NEWS 115
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contrary, traces of medication are often a lot
more effective. It is virtually impossible to
overdose, although the water will become
increasingly less transparent until it
eventually takes on the color of strong coffee.
Even this water is generally harmless to the
livestock, though the plants will suffer
considerably due to the lack of light caused
by the brown coloration.
Do Alder cones make the water acid?
Essentially the answer is yes! The pH will
generally be affected by the tannic acids, as
can very easily be checked.Distilledwater has
a pH of 7 and no buffering capacity, and so
can't "capture" and neutralize any acids. If
eight Alder cones are placed in a glass
containing 100 ml of distilled water (which is
a lot more than the dose that would be used
in the aquarium),this lowers the pH from7 to
slightly over pH 4.
Statements to the contrary may perhaps
relate to the collection time. Alder cones are
best collected inwinter,when they have shed
their seeds.Alder seeds are undesirable in the
aquarium as they will merely pollute the
water unnecessarily.Because the scales of the
cones open only in dryweather to release the
seeds,itmay happen that a certain amount of
rainmay already havewashed over the cones
before the time comes to harvest them. It
may be that cones harvested before they are
ripe and then dried have a different effect on
the water chemistry and in particular on the
pH, and the same may apply to those
harvested in the spring or summer, but we
haven't experimented to check. The Alder
cones sold in the trade, e.g. at Aquariana-
Onlineshop.de, originate from winter
harvesting andwill lower the pH in soft water.
When to use Alder cones,and what for?
It can be said of Alder cones that they never
do any harm and are almost always
beneficial. Hence it is essentially advisable to
have Alder cones in the aquarium (at a low
dose because of the plants). Dose at the rate
of one Alder cone per 10-20 liters of new
Literatur
:
Lagoni, N. (2003): Arzneiliche Anmerkungen
zur Schwarzerle - Alnus glutinosa (L.)
G
AERTNER
. pp. 20- 22 In: Schmidt, O. (Hrg):
Beiträge zur Schwarzerle. LWF Wissen 42.
Berichte der Bayerischen Landesanstalt für
Wald und Forstwirtschaft, 77pp.
Female Common Alder flowers.
Alder cones All photos: F. Schäfer
Common alders are short-lived and live for only 100-120 years. Even young trees fruit abundantly.
water after every partial water change. Older,
expended cones look unattractive and hence
shouldbe removed,though that is amatter of
individual taste.They won't do any harm.
The same applies here as with all natural
medications: in the case of acute illness they
will support the healing process, but WON'T
replace conventional medicine! Their most
important effect is that the animals and
plants in the aquarium will be healthier
through the use of natural products such as
Alder cones, and hence hardly ever get sick!
