[Grah the great]

'ello all! Wasn't 100% sure where to put this, but anyhow...I am currently using alder cones to produce tannins for my licorice gouramies. It has come to my attention that alder cones release tannins painfully slowly...thus, I was wondering if boiling alder cones would allow me to add the full amount of tannins to their WC water right away instead of having the tannins VERY slowly leach into the tank. Would boiling alder cones have this effect? Could I boil them in a microwave?

 

[Nordic]

Whatever you use better be disposable, if resin comes out, it is staying in the container unless you have a professional level degreaser.

If you have a health store, go check if they sell Rooibos Tea, might be called Red bush, but the real South African thing will say Rooibos.
You can just drop the teabags straight into the tank. You can remove them after a few hours when they are done leaching. Say you needed to use 4 on a tank. when you have to do water changes, if you change 25%, just add 1 bag again, 50% 2 bags, and so on. Makes it easy to maintain stable parameters. It is also very healthy.