Re: More leaf litter

["David A. Youngker" <nestor10@mindspring.com>]

> Andrew
>  I chose leaves that were attached to branches that had fallen off the
tree for whatever reason...I then boiled the leaves in a large pot for ten
minutes... Here's where I would like some suggestions.  I'm going to put the
water that was boiled with the leaves into the new tank for the fish.  I had
boiled peat at one point and had good results from the water off of the
peat.  Also, I wanted to be sure that any organisms on the leaves was
killed, fungus and bacteria in particular...

>> Erik
>> Boiling (Kathy says a 20 minute boil kills all bacteria/micro-orgs),
straining, and dumping the leaves (sans the water) in the tank.  The leaves
continue, btw, to leach tannins into the water, so the new tank we put them
in now has a very dark rich tea color and a pH of 5.8...

I've used a variety of oak leaves over the years as they're one of my
favorite sources of tannins. Oaks are also one of the richer sources of
tannins available.

Kathy's suggestion of a 20 minute boil follows about the same usage
guidelines for autoclaves and such, so I would assume it to be sufficient
time to achieve sterility. In all honesty, though, I've never considered
sterility for a couple of reasons, chief among them being that I tend to
boil them for 30 minutes in order to ensure they're waterlogged and to get
the heaviest portion of the tannins out.

I've never found the boil water to be unfit for subsequent use, either - at
least not to memory. But because of the high tannin content, you are prudent
in watching the amounts mixed. If you are used to using boiled peat extracts
this should present no problem, and probably comes automatically. Any left-
over boil- off of mine is usually added to my peat aging barrel, along with
the remaining leaves and some of the bark and small branches. The aging
barrel tends to collect all manner of odds and ends in my own personal
efforts to get as many different humics into the mix as possible rather than
concentrating on any particular one.

I must confess to not having kept any of the extremely "delicate" Apistos
(that always seemed an oxymoron to me, as I have difficulty picturing
anything that can survive in the wild as "delicate" - just extremely "fussy"
about the conditions it needs for robust health). But some of the other fry
I've raised take every bit of the effort that Apistos do - getting Cardinal
Tetras to breed is the easy part, raising a successful brood is far from it.
To date, I've not lost so much as a grass shrimp that I can attribute in any
way to the use of oak.

-Y-

David A. Youngker
http://www.mindspring.com/~nestor10
nestor10@mindspring.com




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