chibikaie Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 Just ran across this as an alternative to Indian almond leaves. It seems that some hobbyists (frog and fish) use rooibos tea leaves to make blackwater extract. All kinds of claims are made, naturally, from health/immune benefits to destroying algae. Supposedly it does not lower pH. I think I should test that out and see if I can save my remaining plants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 Worth a shot. How is blackwater going to help your plants? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chibikaie Posted January 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 There are claims that it fights algae, and my ever-present hair algae is strangling some Lobelia cardinalis. Tannins can also help plant growth by forming complexes with some of the nutrients that might be otherwise difficult to absorb. The only animal inhabitants at the moment are some ramshorns, and I doubt it could hurt them. If it all bombs, I'm giving up and retiring it as a quarantine tank. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddles Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Rooibos is effective in making a tank look like blackwater, but does not actually lower pH at all in my experience. It has a host of other benefits. It boosts immune systems, contains powerful antioxidants, is antimicrobial, antifungal, and contains an assortment of minerals. I have been putting some in my tank for a bit now and my shrimp are doing great and are more active after I put it in. In the fish world it is used to treat an assortment of fish disease including fungal infections and fin rot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r45t4m4n Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Put it in tea ball and hang in the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julianzh Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Rooibos is effective in making a tank look like blackwater, but does not actually lower pH at all in my experience. It has a host of other benefits. It boosts immune systems, contains powerful antioxidants, is antimicrobial, antifungal, and contains an assortment of minerals. I have been putting some in my tank for a bit now and my shrimp are doing great and are more active after I put it in. In the fish world it is used to treat an assortment of fish disease including fungal infections and fin rot. how much you adding it into your tank? cause i am interested and want to trying it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chibikaie Posted January 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2015 Okay, so I tried it out a few days ago and added enough tea to tint the water a pale yellow. The next morning, one of the remaining tufts of algae had turned white. I thought that was a pretty good sign, and have added a bit more each day, in keeping with Puddles' advice. It's really too early to tell long term, but I don't see it coming back just yet. Usually, a week after I've pulled this green hair-type algae, it starts creeping back and I grumble about how I should throw out all the plants and give up. colorfan, Soothing Shrimp and Jadenlea 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chibikaie Posted January 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 Still not back yet! Okay, so I shouldn't be so excited, but this is pretty ground-breaking for me. One of the local groups I'm on just had a post about staghorn, so I'm trying to get them to try it out on that as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mosspearl Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 Promising that it works on hair algae. Has anyone tried it on black beard algae? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 Still not back yet! Okay, so I shouldn't be so excited, but this is pretty ground-breaking for me. One of the local groups I'm on just had a post about staghorn, so I'm trying to get them to try it out on that as well. So you put this stuff in and the hair algae died off? Am I getting this right? Moss is still okay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGardenofEder Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I got some tea coming from puddles I plan on useing it to get rid of my black beard algae I have a lot of moss in the tank as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chibikaie Posted January 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 Unfortunately, the tank I'm experimenting on had about 2 mm (millimeters) of moss to begin with. So I can't say much regarding that. I tend to kill moss. Technically, I also drained the tank and moved it to the other side of the room, and removed as much manually as was feasible. However, manual removal has always resulted in a rebound (this stuff makes its way into the substrate and it grabs hold of stems as it grows). It's been a week. It's not back yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r45t4m4n Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 I dosed enough to turn my aquarium water brown yesterday, this tank has a really bad case of BBA, rocks look like fizzy black balls. This afternoon the majority of the BBA is pink...this stuff even kills BBA. chibikaie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Anyone notice a ph drop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chibikaie Posted January 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 I almost never test pH. I can check it ... uh ... some time ... I sat down after getting home from work and I don't want to move. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheShrimporium Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Has anyone found this in a dried leaf rather than buying ground up packages for Tea makers? ***nevermind, the "Red Bush Rooibos" does not apparently have leaves. It's more like a grass or weed. I was expecting atleast quarter sized leaves but they are more like a long narrow blade of grass or something. About 1/8" wide and maybe 1-2" long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddles Posted January 17, 2015 Report Share Posted January 17, 2015 Yes, my local source is very tiny pieces, not quite powder. It's not an actual tea (those come from the tea plant) but rather is a bushy weed that is brewed into what we call a tea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chibikaie Posted January 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 Okay, I finally got around to attempting to measure pH. I came to the conclusion that the water chemistry gods are laughing at me. It looks like the pH is somewhere between 7.2 and 7.6, which is no change from usual for me (I think I need to invest in a pH meter, because I have four methods to test pH and none of them agree). The hair algae returned when I skipped dosing for a week, unfortunately. I pulled it out and got rid of the water sprite that was dying off (suspect low temperature and a battle for resources with the duckweed), and I've re-dosed the tank. Even if it's no better than using glutaraldehyde, I would prefer to use rooibos because a lot of my plants are extremely unhappy with glut. dosing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 I got my tea from puddles but I have 2 berried carbons and am afraid to add anything new to the tank. hehe. Its finally stable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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