Alder Cones

Hey anyone looking to drop the ph for there fishy to be happy, i found a alder tree in a secret location lol shhh. i have a bag of them if anybody wants some

didnt know this but apparently it lowers ph and has antibacterial properties..also good for breeding corys as they stop the eggs getting fungus....mmm...good find chris !!...firms actually sell em by the bag on the net !!....good business opportunity to be had there !!

this is the info i found...

Benefits are as follows:

Reproduces 'black water' conditions
Anti-fungal properties
Anti-bacterial properties
Lowers pH (at 1 per gal)
Releases trace elements and tannins which are beneficial for plants and fish

Dosage at 1 per 10 gal. will have background prevention of fungus and bacteria.
Dosage at 1 per gal. for breeding blackwater species.
Dosage at 1 per 250ml in containers for hatching eggs will protect eggs from fungus.

nice bit of info there bill cheers for that not looking to make money off them just nice to share a find with forum members n maybe help a little if we can

as shell said nice write up. we'll we got a bag full and can get more if anybody wants a few.

i wonder how many more natural ways there are out there for aiding our aquariums ?...makes you wonder what properties other natural plants/trees could have in benefiting water quality and maybe treating or helping rid diseases etc...might be worth investigating !...i for one had never heard of alder cones being beneficial until i looked it up after your post..well done guys...you opened up a new avenue of thinking now..lol

id rather use natural remedies than throw chemicals in whenever summit goes wrong...gunna have to have a good read now n c what else we can find

These work brilliantly for steadily reducing the ph for species that need a lower ph to breed, for example rams and some species of tetra.

On a side note its amazing how natural things affect fish and breeding behaviour. For example my sterbai get all horny when bad humid thunderstorms are coming in. Something to do with the change in air pressure triggers it off. Nothing wrong with a bit off caviar for my discus lol.

lol so the discus get spoiled when we get crap weather were using the cones in the qt tanks atm with the new fish we just got...esspecially the parrot as he needs a rly low ph n very dark water, seems to be working tho the l66 have striped up beautifully n all are feeding well so fingers crossed they will all be ok to shuffle about soon n put them in their permenant homes how have yours settled kev?

Very well, all eating and the rams have coloured up. A few of the rams are a bit thin but I'm confident I can fatten them up soon enough. Gonna worm them in a week or so too. Can't believe how small the geos are, my adult was that small when I got him so guess ill just after be patient and watch them grow. With a stack of food and daily water changes they should grow quickly enough. Fed them beefheart mix last night and they hoovered it up lol.

ours are the same love their grub n look nice and round after a feed think im gunna worm them all before they go into the main tanks just to be safe...they also go mental for the larvea thats took up residence in the pool im using to soak wood in the garden