Driftwood & Ph

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Weird - I have a 40 hallon tank. Been setup for about 4 months now.

Started it with the driftwood.

The water has always been somewhat cloudy.

last week, I did a 50% water change, and put in a new charcoal filter. The water was crystal clear. . . .

For about two days. Now the water is all cloudy again, so I took the driftwood out last night.

Still cloudy.

Amonia and nitrites are zero and nitrates are around 10 (test is difficult to differentiate)

I took a clear glass and dipped it into the tank to get a water sample, and the water looked dirty. Not green - just sort of a light tan in color.

It is getting so bad, I can only see about 3 or 4 inches into the tank.

the critters are doing fine and don't seem to mind it at all.

http://www.toddwess.com/todd.html

this is a link to the live webcam. I have the light off to keep algae down, but you can see how filthy the water is. I would do another 50% water change, but I just did one last week, and it got all cloudy in a matter of days.

What else should I be looking at?

Thanks,
Todd
 
Do you know what type of wood it is? Differing woods have differing levels of tannic acid. This will change how it affects ph and how much discoloration is caused by it.

Since you took the wood out, I would try the carbon thing again and see what happens. If the cloud comes back, then it probably isn't the wood. You might as well treat the wood with really hot water while the carbon is doing it's work...

What type of fish do you have in there? I think I saw a bala on your webcam and I also saw an orange blur...
 
Just to add my .02. I bought a piece of driftwood (small - about 6 inches long in a 40 gallon tank). Even though it came "pre-treated" from the lfs, I wanted to make sure it was safe. I followed a good portion of the driftwood preparation article I found on here. I boiled for 8 hous adding salt to the water. The tannins were coming out like crazy. After that I ended up soaking it in a 5 gallon bucket changing out the water roughly every 12 hours with fresh hot water. I ended up doing this for about 5 days. By the end of the 5th day, I just had a small little amount of discoloration at the bottom of the bucket.

I have had the driftwood in my tank for well over a month now and while I haven't really noticed any discoloration of the tank water while looking in the tank, the bucket I use to change my water is pure white. I can see that there is a slight discoloration of the tank water now. Previously when I changed the water it was basically clear water with waste in it. Now it is slightly tea colored with waste in it. The filtration I use is a Whisper hang on the back type (with carbon in it).
 
I remember reading a post here a month or so ago where somebody bought some stuff for their tank and threw it right in. They said that an hour later all of their fish were dead...

I feel for the person, but the lesson was learned. Not only by them, but for everybody that read the post (hopefully). Wash anything that you put in your tank.

I didn't use salt or bleach (as others I have read about did) for my wood, but I soaked it in very hot water 3 times a day for a week. I used a scrubbie on my rockwork to get any loose crap off of it, and washed all my fake plants and hoses before they went in.

The way I see it is that this hobby costs too much to take chances when adding anything to a tank that can affect it's inhabitants... (my $0.02)
 
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