Mopani Wood

[vaquero]

Has anyone ever had problems with Mopani Wood? I am going to put some in my tank today and just wanted to hear from anyone who has it. I boiled it for two hours last night, and now doing it again this morning. The water was clear this morning after I soaked it for about an hour in just hot water, but thought I'd boil it again to be sure the tannin's are out of it. I'm basically treating it like the driftwood I already have in my tank. Can I put baby fry in with it or are any of the tannin's going to hurt them?

 

[jcolon]

Mopani is notorious for being CHUCK FULL of tannins. Plenty of members that have boiled for hours and hours and it still puts out tannins. But tannins are harmless to fish ... can't say for certain about fry, but I'd figure in nature fry do swim about in tannin filled water.

 

[Rivercats]

Carbon or Purgen can be put in your filter to remove tannins. Purgen will last longer, carbon will have to be replace every couple of weeks to keep up with tannin removal.

 

[vaquero]

ok thanks a lot people. I have to go check on it now. Smells like wet wood in here.

 

[BlaseMrNiceguy]

Tannins are actually good for the fish it has antifungal and bacterial properties.

 

[vaquero]

okay it has boiled for 3 1/2 hours total, soaked in treated warm water for 10 hours now. When i checked the water it was like really weak tea color. I and still soaking it and if it is ok, I will put it into the tank today or tonight.

 

[bud29]

mopani wood is loaded with tannins. I boiled my piece of mopani for 18 hours, and it still released some tannins in to the tank!

 

[maxwellag]

mopani wood is loaded with tannins. I boiled my piece of mopani for 18 hours, and it still released some tannins in to the tank!

While I do agree that mopani has lots of tannins, tannins aren't a problem. Eventually they will go away on their own after they have all leached out into your tank.

 

[vaquero]

Well so far no more tannin's leeching out of the wood, it's been in my tank for two days now.

 

[bud29]

While I do agree that mopani has lots of tannins, tannins aren't a problem. Eventually they will go away on their own after they have all leached out into your tank.

yeah. some fish actually benefit from tannins, such as cory catfish. They are just an eyesore to the aquarist.......

 

[callisto9]

I must've got lucky with mine. I boiled it for an hour or so, dumping the water every 15 mins. or so. Put it in my tank and it got a little tea-colored, but after one water change, I was good to go. I love mopani!

 

[obscurereef]

I had mopani wood, liked the look, but hated how it gave the water a brown haze and for some reason every time I put it in there algae would grow on it very quickly. The algae wasn't on any other surface, except on the wood. I tried scrubbing it off w/ a toothbrush and the wood was just coming off too so I stopped using it. Hope you have better luck!

 

[bud29]

I had mopani wood, liked the look, but hated how it gave the water a brown haze and for some reason every time I put it in there algae would grow on it very quickly. The algae wasn't on any other surface, except on the wood. I tried scrubbing it off w/ a toothbrush and the wood was just coming off too so I stopped using it. Hope you have better luck!

was the "algae" white? I had that stuff grow on my mopani very rapidly. It is apparently a fungus that commonly grows on mopani when put in a tank. It gets to be quite unsightly, but it does eventually clear up.