🍵 Aquarium Tannin Tea Dosing Calculator
Estimate blackwater tea dose, tint target, water change top-up, and safe dosing pace.
| Botanical Tea | Base Dose | Tint Speed | pH Pressure | Best Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catappa Leaf Tea | 12 ml / 10 gal / 10 tint | Moderate | Medium | General blackwater tinting |
| Alder Cone Tea | 8 ml / 10 gal / 10 tint | Fast | Medium-high | Small softwater tanks |
| Oak Leaf Tea | 15 ml / 10 gal / 10 tint | Slow | Low-medium | Gradual amber tint |
| Plain Rooibos Tea | 18 ml / 10 gal / 10 tint | Fast visual tint | Low | Color without many acids |
| Mixed Botanicals | 10 ml / 10 gal / 10 tint | Moderate | Medium | Leaf, cone, and pod blends |
| Seed Pod Tea | 9 ml / 10 gal / 10 tint | Slow-medium | Medium-high | Deep display tint |
| Driftwood Soak Tea | 22 ml / 10 gal / 10 tint | Slow | Low | Mild maintenance tint |
| Tank | Dimensions | Volume | Amber Dose | After 25% WC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Gal Betta | 16 x 8 x 10 in | 5 gal / 19 L | 18 ml | 5 ml |
| 10 Gal | 20 x 10 x 12 in | 10 gal / 38 L | 36 ml | 9 ml |
| 20 Long | 30 x 12 x 12 in | 20 gal / 76 L | 72 ml | 18 ml |
| 29 Gal | 30 x 12 x 18 in | 29 gal / 110 L | 104 ml | 26 ml |
| 40 Breeder | 36 x 18 x 16 in | 40 gal / 151 L | 144 ml | 36 ml |
| 55 Gal | 48 x 13 x 21 in | 55 gal / 208 L | 198 ml | 50 ml |
| 75 Gal | 48 x 18 x 21 in | 75 gal / 284 L | 270 ml | 68 ml |
| 125 Gal | 72 x 18 x 22 in | 125 gal / 473 L | 450 ml | 113 ml |
| Setting | First Day Color | Full Tint Window | Use When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slow release | About 55% | 48-72 hours | Low KH, delicate stock, new tea recipe |
| Normal release | About 75% | 24-48 hours | Most mature community tanks |
| Fast release | About 92% | 12-24 hours | High flow or pre-filtered tea |
| Split dosing | Lower peak change | 2-5 days | Any tank with soft KH or pH-sensitive stock |
Tannin tea dosing are a process that combines elements of chemistry and aesthetics to the aquarium. Tannin tea dosing is a means of creating specific water conditions for fish and shrimp that lives within the aquarium. Many individuals desire to create the soft, stain water conditions that are more similar than the water in which these fish and shrimp naturaly evolved.
To achieve these conditions, it is essential to maintain a balance between the desired stained water and the need for stability in the water parameters to avoid stress the fish and shrimp. Finding this balance is difficult due to the difference in each batch of tannin tea and the buffering nature of each individual aquarium, both of which can change with each water change. The most important variable in dosing tannin tea is the amount of organic acid within the tannin tea.
How to Add Tannin Tea to Your Aquarium
This organic acid will interact with the carbonate buffer in the aquarium. Alder cone tea will add its color to the aquarium quickly because the tea contain a strong load of acid. Oak leaf tea will take longer to add the color to the aquarium because it is a gentler tea.
Catappa leaves will provide an intermediate color and acid strength. To determine the proper amount of tannin tea to add to the aquarium, there are calculators available. These calculators will ask for the type of botanical that you will use, the concentration of tannin tea that you will prepare, and the desired tint levels in the aquarium.
Based on these three pieces of information, the calculator will provide a specific amount of tannin tea in milliliters to be added to the aquarium. Using the dose in milliliters rather than relying upon the color of the tannin tea in the jar is a more accurate method of dosing tea. Another critical factor in the dosing of tannin tea is the volume of the aquarium.
The volume of the aquarium will have an impact on the strength of the color that the tannin tea provides. The smaller the aquarium, the more impact that the tannin tea will have upon the water. A given amount of tannin tea will have a stronger impact upon a small aquarium than it would have upon a large aquarium.
The tannin tea calculator will ask for the specific dimensions of the aquarium or the volume of water that it contain because different aquarium shapes contain different amounts of water. By knowing the true volume of the aquarium, it is possible to dose the tannin tea correctly. Another important factor is the carbonate hardness (KH) buffer in the aquarium, as well as the dosing schedule.
If the KH values in the aquarium are low, adding tannin tea will have a drastic impact upon the pH of the aquarium. Such drastic changes in pH can be detrimental to the livestock in the aquarium. To avoid this, the dosing schedule will split the dose of tannin tea over several days to allow the aquarium to acclimate to the addition of the acid.
By splitting the dose of tannin tea, it is possible to routinely test the aquarium water before adding the full dose of tannin tea. The tannin tea calculator will take into account the KH level and the sensitivity of the tank to calculate the proper dose. Additionally, the tannin tea calculator will ask for the percentage of water changes that you will perform; water changes will remove the color from the aquarium, and fade the desired color of the tannin tea.
Another recommendation is to treat the first dose of any batch of tannin tea as a test dose. The strength of the tannin tea can fluctuate. The strength can change with the age of the leaves that you use to prepare the tea, the time during which you steep the tannin tea in the water, and the temperature of the water in which it is steeped.
Therefore, any test dose of tannin tea should use a conservative amount of tea. After adding the tea to the aquarium, it is recommended to wait twenty-four hours before adding more tannin tea. This allowance of time ensures that the dosage of tannin tea is not too high for the aquarium.
A reference table will show the base rates for adding each botanical tannin tea. Using these base rates ensures that the starting dose of tannin tea is within the proper range before calculating the proper amount of tannin tea for the aquarium. After the initial dose of tannin tea is added to the aquarium to reach the initial tint level of tannin tea for that tank, additional maintenance dosing will be required.
Both evaporation of the water and the biological uptake of the water will remove some of the tannin tea from the water. Additionally, water changes will remove some of the tannin tea from the water. A modest amount of tannin tea will have to be added to the aquarium every one or two weeks.
It isnt recommended to add large amounts of tannin tea at once. The tannin tea calculator will calculate the amount of tannin tea that should be added periodically to maintain the color of the tea in the aquarium. This estimate will ask for the percentage of water changes that will occur and the length of time between water changes.
The tannin tea calculator will calculate the amount of tea that will allow for the maintenance of the color between each dosing period. Tannin tea is not a product that can be set and forgot. Tannin tea is an ongoing process that requires the maintenance and the constant monitoring of the water conditions in the aquarium.
By adding tannin tea to the aquarium, the benefits of creating the blackwater conditions are gained, but the responsibilities of maintaining those conditions are also placed upon the aquarium owner. While the tannin tea calculator can calculate the amount of tannin tea needed for any given situation, the aquarium owner is still responsible for the tannin teas success.
