HELP! ... Red Tint to my water

[RRiley774]

Any ideas of why my water has a red tint to it and more importantly what do I need to do to clear it up! I have a pretty good idea of what has caused this to happen. On Friday, I stopped and bought a piece of mopa wood ( i think that's what is called ) to my tank. By mid day Saturday my tank has a distinct red tint to it. My tank has just recently been cycled and fortunately all I have in the tank right now is 1 ghost shrimp. Is he in any danger and what should I do to clear this problem?

 

[RRiley774]

Ok so I've done some quick research and their is no doubt it's the mopani wood that has caused this apparently from the tannis. The knowledgable people at petsmart didn't warn me this would happen and that I needed to boil the wood a few times first. Now that I know the problem I still need to find out the best way to get my water back clear! I just did a 30-35% water change and it def helped but it's still far from crystal clear. What are my options to get my water clear? The worst part is I was planning on stocking half of my fish since my tank just finished cycling.

 

[Fishman007]

Tannins make the water soft and acidic, this is good for most SA fish. Tetras, angel fish, rams, ect... Nothing really to worry about unless you plan on keeping hard water fish. What do you wanna keep? Wc will reduce them anyway so no worries. Clear water doesnt matter, its the parameters that do. I personally like black water tanks, looks much more natural. (black water= amazonian themed, tannins in the water)

Lol, the knowledgeable people at petsmart. Love that!

 

[RRiley774]

I am just going with a community tank with guppies and and a few tetras

 

[Old Scales]

Get a 100ml Purigen filter media pack and put it in your filter. It is made for getting tannins out of the water and to help get your water really clear. Much less of a PITA than boiling and boiling. OS.

 

[DragonFish71]

It's not harmful to your fish. It's a natural process with almost every piece of real driftwood you would put if a fishtank. Some just have more tannins than others. Mopani happens to be a very tannin rich wood. The leaching will stop over time. Until then, just do water changes every few days.

Also expect white fuzzy stuff to start growing. This is also perfectly normal. Lots of fish and inverts like to eat it. If you find it too unsightly, get a new, cheap toothbrush and scrub it off the wood when you do your tank cleanings. It will eventually stop growing.

 

[Toad]

Yeah some people don't like the look of it but it's not bad for your tank. I once added three big pieces to a 30 gallon, my family freaked because it was so dark it looked like blood in the water lol. I liked it.

 

[RRiley774]

Thanks for all of the replies! I def don't like the looks of it. I did a 30% water change yesterday morning and close to a 50% water change last night and it def helped a lot. I'm going to get a bag of purigen as well. I also managed to boil the wood a good 5-6 times yesterday and also let it sit in water over night so hopefully I am on my way to getting all the tannins out. I like the looks of it in the tank but not enough to have red water!

 

[Affordable Aquatic]

If it really bothers you, just get rid of it. I put 2 large pieces of mopani into a 120 gallon tank and it leached tannins for 4 years. The wood was too large to boil, but it spent a month in a bucket with boiling water poured over it daily along with daily soakings of hot bath water. No amount of carbon would get that water clear.

I do think it made the tank look more natural though, and I think it brought out the color in my fish. I would suggest diluting the tank with water changes and decide if there is a shade that appeals to you, if so, then no worries, just manage the color through water changes. If not get one made of ceramic or plastic

 

[mike gergley]

My Mopani wood is still leaching Tannins after being in the tank for two years.....I have gotten use to it

 

[flitabout]

I have Mopani in both of my tanks and I haven't had near the issues that everyone else is talking about. I did boil the first piece after several days of soaking to speed it along and I did get the slime on the piece but it was gone within 2 weeks. I was so happy with it I bought two more for my new tank. I soaked the crap out of it along with some wild dw. They stopped leaching after the first week. I haven't noticed anymore leaching since they have been in the new tank. Each piece is different and will leach differently. Also the larger the piece the more it will leach.

 

[Caliban07]

Just get a carbon filter pad for a month?

Sent from my SM-T210 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[1998golfer]

It's not harmful to your fish. It's a natural process with almost every piece of real driftwood you would put if a fishtank. Some just have more tannins than others. Mopani happens to be a very tannin rich wood. The leaching will stop over time. Until then, just do water changes every few days.

Also expect white fuzzy stuff to start growing. This is also perfectly normal. Lots of fish and inverts like to eat it. If you find it too unsightly, get a new, cheap toothbrush and scrub it off the wood when you do your tank cleanings. It will eventually stop growing.

This is happening with my manzanita driftwood - though its been a week and the water hasnt been tinted at all... No tannins? Anyways, the white fuzzy stuff is growing on it. My snails have been eating it so there isn't much to be seen It's mostly in the cracks of the wood.