Bogwood - Mopani - Fact or Fiction

[george29]

Hi,

Have read several forum threads about bogwood , the tannins and various methods to help release them prior to using in the tank.

However most threads never actually say if they have managed to use their 'cured' bogwood in the tank and maintain clear water ?

We have tried to 'cure' our pieces of Mopani without success so really do wonder if it is possible to have clear water with bogwood ? well within our lifetime !

 

[Matt @ ScapeEasy]

It is definately possible. Having carbon in your filter will help in the first instance, but after a couple of months you should start having crystal clear water.

 

[zozo]

In my experience, with having a lot +/- 20 kilo Mopani in a 120 litre volume. The first 6 months it was realy extreme not even purigen nor carbon cleared it up and it colored to water tea brown. It took quite some time to stop leaching and even shedding. That was the first and only time i ever used Mopani.

I guess according your experience next to mine, you liikely need some more parience and wait it out. And do water changes..

There is definitively some difference in the the type of wood used. The other tank contains Opuwa, also an African Savana wood. But this stains the water much less.. So actualy Mopani aint a bog wood, it propbably never had seen any water in it's live and it is gathered in the dry savanas from Africa.

I've used real bogwood or driftwood in the past and also this leached way less than Mopani. Spiderwood (Rhododenron) also leaches a lot initialy but it is washed out sooner, it also is softer..

That about it regarding my experience and about the oly wood i used till now.. I guess you picked the dirtiest wood out there to find.. In my case Mopani definitively was. Never seen any other wood leach that much that long.

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

I have found purigen works well, but i guess its depends on the amount of wood / all wood is going to leech to different extremes

 

[Tim Harrison]

It does clear eventually. The wood I have in my current scape turned the water the colour of tea at first, and is still leaching but less and less after every water change.
In future I'm going to stick all my new wood in the garden water butt for a few months, so the worst is over before I come to scape with it.

 

[george29]

Hi,

Thanks all

We did try carbon in the filter for a few days with no obvious effect.

We were hoping to set the new tank up with the wood but seems that might be a long wait for it to release all the tannings so will have to get some rockwork instead and keep the wood soaking in a bucket in the greenhouse so it stays warmer which will hopefully clear it quicker.

 

[J@mes]

Not bogwood but I got some wood from the Hugo Kamishi brand called desert wood & its got loads of slime and dark patches after a fortnight in a tank. Not sure if there’s much leaching of tannins with it though.

 

[Ray_Norwich]

I used mopani wood in my first scape and like zozo says it produces serious tannins. It does take months rather than weeks to cure but I did find purigen in the filter to be really effective. Crystal clear water after that.