Wood clouding up water :(

mome rath

mome rath

splatter me with mustard
Mar 23, 2003
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0
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Columbus, OH
Hi, I recently bought a windy piece of grape vine at the LFS and dropped it in my 40g. The next day the water was insanely cloudy. The vine was sold next to the driftwood in the aquarium supplies section, so I assumed it was pre-treated. Two days and a water change later the water is still quite cloudy, but the fish are fine. The concern I have is for the single live plant that I also recently bought, i.e. will it get enough light through the cloudy water (it's a wisteria, my first live plant).

I've never used this type of wood before, and I've never had problems with wood from the LFS clouding up the water.


Thanks,

mome rath
 
I think the grape vine is the stuff that has holes in it? If so, it's seldom used in aquariums, but usually sold for use in terrariums with lizards and snakes. Not sure if it will harm anything, but I would test it occassionally for decay--becoming soft and breaking down. For now, I'd pull it out, and let it soak in a tub for a few weeks, with some water changes and scrubbing. This doesn't sound like tannins (yellowish/tea stain), but running some carbon for a week might help clear up your main tank, in addition to some water changes.
 
never assume wood is pretreated, because often times it's not. I always boil my wood before i put it in my tank, even if they say its pretreated, because I don't know how good of a job they did, if at all.
 
Ugh! OrionGirl not sure if it will harm anything? Someone pinch me...she doesn't KNOW! I must be having a nightmare!:eek: :D
I thought of using that same grapevine b4 but the lfs guy said it was mainly used for tarrar...terair...oh the dumb tanks with reptiles in them and couldn't gaurantee it was fish safe. Being too lazy to research it myself, I forgot about it and hoped someday somone would bring it up in hopes that the answer would come forth. :shake:
They are neat looking.
I would boil any wood b4 putting it in my tank.
 
Well...at least I know now that you aren't God!:)
 
I have the same type of wood in one of my tanks. I've boiled it... I've soaked it for weeks, still get the tea color. It doesn't make the water cloudy but it sure does turn the water yellow/brownish. I've boiled it for at least 6 hours, soaked it for prob about 3-4 weeks. I bought it for my plecos, and they do like it but it's a lot of hassle as I"m doing water changes every 3-4 days to keep up with the discoloration. It's been actually in the tank probably about 2 months now.
 
Lazersniper--you can run charcoal to remove the tannins. They don't hurt anything, but can be unattractive to some. Very normal--some wood will leach tannins for years.
 
any specific type, kind, brand of charcoal? Having the clear water w/o all the water changes would be a blessing :).
 
Any activated charcoal for aquariums should work. I like Black Diamond, since it's a bit less dusty than many brands. Just use a chunk of nylon, fill it up, rinse it well, and put in your filter box. You'll probably need to replace it often--it tends to be used up quickly when you have lots of tannins.
 
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