new driftwood

[cbk.o4]

so i got my driftwood for my tank today, two of the pieces are very nice, but the one small just is meh, just a cut section of log lol, oh well, i plan on having it prolly in the back center of my tank with caves on each side of it, and plants around it, so it doesnt much matter.

but the biggest piece has some nice "craters" (for ABSOLUTE lack of a better word since im half sleep lol) in it, which i think some of the future fish will make bigger and turn into nice hiding spots.

all three pieces



the biggest piece



the middle piece



plan on bioling them tuesday for a few hours. then addin them to the tank. hopefully they dont have too much tannis, i dont really want my water to be tan...can filter floss help keep that under control?? i was thinking about gettin some anyway, but if it helps with that i will get it before i put them in my tank, and also im running an xp3 on a 55g so hopefully the almost 6x turnover rate per hour will help keep the water clearer..

aight well off to test water and dose ammonia for the night.

[An t-iasg]

All three pieces have really good potential. I think the smallest one would look great standing up in front of some tall plants.

Boiling for a few hours should get rid of most of the tannins. After boiling, you can put the pieces in a bucket with some room-temperature water for about 12 hours. Check to see if the bucket water gets darker during that time. If there are still some tannins present, and you don't want to wait to put the wood in the tank, the tannins won't hurt anything. You can use some carbon in your filter to remove the color from the tank water. You can keep the filter floss in place but it won't remove much of the color.

[cbk.o4]

i dont have any floss in there right now, im going to be adding some though just as another media to have, but i didnt know carbon would get rid of the discoloration. i have some of that, once i do the carbon will that get rid of the discoloration or do i have to keep carbon in the filter all the time?

[An t-iasg]

How long you use the carbon depends on how much color is present in the water. Remember, the tannins won't hurt anything, but if the color is still too dark for your liking, you can run the carbon for a week or so, or really, as long as you want until the color is gone. The carbon won't be useful for much longer than a week anyway. After a week, if you want to run carbon again, throw the old stuff away and replace it with new carbon.

You'll have other bio-media in the filter (sponges or ceramic bio-rings), so after the discoloration is gone to your satisfaction, you can remove the carbon without worrying about the cycle getting interrupted. Most of us do not run carbon all the time in the filter, just when we need to remove tannins from driftwood, or if we use some medicine in the tank, the carbon will remove the last traces of it too. So when you're done with the carbon you can remove and discard it without worry.

[cbk.o4]

yeah im adding ceramic rings and bio stars next week to my filter. but i just wanted to know if i would have to continuosly use carbon, but now i understand just use it for a few days to reduce discoloration and then discard. thanks.

[An t-iasg]

You're welcome...by the way, Indianapolis is my favorite place to go for vacation!

[cbk.o4]

lol y?

i mean we got the indy500 and the brickyard, but that is prolly it...

idk it is a nice place, just gets old after living there for a while ya know...like u said great place to visit...but its a boring place to live.

(not bashing it though, one of the best places i have lived BY FAR! )

[An t-iasg]

My husband had a work assignment in town, although we didn't move from Pittsburgh, and that's when we first were in Indianapolis. I remember being there when the canal was only halfway done. Now every year that we come back, something is new. This fall, that new building across from the Statehouse should be done. We only saw the framework last year.

We like the zoo and garden, the canal, the mall, and we've been to the racetrack a few times. Meridian Street is nice. There's nothing like that around here.

I used to have the eagle on top of the Statehouse as my avatar. I'll have to put it back again!