Does anyone make tannin water?

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CaptSugarCookie

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Feb 22, 2021
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Does anyone make tannin water filling a bucket with water and throwing in almond leaves in? Any benefits to it pre making it?
 

Sprinkle

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Why do you need it? You wont need it unless you want it so bad, or want to do a black water tank or a fish has got finrot or another bacterial infection going on..

Tannins also reduce pH for low pH fishes and will help the fish fight off any bacteria, tannin water is believed to reduce stress as well.

The leaves will create a nice foliage, a nice look for your eyes and a hide for small fish and shrimps. If you have or want to have shrimps, the rotting leaves will create biofilm and food for your shrimps.

To make the water, you dont need to put the leaves in your spare bucket with water.
You just can put them straight in the tank and the leaves will release their tannins.

If thats what you meant!?
 
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CaptSugarCookie

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Exactly why I asked so I didn't waste my time lol. I thought id make some for a group of platys I bought that has some kind of infection on their fins. I normally throw the leaves in the tank and call it a day.
 

NoodleCats

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You can use rooibos tea for tannins if you want the look, without the pH drop.
Get pure rooibos tea, not the flavored kind.

Tannins though are great if you need them for health benefits, so having "fish tea" in the fridge is good, can use it in case of fungal or bacterial issues if minor. Though with livebearers salt works better for health issues with them.


Dose aquarium salt for the platies, they will respond better to that than tannins.

But I do tannins, love them. Usually go the rooibos tea route as its more intense for what I want aesthetically.
 
Apr 2, 2002
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I agree that mollies are not going to like most of the things that will stain one's water. If you want to use something, in thar area, as a med. I would choose the rooibos tea because it will more likely raise the pH by .1 or .2 amd it has the most anitbitic/antioxident properties than anything else below in this respect. But the mollies will like the salt. Whether that might help is another issues.

As one who does a stained tank I can offer some info. Firstly, I use almond leaves, alder cones and brewed rooibos tea. The tea does the most to help with the staining and the medicinal properties. The leaves help with the staining and their med value and the alder cones help with staining and lowering the pH. But if I need to drop the pH for a water change, I will add muriatic acid to the changing water and or the tank.

Rooibos tea (meaning red bush in Afrikaans and pronounced roy + boss) has nothing to do with traditional tea, which comes from the Chinese plant Camellia sinensis in the family Rosaceae. Rooibos comes from the plant, Aspalathus linearis, a legume in the family Fabaceae- it is related to peas and beans. The bush is more like a broom than a bush. The top of the bush is cut off, dried and oxidized before packing in tea bags or sold as loose tea..........

"For fish keeping we are interested in the plant phenolic compounds that act as antioxidants and also as antibacterials (it won’t harm filters). This is similar to the humic acids found in natural “tea” stained water. Oak leaves contain a lot of the plant phenolic quercetin (from the Latin name for the oak tree, Quercus robur) and rooibos also contains some quercetin plus the compound aspalathin, which is closely related to quercetin......

Research at the University of Stellenbosch shows that rooibos also has natural stress relieving properties. It is entirely safe to use and is beneficial for keepers and fish alike."

Most of the research I have read indicates there are minimal tannins released by rooibos. It also does not contain caffeine.
 
Apr 2, 2002
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I should have mentioned there is a thread on this over on Planetcatfish started by Shane. Making Blackwater

Here is the initial post
This is my current blackwater maker. 10 gallon with a sponge filter filled with driftwood and leaves (oak and alder). Makes 10 gallons of this strength every week. I fill it with rainwater from my rain barrel, so the result is very, very soft acidic water I can cut with tap to get what I am after.
-Shane
 
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