driftwood

prawnman88 · Post by **prawnman88** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 3:51 pm

adding drift wood does this cloud the water and should i do some water changes to helpmake it not so cloudy ? water passed all tests with flyining colors

soritan · Post by **soritan** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 1:24 am

Driftwood adds tannins to the water, which has a tendancy to 'soften' the water. This is either bad, good, neutral, or downright desirable, depending on who lives in the tank.

I boiled mine for around 8 hours, to lessen the amount of tannins released. Despite 8 hours boiling time each, I still had some leeching after about 2 months of service.

It has about the same effects as 'black water extract', I think. If you're concerned about its effects on your tank's occupants, search for that, or simply, 'tannins'. You ought to find a more situation suitable response that way, baring further details in this particular thread.

prawnman88 · Post by **prawnman88** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 4:36 am

just guppies and i have some rosenbergi blu prawns on there way to there new home but i figure this is just like a natural river ? water has slowly cleared over the past week so i guess it will be fine for them but thank u i will look for the word on here

Shady · Post by **Shady** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 7:22 am

I have a big piece of Malaysian driftwood that I did not boil or bleach. It slowly releases a minute amount of coloration to the water. When I do water changes, the fish and especially theshrimp perk up, but I attribute this to lowering the nitrates and other by-products...not getting rid of the tannins or other leachates from the wood. If your water is becoming "cloudy", it is probably from bacteria or algae in the water...not leachates from the wood.

chlorophyll · Post by **chlorophyll** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 1:43 am

My experience is with driftwood and Cherries and Amanos. And it seems not to be dangerous because the Cherries have regualrly bred and the Amanos have produced eggs and larvae. Even when the tannins have occasionally deeply tinted the water. This is an extreme example too because the driftwood in that tank probably takes up nearly 1/4th of the tank's volume.

The tea-like tannin discoloration is annoying to me though. I would boil (or soak them in HOT water) for at least half an hour (also changing the water when it gets dark), then set up a spare tank on the side to soak the wood for a week or two or more, with a strong heater hooked up and turned all the way up... so you basically have it in bath temperature water (40+ degrees C)... while changing out that water every couple days.

Chances are it'll still continue to leach a little (some pieces do this less than others though), but nothing like if you just plopped it into your tank. In your 50 gallon tank, it'll probably take a long while without water change for you to notice the leaching. Activated carbon in your filter is also supposed to help control the tannin tint... but I haven't used it.

Never the less, I think the animals, especially shrimp enjoy driftwood... and it looks great.

prawnman88 · Post by **prawnman88** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:17 am

thx dave for the help there always all over it doing there arm sweeping deal