# New tadpole tea



## Jason DeSantis (Feb 2, 2006)

Well I have been coming up with a new type of tadpole tea. I want to first start off by saying this has worked for me and may not be a good idea for you or your frogs. With that being said I have been trying to come up with a new version of tadpole tea. Basically all I do is put a layer of sphagnum moss down, then coco fiber and topped with oak leaves. I have water constantly being misted and dripped onto the top of these layers. After all the layers get wet, the clean water starts to leach threw. Oh I forgot to mention that I set this up like a false bottom. Anyway when the water finally makes its way threw the layers and out the bottom I have a really dark tea color water. I mix 3/4 of a gallon of this with 1/4 gallon of RO water and then its ready to be used for tadpole rearing. This process takes alot less time than the traditional tadpole tea. Anyway the real reason I am posting this is I found that it increases the size and the growth of the tadpoles. I tried it out with some imi tads and after 3 weeks with no water changes they already have back legs forming. I compared them to others that are over a month older and they are only a week or two behind in development. I have now changed all my tads over to this tea and hope I can report more news of this in the next couple weeks.

Jason


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

Jason DeSantis said:


> Well I have been coming up with a new type of tadpole tea. I want to first start off by saying this has worked for me and may not be a good idea for you or your frogs. With that being said I have been trying to come up with a new version of tadpole tea. Basically all I do is put a layer of sphagnum moss down, then coco fiber and topped with oak leaves. I have water constantly being misted and dripped onto the top of these layers. After all the layers get wet, the clean water starts to leach threw. Oh I forgot to mention that I set this up like a false bottom. Anyway when the water finally makes its way threw the layers and out the bottom I have a really dark tea color water. I mix 3/4 of a gallon of this with 1/4 gallon of RO water and then its ready to be used for tadpole rearing. This process takes alot less time than the traditional tadpole tea. Anyway the real reason I am posting this is I found that it increases the size and the growth of the tadpoles. I tried it out with some imi tads and after 3 weeks with no water changes they already have back legs forming. I compared them to others that are over a month older and they are only a week or two behind in development. I have now changed all my tads over to this tea and hope I can report more news of this in the next couple weeks.
> 
> Jason


Jason, I think I can "see" it, but send out a picture will you.

thanks

S


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## Jason DeSantis (Feb 2, 2006)

Will do but it will have to be in a couple days. I just got a huge order of new plants :shock: 
Jason


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

You can accomplish the same thing but boiling these items and then filtering out the water. Just a bit quicker and may only need done 1 time a month to make a new batch.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

kyle1745 said:


> You can accomplish the same thing but boiling these items and then filtering out the water. Just a bit quicker and may only need done 1 time a month to make a new batch.


Though it may change some of the properties by of the tea by boiling, rather than percolating with room temp water.

Some of these things may or may not occur when boiling (just thoughts), and may/may not matter...
Essential oil extraction
Protein breakdown/sugar conversion
Kill bacteria...which could be good or bad...bacteria could be a tad food.


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

Jason,
What type of water do you use to "drip" on the leaves?


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## Jason DeSantis (Feb 2, 2006)

Aged tap water. I fill gallon jugs and let it sit for a week. Alot of people choose to use other water methods but I really like the tap water.
Jason


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Interesting points Brian... wish we knew for sure.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

snip "Kill bacteria...which could be good or bad...bacteria could be a tad food."endsnip

I wouldn't be too concerned about the bacteria.. the low pH of the tadpole tea inhibits the growth of a lot of bacteria... 

Ed


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## geedubya (Mar 16, 2006)

*Tadpole tea*

Can you give us an idea of proportions of ingredients to the quantity of water, please?

Also, what are the parameters of your tap water? Hard? Soft? Acidic? Basic? Lots of calcium and/or other minerals?

Thanks!

Gary


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