After All My Effort I Now Have Brown Water

[gavinlewarne]

i bought a new piece of bogwood a few weeks ago for my tank. it has been soaking in a bucket 24/7 since then. I have changed the water in bucket daily. Wood has been scrubbed with a brush every other day. In the second week the water coming out was lovely and clear, so after 14 days of soaking i decided to put it in the tank.

And guess what -----> brown water!!!!!!! (only appeared after like 20 hours in there)

will this harm my fish?
will it clear on its own?

should i do a large water change?

btw its a tropical tank with live plants and mixed species community.

 

[emmsy]

bogwood dye is not harmful. Does the water look like tea? Just keep doing small water changes and maybe get filter floss in your filter. If you have filter floss, give it a wash out

Emma

 

[gavinlewarne]

thank you for your quick reply! im glad it wont harm my fishy world! i was just about to get syphoning when i saw your reply.....

 

[smoothvirus]

It's just tannins leaching from the wood. It will not harm your fish. If you have south american fish (neon tetras, rummys, plecos, oscars, etc.) then tannins in the water is part of their natural environment anyway.

 

[jonny]

When soaking bogwood i always soak in hot water as this releases more of the tannins.
Last time i did a piece i soaked it for a week in the bath and kept changing the water for hot/warm water.

I bet when the warm tank water got to it the was more to come out.

 

[TylerFerretLord]

I soaked my piece for a month in the toilet cistern. No brown water for me.

Anyway, if the tea-water is bothering you, run some carbon and do some water changes. It won't hurt the fish, but I can see why you were worried.

 

[gavinlewarne]

toilet cistern? wow now i have heard it all