Aquarium Water Getting A Yellow Tinge/colour

[Rusty8687]

Hey everyone,
 
Aquarium water is getting a yellowish colour however all the parameters check out. No ammonia, nitrates/nitrites are all ok and PH is balanced.
 
Fish are behaving normally.
 
I am thinking the driftwood could be causing the colour change in water?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yup, thats the most likely source of this yellowish tinge in tank water, from the driftwood.
 
Its a very common thing to happen with new pieces of wood being added to tanks, its the tannins thats coming off the woods thats causing this discolouration.
 
The tannins can actually be beneficial for your tank stocking, its a very mild antitoxitant.
 
There are other sources in which can be discoloured, from catappa leaves, Indian Almond Leaves and Rooibos Tea.
 
All are perfectly harmless and can be good for your tank, dependant on the species you keep but generally speaking its good to have. 
These are great if if you are creating a blackwater type of biotope, good for catfish only set ups, shrimps like this as well, that sort of thing.

 

[DoubleDutch]

If it's new it definitely can !!

 

[Rusty8687]

Thanks
 
definately not new driftwood, been there for 3 months however, did have a crash which resulted on alot of water changes.
 
only have bristlenose catfish, a pleco (small) and a whole bunch of different sharks (red tails, rainbows, silvers and albinos) and a handful of gouramis
 
I removed 4 peices of driftwood (the ones that were really splintered/fragile and breaking up) and left the smooth peices.
 
Should I add them back in? will the yellow tinge just go away through water changes or will be a permanent to the tank water

 

[Ch4rlie]

The yellow tinge will eventually go away, its definitely not a permanent feature.
 
When the wood gets completly waterlogged and the tannins disperses, you will no longer get this yellow tinge. Will take quite some time before this happens but as long as you know its not doing any harm whatsoever to your tank and stocking, easier just to leave as it is.

 

[Rusty8687]

awesome thankyou so much
 
does the decaying wood/splinters of wood logged up in the substrate do any damage? i did a water change today and the water that came out into the bucket after vaccumming the substrate was absolutely black. This has no danger what-so-ever?
 
i ask because i lost 3 white albino sharks, smaller than the others. figured i would do a clean but i suspect the large red tailed shark may have taken them out.

 

[Ch4rlie]

First need to say you do not need to deep clean the substrate, leave the substrate alone. Just do a gentle vac along the suface of the substrate to pick up poop and decaying plant matter and dirt.
 
Reason for this is that the stuff inside the substrate becomes good stuff for the plants and the general eco system inside your tank. Deep cleans remove this good stuff and can make a mess in your tank.
 
One other thing this possibly could do is remove beneficial bacterias that help maintain the ammonia and nitrite to saty at zero, you don't want to remove too much of this from your tank.
 
You have lost 3 albino sharks?
 
What kind of sharks are these exactly and is your tank big enough for them?
 
One last question, is this tank cycled?

 

[Rusty8687]

yeah, thats what i was doing to the substrate, just a light spotty vacumm but a tonne of wood matter was coming through.
 
tank is fully cycled.
 
the albino sharks are this;
 
tank is 300 litres