Driftwood discoloring my tank

[69steveo69]

Hello, Well I have had small fresh water tanks over the years when I was a kid and havent had one for about 5 years. Now I have a 55 gallon that I have had going for about 5 weeks now. I have live plants in it and I bought some drift wood. I soaked them for a few days in the bath tub and then put them in my tank and now the water looks like coffee. I have done 10-30% water changes every 3 days for the last 9 days and took the wood back out and boiled it for over 8 hours with it still discoloring the water. Any suggestions on this or how long till it stops. I want to have a clear tank.
:help:

[grannylvsfish]

add charcoal to your filters. other then that you will have to soak and soak if you do not want the color in your tank. some folks boil the wood. my did that for months.

[msjinkzd]

The tannins released do not have any detrimental effect beyond aesthetics. If you find it unsatisfactory, you can run carbon and remove it that way. Otherwise, there are many of us that find this to be a very desireable effect.

[69steveo69]

How would I add charcoal to the tank? I use a waterfall filter. Would I have to cut open the filter and stuff it in there?

[rich311k]

Can you fit a mesh bag full of it in the filter?

[inkyjenn]

hehehehe

we have a 75 gallon that is tea colored thanks to all the tanins from the plethora of driftwood in it

[Lupin]

I don't mind the tannins at all.;)

[cassharper]

Tannins also have a therapeutic effect on a lot of fish, what's your stock list look like? If they're south american, asian (mostly) or any other soft water fish then the tannins will actually help fight off infection.

Plus I like the natural look it gives, but to each their own I suppose.

[69steveo69]

1 Silver Molly
6 fancy Guppys
3 giant Danos
2 dojos
2 small frogs
3 gouramis
3 loaches ( not sure on what kind but they look see through with small black dots on them)
1 chinese plecos... Not sure what kind but was told it will stay small and its see through also.

[cassharper]

If you don't mind the look, the more acidic conditions shouldn't hurt any of those fish and will (most likely) make the loaches, gouramis, and danios more active, colorful, and overall healthy.

I have used leaves that release high tannin concentrations to induce my gouramis to spawn.

[DAVIDFBT]

I personally like the tannins also depending on the kind of tank I have.

[Keeshya]

My boyfriend and I bought a piece of driftwood for our tank last week. We boiled it for two hours and then soaked it for about a day, draining and refilling the water a few times, before putting it into our tank. Doing that, we didn't end up with any discoloration in the water. So, if you're looking for clearer water, that's probably the way to go.

[Rbishop]

Time. It will just take time.

Depending on what type of wood it is, that can be a long time. I have pieces that still release after 2 years.

Carbon and water changes are the only thing you can do routinely to minimize the look.

[tekonus]

I have some mopani wood in my tank that took a month or so to stop coloring my water like that. The only thing that will really get rid of it is time, and water changes. I boiled and soaked and reboiled and resoaked for like a week, and it STILL discolored my water for a bit.