Does any one using or familiar with lowering PH using ALMOND LEAVES CATAPPA ?

[Md. Shafiqual Alam]

Hi,

For my breeding tank I like to lower ph from 7.5 to 6 using natural way. I have heard that any kind of leaves are good for lowering ph, among them ALMOND LEAVES are well accepted. My question is, what type of LEAVES do I go for ? green or dying/fried brown ?

Please suggestion if you are familiar with the topic by any means...

Thank you.

[Keith Perkins]

Sorry, not going to be of any help. Just curious why you like to lower your ph? I'm not aware of any discus breeders here that alter their ph.

[jmf3460]

I do, I will tell you that you are going to need a whole whole lot of almond leaves to lower the ph even one full point. Maybe a whole tree. I bought two big bags of them once, they do stain the water a nice hue but they are messy and when doing siphons they get in the way and you cant tell the poo form the leaf litter. it is not an economical/practical option. you can get the same stained color from rooibos tea at much better pricing. and as for lowering your ph, go the RO route or don't lower it at all.

[LizStreithorst]

Any hardwood leaves will work. Use dried up brown ones. Be prepared...they make a mess on the bottom of you the tank as they decompose.

[Solid]

I use them, not to lower the PH, but just to look good and provide food and shelter for my ottos, plecos and any surviving ghost shrimp. I collect them from local trees. I try and get new brown ones that are still whole, the old really dried out brown ones crumble and break down really fast in the aquarium. Sometimes I will get green ones and let them dry out side in the sun. I collect a whole bunch and then boil them all in a big pot for 10 minutes. Then I dry them out so they are as flat as possible and store them in a box so they are ready to use when I need them. I only use 2-5 at a time and I don't think it effects the ph of my 86 gallon tank very much. But the ottos, cory cats and plecos love to hide under them and eat them or the stuff that grows on them. They last about a week, after that they really start to break down and I have to replace them.

[Jason.M]

Use dried brown oak leaves. Oak grows in acidic soil. While it will have a minor acidifying effect it won't be much. But they look good and I like using them. I don't recommend boiling them first as you will remove some of the stuff your looking for in them. I have how ever boiled large amounts of them and saved the extract for adding to the tank for a nice tannins effect and adding some acidity. Be sure to collect in an area where no spraying has taken place. Another great one to use is alder cones. Can be used the same way.... rinse and add to the tank or boil to have readily available extract.

[Allwin]

Same question as Keith, any reason?

[Md. Shafiqual Alam]

Thank you all for nice feedback. Today I have collected a bag of big brown almond leaves and put into 30 gal ro water. After 4hrs reading is pH down to 5.7 from 6.5. My usual pH is 6.5 to 7.5 which increase to 7.8 to 8 in couple of days. In main tank I usually do wc 60%+ everyday. So pH remain 6.5 - 7 stable.
But now in breeding tank I like to keep the ph 6-6.5 stable. So trying to make a 30gal water with 20ppm & lower pH which will be added after every wc to lower pH as much as needed, like 20%tap+70%ro+10%of this water.

Any feedback about my thinking? Please share...

[Keith Perkins]

Still wondering why you're trying to lower the pH. My understanding is that today's domestic discus do well in any normal pH water as long as it's stable. With my high TDS tap water I use about 80% RO to 20% tap, measure the TDS occasionally to make sure I'm not slipping up, and only test my pH every year or two when someone asks me what it is.

[Md. Shafiqual Alam]

Still wondering why you're trying to lower the pH. My understanding is that today's domestic discus do well in any normal pH water as long as it's stable. With my high TDS tap water I use about 80% RO to 20% tap, measure the TDS occasionally to make sure I'm not slipping up, and only test my pH every year or two when someone asks me what it is.

OK. I mean considering ur input. Actually for the first time my discus laid egg and all was destroyed by fungus. That why I am checking all related issues like pH, tds,mb,temp etc with standard value.

[Quintin]

if fungus is the probleblem add some methylin blue.It has increased my angel hatch rate by 50%.My discus arnt breeding for me yet but i know maney people here will recomend methylin blue.Dont worry about your PH it is perfectly fine.If it goes up or down too much just age it.but with your daily water changes the swing doesnt seem to be worrieng

[Md. Shafiqual Alam]

if fungus is the probleblem add some methylin blue.It has increased my angel hatch rate by 50%.My discus arnt breeding for me yet but i know maney people here will recomend methylin blue.Dont worry about your PH it is perfectly fine.If it goes up or down too much just age it.but with your daily water changes the swing doesnt seem to be worrieng

yes finally i think i am satisfies with my existing ph without any modification. just stock my almond leaves in fried form.
i have purchase MB in power form, can u tell me what will be the ro water & MB powder mixture ratio? My breeding tank is approximately 60gal, so what is the standard ratio for per gallon ?

[MadMatt]

Hi,

For my breeding tank I like to lower ph from 7.5 to 6 using natural way. I have heard that any kind of leaves are good for lowering ph, among them ALMOND LEAVES are well accepted. My question is, what type of LEAVES do I go for ? green or dying/fried brown ?

Please suggestion if you are familiar with the topic by any means...

Thank you.
How are you going to change your water while you ph is lowered from 4 inch thick almond leafs. Do you plan on have 1/2 a foot thick almond leaves on the bottom of a 600 gallon tote? Because this is what I think you will have todo to avoid ph swings.

[Woodduck]

Hi,

For my breeding tank I like to lower ph from 7.5 to 6 using natural way. I have heard that any kind of leaves are good for lowering ph, among them ALMOND LEAVES are well accepted. My question is, what type of LEAVES do I go for ? green or dying/fried brown ?

Please suggestion if you are familiar with the topic by any means...

Thank you.

I too, don't think almond or any other leaves in the tank are the answer. They can work as a natural setting for that "Amazon" look without buying the snake oil products. But I will not chastise you and make jokes about how bad of an idea that is. You could try large media bags of leaves and/or driftwood pieces in you aging tanks. It won't give you that one and half points you're looking for, but it does help somewhat and gives your tank that nice glow of a not so sterile look.


Woodduck

[warblad79]

I already tried almond leaves for breeding but it doesn't help increasing the hatch rate. It helps lowering the PH but not the TDS. According to some expert here lower TDS is most important rather than lower PH. I used to combined peat and catappa leaves in the same bag with great success.

[MadMatt]

All this for a simple fix with MB...lol