Driftwood discoloring my tank

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69steveo69

AC Members
Jan 20, 2009
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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:
 
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
hehehehe

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