Anyone have Mopani wood?

[Ronne]

Does anyone use mopani wood in their tank? Does it change the color of your water or pH or anything else that I should know about?

 

[wetmanNY]

Sure. It's the standard wood in most LFS around here.

A little golden tannin coloring at first. Activated carbon in the filter would clear it.

The tannins leached from wood might have a little softening effect in water that was not very hard anyway. Soft water (or softened water) is by definition more flexible (less buffered) in its pH.

In most ordinary water, driftwood won't have any effect on pH. Carbon dioxide depresses pH: respiration of fish, snails, plankton, even bacteria and the processes of decay-- the CO2 from these outweigh the possible acidifying effects of wood.

 

[goldfish freak]

I use Mopani bogwood in my tank I after about eight and a half months it is still staining my water a bit. This is just my experience though, I don't know if others have experienced the same thing.

 

[Fishiebusiness]

Yep i use some. It dropped my pH and stained my water pretty brown for the first 3 or 4 months.

 

[JamisonBWolsh]

To void staining do this: BOIL the wood in a large pot and every once in awhile change the water. This kills all germs and takes most of the tannins out. I did this for like 4 hours and everything is fine. Everytime you replace the water, the water will be very dark..like your drinking TEA...but dont drink..just throw the liquad away and replace water. about 4 hours later..you should be fine///......Gives the house a nice "woody" scent. Whats for dinner? a piece of wood!

 

[Richer]

Boiling works to take the tannin out, but it doesn't work for everything. If your wood is particularly thick, boiling the crap out of it for days may not do the trick. If thats the case, you'll just have to stick it into your tank and live with the brown color for awhile. If your piece of wood is too large to fit in a pot, then soaking it in a bucket of water for a few weeks (with frequent clean and hot water changes) also helps.
Just FYI, tannin doesn't harm your tank, it just makes it unsightly (to a few ppl, not to others). Tannin does drop your pH slightly (by softening your water) but that shouldn't be a problem for most people.

HTH
-Richer