both my shrimp and main tank. I guess the leaf breaking down in the tank is in effect adding some amount of bio-load. Would the Purigen be trying to strip this out as well as the tannins? If so I guess that would speed up the amount of times the Purigen would need re-activating!
Other than that I suppose the leaf is still acting as a food source for the young shrimp.
 
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