Making IAL (Indian Almond Leaf) extract at home:

This is what I have been doing now for awhile. The IAL extract is made using IAL (Indian Almond Leaves). I purchase my leaves from Amy Lim on AquaBid. She has very reasonable prices and is excellent to deal with. It usually takes about 10 working days for the leaves to come by CanadaPost

To Make IAL:

Add the leaves to a pot of water (crushing the leaves make them soak better). Bring the water to a boil and simmer for a period of time. Once your desired amount of water has evaporated, filter the leaves from the "tea" using a coffee filter paper. You can add more water to the leaves and boil them again to get all of the tannins out. Add clear water to the filtered "tea" to bring the concentration to whatever level you like (judged by color).

A couple of little tips that I can add to this:

• I use the leaves in the tank first - once they sink or become "old" then I take them out and air dry them. Then I use them to make the "tea" when I have enough leaves. Twice the bang for your buck!
• I use between 6-10 leaves and less water - you only need enough water to keep the leaves covered. Make it as concentrated as you like by adjusting the water - less water means less you have to add to your fish water to make it yellow.
• I prefer making my "tea" in the winter when I have my wood stove going - I put the whole pot of mixture on the wood stove and let it simmer all day (that way I'm not using electricity). I add water as needed to keep it from boiling dry.
• Use a coffee filter paper with a funnel to filter it. I have started filtering first with a fine-mesh permanent coffee filter (or brine shrimp net) to filter out the macro-molecules. This helps it to filter through the filter papers faster. Also, filter it HOT - it filters better and also remains clearer longer. As well, filtering it hot helps to keep the container closer to sterile.
• It stores longer if kept in the fridge. Keep shaking it up before use to prevent it settling too much. More recently, I started storing it in Mason Jars. I fill the jars just like I would if I were pickling, then boil (or process) the jars the same way. This way, the IAL can remain useable almost indefinitely.
• If you have cherry shrimp, use the boiled leaves in their tank - the shrimp love the vegetation, but aren't that keen on the tannins from it; since you have boiled the tannins out, the remaining vegetation is perfect (although messy...)