Tanins and PH

Hey folks. I want to add tanins to my water for a few reasons.

1. I like the look of a darker more natural looking tank

2. The aquatic salamanders I keep would probably like the lesser visibility that tanins would provide

3. There MAY be health benefits and anti fungal properties (not proven)

I know some people say Indian almond leaves and oak leaves are good for caudates, some say they're bad. From what I understand, a reason why some people do not consider leaf litter in tanks a good thing is because it will lower the PH and we know caudates do not like an acidic environment. However, in all the places that I catch ambystoma larvae, and noto larvae/adults there is a lot of oak and maple trees present, as those are two of the most common trees in Michigan.

Now I'm not going to pretend that I'm an expert in water quality, because I'm not (and I've never taken a PH sample of any of the ponds I herp in). I know that these ponds would obviously receive lots of rainwater and runoff, which would help buffer large amounts of tanins in the water, but wouldn't water changes do the same in an aquarium?

Sorry for the run on paragraph. My question boils down to this: If Indian almond leaves, or other forms of leaf litter such as oak are used in moderation to provide a low level of tanins will it effect the PH in such a drastic way that it will become detrimental to captive caudates?

PS. My tap water has a PH between 7.4 and 7.8

JessKB said:

Hey folks. I want to add tanins to my water for a few reasons.

1. I like the look of a darker more natural looking tank

2. The aquatic salamanders I keep would probably like the lesser visibility that tanins would provide

3. There MAY be health benefits and anti fungal properties (not proven)

I know some people say Indian almond leaves and oak leaves are good for caudates, some say they're bad. From what I understand, a reason why some people do not consider leaf litter in tanks a good thing is because it will lower the PH and we know caudates do not like an acidic environment. However, in all the places that I catch ambystoma larvae, and noto larvae/adults there is a lot of oak and maple trees present, as those are two of the most common trees in Michigan.


PS. My tap water has a PH between 7.4 and 7.8

Click to expand...

Tannins have the potential to significantly lower pH for a short time and possibly crash your cycle, BUT it depends on your local water chemistry. I have really, really hard water here so the effect is minimal. If you have soft water I would bank on the reality of tannins becoming an issue.

I like the "dark water" look for some of my tanks. I throw a handful of dead maple leaves in and they do the trick. I only keep one soft water species of caudate at the moment, so mostly I use this method in my pond-type culture tubs. The amphiumas really dig murky leaf filled muck-water though.

I know some folks around here use blackwater extract for their soft water amphibians so perhaps they can chime in with their experiences.

Now I'm not going to pretend that I'm an expert in water quality, because I'm not (and I've never taken a PH sample of any of the ponds I herp in). I know that these ponds would obviously receive lots of rainwater and runoff, which would help buffer large amounts of tanins in the water, but wouldn't water changes do the same in an aquarium?

Sorry for the run on paragraph. My question boils down to this: If Indian almond leaves, or other forms of leaf litter such as oak are used in moderation to provide a low level of tanins will it effect the PH in such a drastic way that it will become detrimental to captive caudates?

In fact, I think Justin is our leaf litter tank expert. I know he has an excellent method of simulating indoor vernal pools for his ambystomids.