Water A Tea Color

[J-Aqua]

Well I know the reason why my water is a tea color is because of the new driftwood. Guy at the aqurium store said that the driftwood is cured and ready to be placed in the aquarium. All i had to do was rinse it off with some warm water.

My question is it bad for the fish? I have 2 expensive fish in there and I dont want to lose them. I will take the driftwood out soon just cant I am at work.

J

 

[rich311k]

The brown comes from the tannins in the wood. It will not hurt your fish in anyway. Some fish actually like it. You can add some some AC to your filter to remove it. You can also take the wood out and boil it. The boiling will remove most of the tannins.

 

[J-Aqua]

The brown comes from the tannins in the wood. It will not hurt your fish in anyway. Some fish actually like it. You can add some some AC to your filter to remove it. You can also take the wood out and boil it. The boiling will remove most of the tannins.

Thanks for the reply!

The only thing is I don't have a pot big enough to boil the wood... :x

I have a HOB filter and media in the filter has AC

The tannins wont hurt the fish will they? (2 EBJD & 2 yoyo loaches)

Dont want to lose my ebjd, they're NOT cheap!

 

[rich311k]

Tannins wont hurt the fish. How old is the AC? Over ten days or so, it is pretty much useless.

 

[J-Aqua]

Tannins wont hurt the fish. How old is the AC? Over ten days or so, it is pretty much useless.

About 2hrs old...

 

[rich311k]

Cool, then it should help keep some of the color down.

 

[J-Aqua]

Oh forgot to ask. If I soke the driftwood in a bucket for about a week changing the water 1-2 times a day will the tannins be longer there? Or would a quicker solution be boiling it?

 

[rich311k]

Soaking will work, boiling is quicker but soaking will work. Change the soaking water every couple days, it might take longer than a week.

 

[J-Aqua]

Soaking will work, boiling is quicker but soaking will work. Change the soaking water every couple days, it might take longer than a week.

Ok thanks for your help man, much appreciated! Well you can check out the tank and the driftwood work before it was tea colored , its in the cichlid discussion topic, and you can see my baby EBJD

Thanks again!

J

 

[tropicfishman]

its harmless, just bad to look at lol I removed the tannins by adding activated carbon, made my tank crystal clear in no time!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I poured boiling water over my Malaysian driftood every day for a little over 3 weeks. The tannins were almost completly gone so I added it to the tank. The water isn't stained at all now. You may want to try that. Also, when you change the water, scrub the wood with hot water with a scrub brush that is dedicated to the tank. NO SOAP.

 

[J-Aqua]

its harmless, just bad to look at lol I removed the tannins by adding activated carbon, made my tank crystal clear in no time!

So all you did was add activated carbon? Once? If so I am going to go get some at my LFS asap. It kinda looks cool with the water like that (real enviroment maybe), but I like it clear fish really stand out that way.

I poured boiling water over my Malaysian driftood every day for a little over 3 weeks. The tannins were almost completly gone so I added it to the tank. The water isn't stained at all now. You may want to try that. Also, when you change the water, scrub the wood with hot water with a scrub brush that is dedicated to the tank. NO SOAP.

Cool man thanks! If the AC doesn't work then I'll most likely boil them up and scrub away

Oh, and since I put the new media filter that has AC it somewhat cleared up from lunch to now.

J

 

[omgfish]

I recently added two pieces of Malaysian sinking driftwood to my 75 gallon. Each piece fit inside a 5 gallon bucket. I boiled a couple large pots of water and filled the bucket up and let them soak until the water got cold. I did this about 5 times total for each piece and then added them in. I haven't seen any tannins at all and I don't use AC. Hope this helps.

 

[J-Aqua]

I recently added two pieces of Malaysian sinking driftwood to my 75 gallon. Each piece fit inside a 5 gallon bucket. I boiled a couple large pots of water and filled the bucket up and let them soak until the water got cold. I did this about 5 times total for each piece and then added them in. I haven't seen any tannins at all and I don't use AC. Hope this helps.

Great idea... I'll most likely try the boiling first! I just haven't got around taking the drift wood out yet.

 

[J-Aqua]

UPDATE

Good news! Most of the tannins are gone with only two whole water changes. There're some tannins, but it makes the tank look more genuwine!

Thanks for all the advice!

J