driftwood & tannins

[ronnieroach]

hola mi amigos,

i added a big piece of driftwood, thinking i would like the tannin effect & BOOM!! my tank is totally orange!! LOL

i added new filter pads last night but it only got worse. i assume because it wasnt done seeping out yet..??

i read that fresh carbon removes the color. is that the same as filter pads??

i'm gonna do some pwc's this week to try & tone it down but any info would be appreciated

(i also threw some coral in my back corner to try & keep my ph the same.. good idea?)

THANKS FRIENDS!!!!

attatched is a quick pic of the new set up & DW.. i'm going to switch the gravel to all black over the next few weeks

 

[nanofish]

Carbon is different from the filter pads and needs frequently replaced. Maybe it was the picture but I didn't really notice any orange water, especially not compared to my tank. So you looking for advice on how to get rid of tannins or you still want to keep them?

 

[blackmolly]

carbon gets the stuff right out. i have a leachy piece, and i just run carbon in the filter every time it gets annoying. and i would remove the coral as well. the tannins really won't make as much of a difference in the ph as the coral will.

 

[ronnieroach]

Carbon is different from the filter pads and needs frequently replaced. Maybe it was the picture but I didn't really notice any orange water, especially not compared to my tank. So you looking for advice on how to get rid of tannins or you still want to keep them?

i think i wanna get rid of them completely.. i thought id like em but not so much lol i'm attaching pics of before in turned & now, but the 2nd pic doesnt show how orange it is in person

THANKS C_LEED & BLACKMOLLY!!! i appreciate the help!!!

 

[librarygirl]

It takes time really and depending on the wood it can leech for a while. You can try boiling it, that can speed up the process. Otherwise some frequent water changes will help until it clears up.

 

[ronnieroach]

thanks librarygirl

the piece i have is almost 2 feet long so there wont be any boiling lol

i did a pwc & its better .. orange but def better .. i'm gonna keep doing those & i'll grab some carbon tomorrow after work

THANKS FOR THE HELP HOMIES!!

 

[Talvari]

I hear you- I added a large piece, and two smaller pieces of mopani wood to my 55 gallon tank. I am on week two and the tank still is a bit orangish... Ive been doing a 75% water change every 5-7 days. Its a lot better than it was...

The second day after having added the wood, I couldnt see the plants in the back of the tank. Now its been three days since I did a change, and the water is only slightly murky.

 

[nanofish]

thanks librarygirl

the piece i have is almost 2 feet long so there wont be any boiling lol

i did a pwc & its better .. orange but def better .. i'm gonna keep doing those & i'll grab some carbon tomorrow after work

THANKS FOR THE HELP HOMIES!!

It's slower but you can still boil the driftwood. You just need a platic container big enough to fit the piece in. Then you can boil water as you would normally in a pot. Just dumped the heated water into the plastic tub then and repeat. Just a thought if you want to go that route.

 

[ronnieroach]

yeah talvari, my plants disappeared too!! lol i did a 50% change & its def better but like yours, still a bit merky .. i THINK mine is malaysian dw

& thanks c-leed.. i'm kind of a lazy dude so i'll try the pwc's & carbon first lol

i dropped $40 on the dw so i'm def using it lol

 

[Megacichlid]

I like the tannis color myself,but if you dont just wc alot and eventually it will dissapear

 

[ronnieroach]

well i would dig it for a community tank but my africans are gorgeous & it makes them all look like colorless blobs lol

 

[PC1]

Some types of DW seem to never stop leeching. You can also put purigen in your filter to help.

 

[tropical-fish]

seachem purigen is quite good at removing tannins. but you'll need to use a very fine mesh bag to stop it escaping into the tank. i used 3 layers of nylon stockings. it took about 3 months for my driftwood to stop leaking tannins.

 

[ronnieroach]

THANKS pc1 & tropical!! i appreciate the help!!

& tropster, when you say stockings, do you mean pantyhose? any specific brand or style? LOL!!!!

hitting the local lfs tomorrow night so any extra info would be great

THANKS AGAIN!!!!

 

[blizowman1]

you know my piece of driftwood I had was to big to boil to so I ran it on the strongest cycle my dishwasher had (with no soap if course) about 4 or 5 times. my girlfriend didn't like it but it should did help alot with the tannins and took less time than soaking and boiling...it still floated for about a week when I put it in though

 

[Smcoyle87]

I'm actually having the same problem right now Roach. Are you gonna go with activated carbon or the Seachem stuff?

 

[ronnieroach]

i actually grabbed 'fluval clearmax' .. the guy at the lfs said i should throw it right in the tank (in the mesh bag) & it would help absorb all the tannins. if i dont see results i'm gonna try it in the filter & see if that makes a diff

let me know what you do though, cuz i have a feeling my plan isnt gonna work for some reason lol

 

[Smcoyle87]

Will do man, i think im gonna try carbon.
It's gotten to the point were something needs to happen. Ive had Malaysian dw for a whole month and its still leeching! I have one of those forever leeching ones! Lol

 

[ronnieroach]

yeah mine doesnt seem to be stopping either lol the clearmax says it clears water awesome sooo fingers crossed

 

[fishnewbe420]

It won't help with your big pieces of driftwood but for your small ones if u put it in in the back of a toilet in the tank. It's the lazy man's way of treating driftwood. It gets frequent water changes and you can just forget about it for a while.