Almond leaves and stable ph

[maritzsa]

Hey guys I’ve been looking into almond leaves as a natural antibacterial/fungal resource and to also tint my water. Although, the acidic properties of the leaves will gradually lower my pH right? I have a pH of 7.4 and I keep harlequin rasboras and a betta. (Heavily planted.) I know a 7.0 or 6.8 might be better for them and more natural but I don’t want to do anything to alter the pH of my tap water and risk risking the fish’s lives with an unstable pH every water change. How can you use almond leaves and also keep a stable ph. If they lower my pH, every water change the pH will increase since my tap water will be higher. So the pH in the tank will keep going up and down. How do you solve this issue? Do you have to age water for couple days with the leaves in it prior to the water changes?

 

[Abaddon]

It all depends on the carbonate hardness (KH). It acts as a buffer/stabilizer, if it's high (i.e. hard water) then the pH won't change much even if you add tannins. In soft water the effect will be much more noticeable. You'll just have to test the hardness and go from there, although I wouldn't worry too much. I've never heard of catappa leaves causing any harm to fish. You'd really have to go massively overboard with them.

 

[Byron]

I concur with Abaddon. Knowing the GH and KG of your source water will give you/us an indication of what can be expected, but in most cases a shift of a few decimal places in pH is harmless. My tanks run in the pH 5 range, maybe even lower (can't measure below 5), and my tap water is 7.0 and I change 60-75% of the tank volume once a week, and have been for over a decade. I have no buffering in the tap water, that is a factor, but the pH in the tank does rise and then fall over several hours with no harm. There is a normal natural diurnal pH fluctuation in natural waters and in planted tanks especially, this also causes no issues.