JS1987 Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Brought a piece of drift wood from my LFS to put into my new aquarium have had it soaking in water in a bucket first pouring hot boiling water from the kettle on it and it is still "leaching" out color is it still suitable to put into my tank or am i doing something wrong ? ? thanks everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirt Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 It takes a while for it to leach its tannins depending on the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 It can take several months to stop discolouring the water. Some fish like tannins. But if you want to use the driftwood now, and don't like the colour change, you can add some activated charcoal to your filter to remove the tannins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JS1987 Posted February 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 so the leaching out of colour wont hurt my tank if i put it in and after several weeks or months with water changes and all that the leaching will stop is that correct ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Yes. The driftwood also helps to stabilize the pH against sudden changes. Edit: my driftwood is still leaching tannins after several months but the angelfish I have don't seem to mind. And if they're happy so am I. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxximuscool Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 I bought mine from local Fish store too. It's a Malaysian Driftwood. I boiled it for a few hours and once the water turned tea colour I poured it out and filled with new tap water then add some aquarium salt to the water while boiling. the water turned orange a few times and after the 4th times boiling I got rid of most tanning colour. And left it in the warm water over night to get any unwanted tanning. It still getting a bit yellowish but after I poured it out again and add warm water then my driftwood stopped leaking tanning Hope this help you solve your problem too. Mine is happily with tropical plants in the tank right now (Anubias Barteri, java moss, indian fern and soon will be java ferns this weekend). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Angels love the tannin coloured water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Yeah, slightly acidic tannin rich water characterizes the biotope of the wild angelfish which is why I added the driftwood. The breeder I got them from though had large numbers of bare bottom tanks with hundreds of angels in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxximuscool Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 This is mine. Water is not yellowish from the wood but from the leaves I added earlier and the light bulb i'm using is a sunrise colour about 2700k. Not going to add gravel too hard to clean the poop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JS1987 Posted February 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 thanks everyone for the help will place my drift wood in at some stage over the next day or so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 I think you can also use tea leaves if you want more tannins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxximuscool Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 I think you can also use tea leaves if you want more tannins Tea leaves is bad news man. It makes your fish goes crazy lol worst it get stressed out. Use Indian Almond leaves if you want tanning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 Is that from experience? :slfg: But I've read that people have used used tea bags, eg 1 used tea bag per 20 L of water. Of course there are different types of tea and some such as Darjeeling are said to be high in tannins. And of course you get to drink the caffeine containing brew which would be toxic to the fish. Where do you purchase Indian Almond leaves from? I've heard that they can be used to induce spawning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 When breeding fish I have used tea bags, oak leaves, oak bark and brown water from streams on the west coast---all with success. If the fish were strssed out I suspect they would not breed. Others use alder cones or Indian Almond leaves with success I believe. With fish keeping we need to be sure to avoid anthropomorphism as I am sure that a coffee drinker like me would get pretty stressed out having to drink tea (or Indian almond leaves for that matter) We have people down here breeding thousands of neons, rummy nose and other tetras in tap water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxximuscool Posted February 25, 2012 Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 Is that from experience? :slfg: But I've read that people have used used tea bags, eg 1 used tea bag per 20 L of water. Of course there are different types of tea and some such as Darjeeling are said to be high in tannins. And of course you get to drink the caffeine containing brew which would be toxic to the fish. Where do you purchase Indian Almond leaves from? I've heard that they can be used to induce spawning. You can get Indian Almond leaves from TradeMe as well. I use Acorn leaves (sun dried) and it smell sweet. Also tried tea green tea leaves but my fish gone insane lol. Tried the Decaf-Tea also made my fish gone super active and crazily attacking random objects. Tea is bad news for me. My drift wood I got from the store last week hasn't create any problem for me yet I got rid of tanning before plunged it in the tank. Take 30hours of prep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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