Almond leaves have been around for ages, and used in the right way, will add tannins for fish that need them, and will have a mild antibacterial function. I have used them many times.
It still remains that mollies and platys don't react well to tannins, so most of the vague benefits in the linked article don't work for them. In buffered water like the OP seems to have, they will do little. In soft water, they are very useful, much like the oak leaves many aquarists harvest every year. Tannins for rainforest fish are fantastic. For fish from hard limestone environments, they aren't very welcome.
I was out yesterday, filling a shoulder bag with alder cones, so I am very aware of how they can be used. If I had hard, higher pH water, I would have left the cones where they were. I want tannins for my Bororas and for my South American tetra tanks. No question - they are great when used in a targeted way.
If I were the OP, I would put them away somewhere they wouldn't get wet. If you ever have a tank with softer water, and with rainforest species, you can use those things to great effect. Throwing them in now is a bit wasteful.
It still remains that mollies and platys don't react well to tannins, so most of the vague benefits in the linked article don't work for them. In buffered water like the OP seems to have, they will do little. In soft water, they are very useful, much like the oak leaves many aquarists harvest every year. Tannins for rainforest fish are fantastic. For fish from hard limestone environments, they aren't very welcome.
I was out yesterday, filling a shoulder bag with alder cones, so I am very aware of how they can be used. If I had hard, higher pH water, I would have left the cones where they were. I want tannins for my Bororas and for my South American tetra tanks. No question - they are great when used in a targeted way.
If I were the OP, I would put them away somewhere they wouldn't get wet. If you ever have a tank with softer water, and with rainforest species, you can use those things to great effect. Throwing them in now is a bit wasteful.
