Banana Leaves

Hi everyone,
Another newbie with a stupid question!
I'm new to using forums, so please forgive me if i make a mistake and get things wrong!
I have a 125 ltr tropical freshwater tank.
I have it heavily planted and at the moment all I have in it is 10 Cherry shrimps and 5 Panda corys.
Everything is fine and the water is well balanced, I am using pressurised Co2.
I read articles on the web that leaves can be beneficial to the fish and the aquarium environment in general.
I have read about using Banana leaves, I have two banana plants growing, one is an outdoor hardy plant the other is a indoor red banana plant.
Could I use some of the leaves from them if I dried them well, they have not been sprayed with anything and I  would wash them well.
Or are the banana leave that you can buy on line from a particular banana plant?

Thanks in advance
 

The only times I would be wary of using your own leaves are:
Outdoor plant - if you live in an area affected by industrial pollution or a farming area where insecticide is regularly sprayed on fields
Indoor plant - if anyone in the household uses a lot of sprays eg perfume, deodorant, insect spray, air fresheners (even the plug in kind)


The reason for this is that I don't know how much of these things would be taken up by the plants and stored in the leaves. You say you haven't sprayed them directly but anything in the air could potentially be absorbed especially if it is washed down into the ground/compost.

If none of the above apply, your leaves should be fine.

Wow, great photo 

Let us know how you get on.

Wow indeed - lovely pic.

The "like" icon is to show your appreciation if you like the advice given (although it could actually be used for other reasons eg liking a pic or a good situation such as someone's fish having recovered). I'm not sure that it's being used that often, though - thanks for the reminder.

You're doing everything well, Dave - in fact, you get bonus points for posting pics in your first few posts, especially such good ones. Well done. We're a friendly lot here, so you've joined the right place.

Hi Pandaman.
I like your tank and am very impressed with your planting.
Also like your panda cory. I have a group of them in my Betta tank and love the markings.