# Palm Leaves for Blackwater Tanks



## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I've been working on gathering all the supplies needed for a 40 gallon breeder South American blackwater tank for a few months now. Along with a large order from Tannin Aquatics I've been looking for things around my home to use in my aquascape, especially leaves and other botanicals. I've found a number of different items including: dried Philodendron bipinnatifidum & Monstera deliciosa leaves, pieces of leaves from my Bird of Paradise, and dried stems of dwarf Cyperus sp.





































Most recently my attention has turned to the two large Mediterranean Fan Palms that grow in my back yard. Each of these has quite a few leaves that have completely dried on the plant. They also have the short stems that the fruit grows on still attached! I saw this as a cool renewable opportunity to collect some botanicals for use in my upcoming blackwater tank from my own back yard. These two palms are not fertilized, and have no pesticides or insecticides used anywhere near them! Today I spent 20 minutes cutting some of these leaves and bloom stems out of the trees. I figured this would be a good start along with allowing me to see how these botanicals do once collected, see if they had much in the way of insect life on them, as well as how easy they are to clean up for use. 

I wanted to see what everyone here thought about this too! While I only trimmed a few, I've got access to a ton of these pretty much year round so if anyone was interested we could probably work something out for me to get some for you too. 









































































Blackwater guys, I'd especially love to hear your thoughts! @longgonedaddy @Nlewis @Craigthor @doinkmobb I know I'm missing a few others! 


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

Looks like some nice finds, just add slowly as some will break down super fast and could crash the tank.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

Go for it! 

Try them out in small batches, see how your fish react, see if anything funky happens to the water. Do a little research on the species, to see if they have any inherent toxicity. Make sure you get brown parts, although I've been adding guava leaves that I think were picked off the tree, as they are dried but still green, with zero issues. Go slow and keep an eye on things. 

And I'm very jealous of your resources! Not too many palms here in NEPA! 

And beautiful pool/landscaping, too.


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## doinkmobb (May 12, 2010)

I would say, whatever is non-toxic and totally brown and dry should be fine. I don't do anything special to the magnolia leaves I put in my tanks, I just rinse them and rub the dirt off with my fingers. They're really thick, so they last forever; some of the really thin, wispy stuff might disintegrate in a matter of weeks. Throw a few pieces in, wait a week, throw a few more in, etc.


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## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

My train of thought is, if it doesn't contain any sap, throw it in the tank.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Sorry I haven't responded to this as you've all posted. 

I can't find anything on toxicity. I'm only trimming the fronds that have dried one the plant, which means that the plant has pulled the nutrients and compounds such as secondary metabolites out of the cells. My guess is this will help make them mostly "inert." 

These seems fairly thick compared to some of the leaves I've gotten from Tannin & others. The fronds are larger and thicker than the palm fronds that TA sells as I've got a couple of those. The bloom pods are fairly light but thick, and the seed stems are super thick.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

johnson18 said:


> Sorry I haven't responded to this as you've all posted.
> 
> I can't find anything on toxicity. I'm only trimming the fronds that have dried one the plant, which means that the plant has pulled the nutrients and compounds such as secondary metabolites out of the cells. My guess is this will help make them mostly "inert."
> 
> ...


I'll be happy to help test them! :nerd:


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## Agent69 (Oct 9, 2013)

I love blackwater tanks! Show a pic of your scape?


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