# how many almond leaves?



## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

johnny313 said:


> how many almond leaves should I use per 10 gallons of water?
> 
> I have a 40B and i see that people have 5 or more in a 10G


A lot depends upon the IAL in question. I got some from a person on here recently that have a ridiculous amount of tannins in them. Obviously that is the objective but I was shocked by the sheer amount of the tannins. One leaf turned a tank darker than any piece of driftwood I have ever seen has.

A similar sized leaf that I got at an LFS didn't seem to discolor the water at all. Both were dried leaves but one was obviously a lot fresher and of higher quality than the other. The shrimp seem to love both.

I would definitely soak them over night just to clean them off and see how fast they are going to leech tannins. If they leech much then just start with one leaf and add a new one every couple of days if you still feel the need.

I actually had to put purigen in my 16G so that I could see inside of it again. I normally don't care about tea water tanks but I had babies in there that I wanted to observe for fun so I had to clear up the water a bit.


----------



## johnny313 (Apr 15, 2011)

wow! I have 2 in my 40 and the water is crystal clear! but I do have charcoal running in my ac70


----------



## mgamer20o0 (Mar 8, 2007)

start with 1 or 2 and go from there. personally i just add 1 to my 20 gallon shrimp tanks.


----------



## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

sorry to hijack.... so what does IAL do to shrimps? just to make them live better thank pure RO water or what?


----------



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

acidifies and softens water


----------



## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

There are a bunch of claims about Indiana almond leaves, but I don't know how many of them have been tested in any sort of rigorous way. For certain they release tannins into the water and can change the hardness and pH of the water as a result (in the same way that peat can.) They are also a place for bacteria to grow, which shrimp love to eat. 

Supposedly they have all sorts of antibacterial and antifungal properties as well, but again, I don't know whether this has been tested in any sense other than people using them and noticing that they have fewer deaths/less disease, or people using them when they have sick fish/shrimp and the animal recovers. If it's the latter it's really not particularly useful, as those sorts of things are very very prone to logical errors (confirmation bias primarily.) Unfortunately nearly everything we have is based on those sorts of anecdotes...


----------



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

there are lots of studies which show tannic acid inhibits growth of bacteria and fungus, but i think most people use them because shrimp are comfortable with leaf litter


----------



## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

I don't doubt it, but I'm wondering whether there are any studies showing whether the water conditions created by these leaves in an aquarium at the concentrations typically created by hobbyists are either curative or preventative in shrimp and/or fish. There may well be such a study; I won't even pretend to have looked for it.


----------



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

lol, I'm sure there are studies about it. Thailand, Vietnam, China, Singapore... they all have ecology programs in universities which study things like this. I know for a fact that betta breeders use it to prevent the common betta diseases in their breeding jugs.


----------



## leo1234 (Dec 2, 2009)

I usaully have atleast 5 large leaves in my 20 gal. It just gives out alot of tannins and something for the shrimps to snack on when i don't feed them.


----------



## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

I generally say one large leaf per 10g, there is a LOT of variability to their size.

I often also use 2 per 10g, depends on your purpose and how much you lke tannins.


----------



## johnny313 (Apr 15, 2011)

i had 2 in my 40B, so I put another 2 in there to see what happens.....


----------



## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

Oh ok. Thank you people for the input. I thought IAL is only good for bettas.


----------



## Betta Maniac (Dec 3, 2010)

I always steep the leave in hot water overnight and then I divy up the "tea" between my tanks. I swear the bettas really like it.


----------

