Took the plunge, opinions?

[ldaniel]

Drift wood will lower the pH but if it hasn't been soaked it will also stain your water a brownish color.
The wood breaks down releasing tannic acid. Or tannin and lignin ( dissolved organics) in the science circles.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Drift wood will lower the pH but if it hasn't been soaked it will also stain your water a brownish color.
The wood breaks down releasing tannic acid. Or tannin and lignin ( dissolved organics) in the science circles.

+1

As long as your tea water isn't too heavy with leeching tannins, it doesn't hurt the fish, but at some point the tannins do run out and the pH will begin to rise.

 

[madaboutshrimp]

In that case, if you haven't seen it please read the article below for the sake of your fish.

I've done a lot of tests, trial & error (more errors that were trying lol) and getting the pH down was easy, making sure it was stable is the trick. I haven't given up, just got a bit busy building 2 or 3 systems at the same time . At some point I'll pull my notes out and try again.

I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!

Thanks . I have read it but it's been a couple of days and it definitely won't hurt to give it another read. Unfortunately for me, I'm cycling 2 tanks at once so I'm constantly testing, performing pwc's, testing, researching, etc. I've taken in so much new info in the past few days that some of it still hasn't stuck. Im just going to keep doing as many pwc's as needed until the tanks are done cycling and hopefully my poor fish will be ok.

 

[madaboutshrimp]

Drift wood will lower the pH but if it hasn't been soaked it will also stain your water a brownish color.
The wood breaks down releasing tannic acid. Or tannin and lignin ( dissolved organics) in the science circles.

I got VERY lucky with my first piece of driftwood. At the time I put it in my 20g tank I didn't know that it would stain, I rinsed the DW off and put the thing right in there...never had a lick of trouble with it. My water is still clear almost a week later. However, after getting the driftwood(and sandstone boulder which has since been removed) I did some research on it to make sure it wouldn't alter the balance of the water...and found out about the tea stain.

I for sure won't be putting driftwood in any tank again until it's been properly prepared.

 

[madaboutshrimp]

+1

As long as your tea water isn't too heavy with leeching tannins, it doesn't hurt the fish, but at some point the tannins do run out and the pH will begin to rise.

Definitely didn't think about the DW leeching too many! I'll have to keep a close eye on things...wish I could test for it lol!

Just FYI to everyone who's posted in the thread, I'm keeping fish journals of both tanks and many a tidbit of information from this thread has been added. I appreciate everyone who's been teaching me and helping me to get through this! Hopefully at the end of the cycling I can snap some pix of my happy healthy fish to share(keeping fingers crossed)

 

[ldaniel]

I'm sure everything will turn out amazing.

 

[madaboutshrimp]

I'm sure everything will turn out amazing.

I hope so. My daughter will be devastated otherwise(the tanks are hers)...though after doing all of this research and caring for the tanks I've become quite attached too.