# Other Aquarium Forums > Fish Care, Nutrition and Water Management >  Anyone know what's Ketapang leaves?????

## exotic_idiot

Hi there, anyone knows what is ketapang leaves? Can we find it in singapore??? And what does it(leaves) looks like?
Thanks.

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## celticfish

You can buy from from C328.
Or if you recognize them collect yourself.
The leave is "pear" shape and can get really large.
Like trees in sentosa beach can get as long as elbow to wrist.
If you pick your own try to get the red coloured ones.
I have used the leaves fresh without drying.
But that was when I had a tree right in front of my home.
Now I use the dried one like most due to convenience.

You can also do a search on "sea almond leaves" for a picture.
Or the name "terminalia catappa".
The tree and leaves are easy to ID.

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## zoombee

this is the tree

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## dxchen

Here are some pictures of the ketapang tree and leaves. 



Pictures courtesy of http://hergunfish.awardspace.com/ketapang.htm

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## Shadow

You can collect it from alexandra technopark.  :Grin:

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## Quixotic

Anyone sharing pictures that are not theirs, and obtained from the Internet should at least indicate their source/website. Thanks.  :Smile:

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## fisherw

It is actually quite common in Singapore. The trick is recognising it. A good guide is large red, orangy leaves on the ground. The big problem is that the road sweepers are very efficient. Some places I have noticed them include East Coast Park (the leaves leave brown stains on the concrete walking paths), Changi Beach, expressways (definitely on both sides of the CTE near Jalan Bahagia and Bendemeer Secondary School and I would be fairly sure, our parks. One of its many names is sea almond so I would have thought along our beaches would be very likely.

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## David Moses Heng

the stretch of AYE from NUS to behind Ginza plaza also has them.

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## exotic_idiot

Thanks all for the great response and information, i'll go check them out...

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## Cacatuoides

you can also order from Johnc who packs them nicely and mails it to your doorstep....been buying from him, good service

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## exotic_idiot

Today i just went to alexander hospital and i saw tree similer to ketapang trees??? But i saw there's name just beside it which says *"Plumeria rubra (Frangipani)"* maybe i know whether is it the same? The tree very alike got white flowers. Anybody any idea whether we can use it as ketapang leaves too??? :Smile:

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## fisherw

The sap of the frangipani is poisonous. Do not use it.

The leaves look slightly different. If I remember correctly, the leaf of the frangipani is narrow, very shiny and does not turn very red.

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## exotic_idiot

yeah. :Grin: .. and also have white flowers right??? Wah lucky i never use :Laughing: .. i see properly like a bit different from the pics you guys post here... Thanks for the advice must really see carefully if not poison my "*beloved*" apisto instead of they poison me Wahahaha... :Smile:

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## exotic_idiot

Anyone interested in collecting ketapang leaves with me? Becase i'm not very experience.. I'm staying in the east.. Can pm me!!! :Smile:

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## Merviso

Hi bro, I bought a bag of this leave from C328 for $1 which can last me a long long time. So far only use 6 leave. Think it might not be worth to pick yourself and risk taking the wrong type of leaves, or worst, picking up one that had been sprayed with insecticide... unless of course you need to use a lot...  :Grin:

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## CK Yeo

Hmmm... money do grow on trees... It is not very expensive from the LFS, just buy if you cannot differentiate Ketapang from Frangipani.

vaguely remember there are available in East Coast Park too... Lots along Buona vista/Holland Village area.

ck

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## budak

Sea almond (ketapang) tree: 
http://mantamola.blogspot.com/2008/0...mond-tree.html
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/plants/sea_almond.htm

Frangipani tree: 
http://www.nparks.gov.sg/PlantInfo.aspx?id=7146
http://flowersinsingapore.blogspot.c...lantation.html

It's nigh impossible to confuse them.

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## exotic_idiot

Thanks mod. Don't know ketapang tree can cure so many sickness.. Magic tree? :Smile:

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## David Moses Heng

> Anyone interested in collecting ketapang leaves with me? Becase i'm not very experience.. I'm staying in the east.. Can pm me!!!


east area? How far are you from drive 12 of pasir ris? may be you can try the farms there. Was there during the CNY period and one of the farms there actually have got a few trees in their garden. If not wrong, its tropical international.

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## exotic_idiot

> east area? How far are you from drive 12 of pasir ris? may be you can try the farms there. Was there during the CNY period and one of the farms there actually have got a few trees in their garden. If not wrong, its tropical international.


Hi, i'm staying at east, very near farmway.. I saw before too at OTF.. Hmm now we got lots of places where we all can get fresh ketapang leaves "FOC"... Hehehee :Grin:

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## David Moses Heng

> Hi, i'm staying at east, very near farmway.. I saw before too at OTF.. Hmm now we got lots of places where we all can get fresh ketapang leaves "FOC"... Hehehee


 
when i was there, i collected 2 big red plastic bags full of those... :Grin:

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## exotic_idiot

> Why buy something you can cherry pick free big or small from the ground?


Yes, agree totally bro elmike :Grin: .. But the problem with singaporean is that they are too lazy to go find the leaves and pick them up from the floor. Or either some don't have transport or they passby any lfs can just ask have or not just very cheap thing... :Laughing: 
But for me till now i haven't have the chance to go down to pick because Singapore these days keep raining... The leaves all WET~~!!! :Smile:

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## hwchoy

elmike, since when is Ketapang "banned"?

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## hwchoy

orhh like that. I guess partly it is a very prevalent tree already. they are everywhere if you look out for them. actually I would think that large leaved trees are easier to clean up than the small leaved ones. the only problem this tree might be that it has a habit of shedding its leaves completely.

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## bossteck

There's a whole stretch of them along PIE, after Bedok, before Tampines. 
I am not asking anyone to stop along the PIE just to pick them though.  :Smile:

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## hwchoy

I would suggest you look harder. Holland Road area, PIE (as Bossteck have noted), Ayer Rajah area, and many other places I don't even recall. What you count as "new" I don't know, but these are certainly not wasteland. The ones along PIE are not much more than 25 years old. For that matter, no more new plantings of Angsana either.

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## doppelbanddwarf

There are quite a lot of ketapang leaves to be picked up around the Sembawang park area too. You can find the trees in the park, along the beach area, and also the park connector along the canal where they are planted for shade.

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## illumbomb

Took some photographs today of many trees along Jurong East Ave 1 where I stayed (From Parc Oasis Condominium all the way to Jurong East Polyclinic) which I thought looked like Ketapang trees. When I did a search in google, it directed me to an Arofanatic thread which confirmed that these trees along Jurong East Ave 1 are indeed Ketapang!





May I invite all of you who need these leaves to come over to my estate to help us clean up the dried Ketapang leaves along the roadside for free followed by lunch at the Jurong East Street 31 market where there are 2 stores selling great Bak Kut Teh!  :Laughing:

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## d2hpeter

anyone try Lipton tea instead :-)

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## joopsg

wanna to use tea bag? use the ocean free one. leave are pack in teabag style.
If you are lazy, please do not keep pets.
Singaporean are giving up their dogs for this reason.
golden rule always stands. Pets are like humans; they need time and attention.

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## d2hpeter

take it easy, Henry.
How much do u know about ketapang leaves?

I am not joking or trying to be lazy when i mentioned Lipton tea.

there have been studies comparing the benefits of the components of ketapang leaves and tea leaves [ even green tea leaves]. They give equal if not more beneficial things.

Those water conditioners that we purchased may actually be made up of all these natural herbal extracts. We may be fools paying $$$$ while all we need to do could be just pouring leftover tea made in the morning into our tanks :Grin: 

It is typical singaporean mentality of just follows without questioning or exploring for new breakthroughs. :Sad:

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## hwchoy

> It is typical singaporean mentality of just follows without questioning or exploring for new breakthroughs.


the fact that this thread even exists shows the pomposity of your statement.



on the matter of using tea, however, is that tea has been processed and will not "decay" as a natural plant product. whereas ketapang leaves and probably many other forest leaves will decay to produce humic acid and other humic substances. so as an educated guess I would think tea might not be appropriate (also I am under the impression that tea is alkaline) but most normal tropical forest tree leaves would serve as well as ketapang leaves. after all these are the same leaves that will fall into the typical tropical freshwater biotope.

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## d2hpeter

pardon my strong statement.

I was just not so happy about joopsg's unfriendly reply and comment about laziness.

He was slapping his own face by saying that there is tea-bag style of packaging for ketapang leaves. Or is he implying that all those who bought this product from ocean-free are a bunch of lazy idiots that are not suitable to keep fishes??

Moderator ought to give warning to these people that use such unfriendly comments. This type of myopic and pompous mentality such as his does not promote sharing and exploration of new ideas.

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## eddy planer

Alamak ! Peter...

you are not alone, Peter. i also kana , too!

just pm the fella whom you feel offended, let him know how you feel.This is free , straight forward and sometime sarcastic forum, dont take it to heart. You may even just bring up your good reason to oppose it. Chill it, ok  :Wink:

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## d2hpeter

> (also I am under the impression that tea is alkaline) but most normal tropical forest tree leaves would serve as well as ketapang leaves. after all these are the same leaves that will fall into the typical tropical freshwater biotope.


Not all tea are alkaline. Tea that are not fermented eg green tea, are alkaline. On the other hand, Black tea is acidic. It does give out humic acid [ the browness ]

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## eddy planer

my gosh! I've been drinking black tea in Saudi every day! And then i been drinking humic acid! No wonder, I'm already dark brown like the Arabs already!

Guys!, Is consumption of humic acid dangerous? any side effect?

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## hwchoy

> Not all tea are alkaline. Tea that are not fermented eg green tea, are alkaline. On the other hand, Black tea is acidic. It does give out humic acid [ the browness ]



you sure about this about black tea? I googled around but could not find any source about tea and humic substances. but one need to exercise caution when picking up leaves from the ground, they definitely have pollutants, possibly insecticide, and maybe fungal stuff.

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## hwchoy

> pardon my strong statement.
> 
> I was just not so happy about joopsg's unfriendly reply and comment about laziness.


as eddy says just PM a mod or better the source itself, but don't drag in the whole society which is so convenient and habitual.

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## theodore

On a lighter note... ketapang leaves are probably the cheapest assessories we can add into our tanks. An example would be the "breeding caves" I fashioned using just ketapang leaves in my apisto tanks (see pic).

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## hwchoy

actually I soak the leaves to get the brown extract and add it to the tank, because I don't really fancy the leaves disintegrating inside. whether the effect is as good as adding the whole leaf I do not know.

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## theodore

Unlike my betta breeding days, I no longer have the luxury of keeping pails of aged water in my bathroom.

These days, I add chlorine/chloramine remover just before I fill up my pail. Bags of peat or ketapang leaves sit in the actual tanks.

So while I'm at it, I might as well try to beautify my tank using leaf decorations.

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## joopsg

Sorry peter. if you felt offended. 
I just cannot stand people buying fishes or equipment without any research.
when things screwed up, they seek help in the forum.
isn't all this can be avoided with proper research? 
Is a life of a fish not as worthy as a human one.
it did not choose to be our pet, yet we chose it to be ours.
we should spent time and attention when we get them. 

Yes Ocean free have ketapang leave sold in a tea bag. Used it before and it sucks.
it does not lower pH only give off a tea smell.
If i can, i rather use driftwood to lower ph and taint the water.

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## David Moses Heng

> take it easy, Henry.
> It is typical singaporean mentality of just follows without questioning or exploring for new breakthroughs.


Bro, i agree with you on this and i believe that there are much affordable and efficient ways to enjoy our hobby. Anyway, like what eddyplanner has said, cool it man!! It's not worth your while to get upset over what others thinks. we are living in a free society and we are in a good and respectable forum. I believe the moderators know what to do. Let us all enjoy this God given hobby without getting our emotion involved. Cheers!!

*if i have offended anyone with this post, my apologies*

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## d2hpeter

apologise too, Joopsg.

just wonder why you got the impression that i was seeking help or screwing up when i asked whether anyone using Liption tea bag.

On the contrary, i am one who treasures the life of fishes we keep. I am 'researching' by exploring whether we could give them something better, rather than just following the rest. That is why i asked the question, with the intention of seeking opinion and views. This forum is meant for sharing of knowledge and more importantly, to improve the hobby thru new ideas.

is it the word 'Liption' or 'tea bag' that triggered your reaction? Basically they meant 'Black tea leaves' :Grin: 

good to know that you used 'tea bag' before too. :Wink:  Just for sharing of knowledge, why do you say that it sucks, only give tea leave smell? are you saying the content in the bag is not ketapang?

btw, my way of processing the ketapang leaves is ; 1. rinse with boiling water [hopefully to kill some harmful bacteria] 2. Break the whole leaves into 2 ro 3 pieces and put them in a glass container. 3. Brew with boiling water.

Reason for using glass container instead of plastic is because of the boiling water. Would the high heat destroy any beneficial ingredients from the leaf?? I once considered boiling the leaves for 5 mins so that i could preserve [by killing any bacteria] the solution longer. 
Any views on this?

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## d2hpeter

> you sure about this about black tea? I googled around but could not find any source about tea and humic substances. but one need to exercise caution when picking up leaves from the ground, they definitely have pollutants, possibly insecticide, and maybe fungal stuff.


pardon, it should be tannic acid. a kind of polyphenol. possess anti bacterial and anti oxidant properties.

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## joopsg

The leave are so crushed like fish flakes so i presume most of the nutrients and the acid were gone after it being packed. It take days for tea bag to take effect. like 4 days before starting to tint my aquarium water brown. I used before the whole leave. Got it at C328. just wash it with warm water will do. cos boiling water like cooking the leaves. using leave will also cause fungus to grow on he leave when they start to rot. a bit yucks.. when try to remove will be better to use fine mesh netting

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## David Moses Heng

guys, i will be bringing the montfort boys on a field trip to collect the leaves near OTF. Anyone wanna comes along?

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## doppelbanddwarf

I collect the leaves myself from Sembawang park area where the leaves are relatively clean. But I still wash and dry them by the window before using. 
I just soak a leave in a 1L container of water and then add the brown water into my tank. Normally takes a few hours for the water to be really brown. Sometimes I just put the leave straight into my tank too. Otos seem to like to munch on the leave.

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## Savant

I am thinking of making concentrated Ketapang leave extract and then storing it for use over a period of time (just like the tetra(TM) blackwater extract that I used to use)...

Anyone have any idea if the leaves and its extract can be kept over a long period of time?

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## hwchoy

I did exactly that, but not sure if the extract is still effective but it looks OK anyway.

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## Savant

Ok, follow up question... How do I make concentrated Ketapang juice? 

Running through various ideas... 

1. crush 2-3 packets of Ketapang leaves and place in a clear bottle of sufficient volume, fill up with water and leave it to leech brown juice. (This way it seems that the brown juice will not be concentrated and you will need to use a substantial volume of water, but it will at least be organic)

2. place 2-3 packets of Ketapang leaves in a pot and brew as per tea, then reduce to 1/10th concentration, cool down and store in bottle (Will the heat kill or destroy any of the useful properties of the brown juice)

Oh when i say packet, I do not mean the Qian Hu ones but those at C328 (yes I do not collect them on my own)

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## 900801

> On a lighter note... ketapang leaves are probably the cheapest assessories we can add into our tanks. An example would be the "breeding caves" I fashioned using just ketapang leaves in my apisto tanks (see pic).


Hey,isn't that dangerous because there would be a spike of ammonium as the leaves decay?

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## Quixotic

Ammonia occurs in two forms in water, NH4+ and NH3. Together they make up Total Ammonia Nitrogen (TAN).

NH4+ is ionised Ammonia and NH3 is called unionised Ammonia. NH3 is the form toxic to fish and it is a small fraction of TAN.

Water temperature and pH will effect which form is predominant. If water temperature and/or pH is high, NH3 will be high.

Since Ketapang leaves lower the pH, NH3 will be lower and the threat of NH3 is effectively minimised.

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## theodore

900801:

The decay is gradual and I consider uneaten fish food a bigger threat. Fries seem to like what they found on the leaves when I couldn't hatch my bbs in time (see pic).

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## 900801

oh,i see,thanks.

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## PCKH

I do not think collecting the leaves in the parks is such a good idea, due to the fact that these area are also fogged to rid the dengues mozzies......

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## joopsg

As we had said before. Always washed the leaves and left them out to dry before usage. if possible boil the leave..
i know from arofanatics, one betta keeper used to make ketapang leave extract. Must stored in the fridge.

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## d2hpeter

> I do not think collecting the leaves in the parks is such a good idea, due to the fact that these area are also fogged to rid the dengues mozzies......


agreed. 
With the frequency that they are fogging nowadays, it is risky even with thorough rinsing. The chemicals could hv seeped deep into the leaf that even boiling might not be able to remove 100% of them.

Why subject the life of your fishes to unnecessary risks? Is a life of a fish not as worthy as a human one? :Sad:

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## Merviso

> agreed. 
> With the frequency that they are fogging nowadays, it is risky even with thorough rinsing. The chemicals could hv seeped deep into the leaf that even boiling might not be able to remove 100% of them.


Hi bro  :drool 2: hpeter, are you saying that we should not be collecting from the parks ? or we should not be using the ketapang leaves at all since they are now fogging almost everywhere?  :Huh?: 




> Why subject the life of your fishes to unnecessary risks? Is a life of a fish not as worthy as a human one?


Think your statement a bit extreme leh..  :Surprised:

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## doppelbanddwarf

I find no problems with leaves collected from the parks. My Apistogramma elizabethae have spawned in the tank where I used the ketapang leaves. :Smile:

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## d2hpeter

> Hi bro hpeter, are you saying that we should not be collecting from the parks ? or we should not be using the ketapang leaves at all since they are now fogging almost everywhere? 
> 
> 
> 
> Think your statement a bit extreme leh..


Bro PCKH reminded me of this mozie fogging, which i agree is quite a risk. Don't know how potent is the chemical.

I currently use those from Ocean Free 'tea-bag' packaged form occasionally, for my betta. There is a ketapang tree right below my block in my condominium. Always tempted to get it from there but always worried about contaminations, esp now they are doing fogging EVERY tuesday :Exasperated:  So near yet so far. :Crying: 

The statement too extreme huh? Borrowed from bro Joopsg :Grin:

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## johannes

btw tea leaves and ketapang leaves contain many polyphenols (tannins and flavonoids etc) which make their extracts acidic...they are also good antioxidants...

but we dont know the way how factories process the tea leaves so it may not be natural or additives may be added in the tea bag that we drink, whereas the fresh air/sun dried KTP leaves are not processed by anything other than natural one...

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## 900801

> ...
> 
> but we dont know the way how factories process the tea leaves so it may not be natural or additives may be added in the tea bag that we drink, whereas the fresh air/sun dried KTP leaves are not processed by anything other than natural one...


That i agree tried that few years back,i used tea leaves, put it in a cup, filled with water.The next day there was a thick layer of oil like substance at the top

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## d2hpeter

> btw tea leaves and ketapang leaves contain many polyphenols (tannins and flavonoids etc) which make their extracts acidic...they are also good antioxidants...
> 
> but we dont know the way how factories process the tea leaves so it may not be natural or additives may be added in the tea bag that we drink, whereas the fresh air/sun dried KTP leaves are not processed by anything other than natural one...


I meant the KETAPANG leaves packaged in a 'tea-bag' form available for sale from the brand OCEAN FREE.  :Flame:

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## johannes

> I meant the KETAPANG leaves packaged in a 'tea-bag' form available for sale from the brand OCEAN FREE.


i was just explaining la.. :Laughing:

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## 900801

> I meant the KETAPANG leaves packaged in a 'tea-bag' form available for sale from the brand OCEAN FREE.


Erm,Im just agreeing with the drinkable tea leaves.I was not talking about ocean free just agreeing with the tea leaves part :Smile:

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## ahyann

> Took some photographs today of many trees along Jurong East Ave 1 where I stayed (From Parc Oasis Condominium all the way to Jurong East Polyclinic) which I thought looked like Ketapang trees. When I did a search in google, it directed me to an Arofanatic thread which confirmed that these trees along Jurong East Ave 1 are indeed Ketapang!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> May I invite all of you who need these leaves to come over to my estate to help us clean up the dried Ketapang leaves along the roadside for free followed by lunch at the Jurong East Street 31 market where there are 2 stores selling great Bak Kut Teh!


hihi after seeing *you*r post i decided to go pick up some fallen leaves from the area *you* mentioned, but would like to ask you have you used them before and any other nice methods to extract them(eg. pouring boiling water over them)?

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## hwchoy

I would rinse and soak them over night to get rid of any chemicals and pollutants. also don't use any leaves that are too ugly (like with fungus growing on them). there are so many leaves and all FOC, so pick the nice ones ;p

you can put the whole leaf into the tank, or soak in water to extract the brown brown stuff.

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## ahyann

yep i picked up quite a few nice one, no fungus but got little red spots  :Opps:  lolx the passing cars must be wondering wth am i doing

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## PCKH

> Bro PCKH reminded me of this mozie fogging, which i agree is quite a risk. Don't know how potent is the chemical.
> 
> I currently use those from Ocean Free 'tea-bag' packaged form occasionally, for my betta. There is a ketapang tree right below my block in my condominium. Always tempted to get it from there but always worried about contaminations, esp now they are doing fogging EVERY tuesday So near yet so far.
> 
> The statement too extreme huh? Borrowed from bro Joopsg


The Chemical they use to fog is an oil based material which means it would be hard to wash away by just means of water. However, a chat with the NEA, they are doing less of the fogging now as it is an expensive operation which equates to very poor results. (e.g 50 mossies killed during fogging, but with each mossies egg batch 300 will emerge) so they are channel their efforts to education instead to rid of the breeding sites. So I guess if leaves gathered from the National Parks or any public areas, like the roadside should be relatively safe. :Angel:

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