drift wood?

[JustSpongeIt]

Im thinking of buing some drift wood or some kind of wood for my 20g. But do all woods turn your water yellow to brown and is it temperary or or am I out of luck?

[arcab4]

what u should do is soak the driftwood in another bucket. let the tanins leach out of the driftwood. the change of color of your water is only temporary.

[scrimman]

I'm doing that right now.
Keep in mind it might take some time to get all those tannins out.  It depends on the wood.  I've been soaking a piece of native ebony for about a month and a half in a 5gal bucket and it's still giving me "tea" :-/ I check on it about every 3 days and replace the water.  It's some VERY dark wood, so your results may differ, and it also depends on where you got your driftwood from.  If it had been crusing around in the water for a while, mother nature has already done most of the work for you! Just sit that sucker in a bucket for a week and you'll probably be able to tell if it'll cause a problem.
Most fish aren't bothered by the tannins.  In the wild, there're swimming with them every day.
You'll also have to boil it a bit to help things along and kill anything nasty in the wood.  I just boiled some water on the stove and dumped it in.

If you go to the www button, you can see my tank with lots of driftwood that I found in the forest. I first cleaned the driftwood and then sanded it lightly to remove any loose wood. I then washed the wood in my bath tub. I used my wifes canner (canning fruits/juice), and filled it with water, stuck the wood in and bioled it for several hours. Most of the wood was too big for the canner so I stuck one end at a time in. When I took out the wood, the water in the canner was the color of weak coffee. After the wood cooled off, I attached some suction cups with screws and stuck it in my tank. The water is a little tea colored but not nearly as much if I didnt biol it. The tannins that are released will not harm the fish. It is natural actually. Tannins also help to absorb hardness and make the water softer.

[MasterNick]

I bought mine as a Reptile branch at the lfs,  pretty good size-12-18 inches long.  All I did was hit it with scalding hot water.  I then let it cool and siliconed a slate to the bottom.  This kept it at the bottom of the tank while the bubbles escaped.

My wood leached off tannins, these are good for fish.  It naturally softens the water and acidifies it just a bit.  Most south-americans and asian fish thrive in it.  

Also some whtie fungal stuff grew on it, the fish ate some but it died out a week later.  All in all wood is cool and fish and plants like it.

Nick

[ryanp15]

[glow=Black,strength,width]All I did with mine was boil it for a few hours and then set it in a bucket for a few days and I never had any problems with it. But mine was in the river for a long time too. It was on the bank I thought it would look cool in my tank so I picked it up. I've also had some of it in with my turtles before.

     Ryan ;D[/glow]

[Matt Nace]

My wood was in a Amazon biotope with blackwater extract added, so It didn't matter at that point, cause extract made it even darker. Now it is in my planted tank, and my one 55 gallon. It no longer releases tanins.

There is filter media that adsorbs tannins, it is like a chem zorb, but works like a carbon and mainly adsorbs discoloration in the water, that carbon wont touch..It is quite expensive ,however. But if you don't like the slightly tan look, it would work.

[ryanp15]

Ronrca I think I can pull up that pic of your tank here it goes


 

  Ryan ;D


p.s.  nice tank I really like your drift wood.

Thanks! Im pretty happy the way it turned out! It turned out better than I hoped and expected.

[mrfootball70]

most of the "driftwood" that they would sell in your
lfs won't change the color of your water (the kind that comes mounted to a piece of slate) but the darker , generally more "realistic" looking ones will change your water color..but its not a bad thing..two weeks later and one water change/new carbon and my water is a little better..but my fish don't mind a bit!