July 20, 2015

You can't keep a good pod down? another day in the tannin "test kitchen."

We’d like to think of ourselves as the industry’s leading purveyor of aquatic botanicals (which, according to one of my friends isn’t THAT much of a stretch, because, as he so eloquently stated, “You’re the industry’s ONLY purveyor of aquatic botanicals!”), and part of the price you pay to achieve that lofty status is that you need to understand how what you offer your customers is prepared and utilized.

We spend a decent amount of time in the kitchen, boiling an assortment of pods, stems, and other aquatic botanicals, methodically and carefully noting their characteristics, durability- and most important to all of us- their “sinking time” (ie; how long it takes for a given aquatic botanical to sink). Making "tannin Tea", as we jokingly say around here. This requires a lot of time, patience, a good stove- and an understanding spouse- all of which I’m fortunate enough to have!

I suppose many years watching my mom cook soup and stuff when I was growing up added to the fascination of boiling weird stuff. It continued when I was a killifish fanatic, boiling peat moss and running it through the blender…you know, stuff like that. Which was infinitely more tolerable for my mom than say, slicing up black worms (which resided in a plastic container in the refrigerator)…Man, she was patient- and understanding! Growing up in an “aquarium household” was cool!

As predicted when we first started this whole adventure, some of the botanicals would be a royal pain to get to sink. Others turned out to be surprisingly easy (Savu Pods and “Helix Pods” are two that come to mind immediately), sinking with minimal boiling times (like 10-15 minutes), with others, such as “Jungle Pods” taking over an hour to sink! And then of course, there are the totally unexpected surprises, like “Heart Pods”, which require no boiling- something that gets the aquatic botanical lover’s heart racing (really)!

And you learn a few things along the way…like the fact that “Helix Pods” kind of “un-helix” themselves after boiling..but are pliable enough to “hand shape” again…And you learn to enjoy the pleasant, earthy smell of boiling botanicals cooking in your kitchen. You develop coping techniques…alternatives for “problem pods” that won’t sink after what we consider more than reasonable “boiling times” (like well over an hour!). Things like placing them in a filter bag and running them in your canister filter, sump, or outside power filter to continue the “saturation” process…or just throwing them in a bucket with some rocks on top of them…Even using a coffee “French Press” (thank you, Starbucks!)…Whatever it takes. As long as it takes.

Patience. Fortitude. And a healthy desire to do weird stuff in pursuit of the ultimate biotope aquarium.

It’s what the aquatic botanicals game is all about. And the aquarium hobby, for that matter!

Until next time…May your pods sink on the first try. may your water be golden brown.

And may you always…

Stay Wet.

Scott Fellman

Tannin Aquatics