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BASIC DRIFT WOOD QUESTIONS,.....

faizal

Member
Joined
1 Mar 2011
Messages
968
Location
Alor Setar , Malaysia
Hi,...

I would really appreciate it if someone could be kind enough to clear these annoyingly silly questions . :oops:

I recentely bought a few supposedly ADA Driftwoods from a local LFS here. It had sunk to the bottom but the more I scrub washed it under running tap water,...the more a brownish sort of stuff came out from the wood which I had thought was the tannin excreted by the new wood. What I did next was I left it soaking in a bucket of water for a day,...& this evening the bucket of water turned dark brown like tea without milk. I am quite sure this is tannin.

1) How long should one usually soak the driftwood prior to use?
2) Would boiling the wood help to leech it out faster? If so,...how long should we boil it for please?

When I left the wood in that bucket for a day,....I noticed a greenish slimy sort of gunk present in the water. I did not leave it under the sun ( the bucket was in my room with hardly any ambient light as the curtains had been drawn closed). What could this be? I don't want to put a unprepped wood into the tank & risk facing what could have been avoidable.

Love to hear your thoughts please.
 
Not sure about the greenish slimy gunk but just soak the wood until it stops leaching tannins. I haven't tried it but i'm sure boiling it or using boiling water to soak it would probably speed the process along. BTW the tannins won't harm fish, in fact my tank is a weak tea kind of colour, as the wood was too big to soak beforehand. (Plus I am horribly impatient)
As long as it is aquarium safe, as yours is, then I wouldn't go too mad scrubbing and worrying about it.
 
1) How long should one usually soak the driftwood prior to use?
Enough to sink boiling will help with that... usually in day or 2 does not need weighting down
2) Would boiling the wood help to leech it out faster? If so,...how long should we boil it for please?
Yes it helps but they will still leech for a month or so, but not as much

Some wood release more tannins than others I think common driftwood is the case.
 
I have heard that boiling it won't decrease tannins and even reach deeper layers of them. If you want to use it ASAP just go for it and change the water often. You can use something like carbon or seachem purigen in your filter.
It should help.
 
howanic said:
....... (Plus I am horribly impatient)

:D :D :D

Radik said:
Yes it helps but they will still leech for a month or so, but not as much
Some wood release more tannins than others I think common driftwood is the case.

In that case ,....I guess I will just soak it for another day and then just go for it :D

Piece-of-fish said:
I have heard that boiling it won't decrease tannins and even reach deeper layers of them. If you want to use it ASAP just go for it and change the water often. You can use something like carbon or seachem purigen in your filter.
It should help.

Great!!! Then I will do just that then. :D

Thanks guys,....I didn't expect so many replies in such a short time. Thank you. :)
 
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