Malaysian wood in a tank?

[Cheadle Chick]

Awhile ago I bought a large piece of malaysian wood for my tank. I was going to use it to plant live plants in/around. It looked great initially but the next morning when I looked at the tank the water was really yellowy/orange from the wood leaching. I did soak the wood before putting it in the tank. I had to do a huge water change to get the water un-colored. So I tried soaking the piece of wook for several days and then putting it in a bucket to see if it would continue to leach, and it did. So I tried boiling it to get rid of the color... nope it still leached color.

Any suggestions? It's such a nice piece of wood I'd hate to not use it at all.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

boil it, over and over again, you can add carbon to your filter, or purigen from Seachem, it will strip the colour from the water.

What temp is your tank? the cooler it is, the less the wood leaches.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

i have recently bought some wood for my tank too... and after reading this thread, i have realized that my water has been kinda "tea" colored. Never put the two together... ill probably just let it go, and continue with water changes and such until it is fully clear.

 

[gfink]

I heard activated carbon will help absorb the tannins from the water. I've always boiled mine twice, then let soak over night in water with dechlorinator. That water has always been almost entirely clear the next morning.

 

[maxwell1295]

I soaked my Malaysian driftwood in salted water for about a week, changing the water once a day. I had no discoloration to speak of when I put it in the tank.

 

[Legacy]

I've had mine in my brackish tank w/1.005-1.016SG for over 6 months now and I still have a good amount of tannin in the water. I think it all depends how big the wood is. Mine is a stump 16"x12x12" with a diameter of at least 9" so it's holding in a lot! I never boiled mine because I wanted the tannin for my archer but now I wish I would have boiled it at least a little.

 

[PrettyFishies]

DW is a crap shoot... I always boil mine and never had any problems. But some can still leak I'm sure. While the activated carbon will work to remove the tint, if you are doing a planted tank, it also strips the water of essential nutrients.

 

[gfink]

... it also strips the water of essential nutrients.

I'm not positive that is true. :?

 

[CGGorman]

I like my tea water. Looks more natural to my eye.

 

[caribou]

I've got a bunch of malaysian drift wood in my tanks. I first soaked it five gal buckets for 3 weeks, changing the water every 3 days, and then boiled (simmered) it for about six hours, changing the water once. Never had a problem with it tinting the water, but it was in a 90 gal tank, so it might be harder to notice. Even if it tints your water at first, I think it will eventually go away. Hope this helps.