Bog Wood Staining Water

[tom1987]

Hi

Ive recenctly added some bogwood to my 160ltr tank and its started to stain the water as expected. Ive just bought some carbon to put in the filter as ive been reliably informed this will take th ecolour out of the water.

How long roughly will it take before i see any improvements?

Thanks in advance

Tom

 

[Joshwainwright]

This probably could have been prevented by soaking the bogwood before you used it but fortunately the colour won't do any harm to your fish, it's just annoying! My guess is it will take about a week to fully clear up, but you could probably speed that up by doing small daily water changes. Anyway, I hope it clears up soon enough for you

 

[nicolaisam]

Hi

Ive recenctly added some bogwood to my 160ltr tank and its started to stain the water as expected. Ive just bought some carbon to put in the filter as ive been reliably informed this will take th ecolour out of the water.

How long roughly will it take before i see any improvements?

Thanks in advance

Tom

I didnt think carbon removed Tannins very well
I have used Purigen before works brilliantly.

Did you soak the wood for a month before?
I like the look of the Tannins in my main tank,looks more natural,but does depend on what fish you keep in there

 

[mattyeatsmatts]

When I've bought wood before I stick it in the back of my toilet system(the area where the new water is held). Everytime someone flushes the stained water is removed and replaced with new water.

Did this for 3 weeks followed by a week in de-chlorinated water.

 

[minnnt]

that's ace, haha.

How come you want to remove the tannins? They're good for the fish.

Don't expect miracles from the carbon.

 

[Joshwainwright]

When I've bought wood before I stick it in the back of my toilet system(the area where the new water is held). Everytime someone flushes the stained water is removed and replaced with new water.

Did this for 3 weeks followed by a week in de-chlorinated water.

As daft as it seems, that's actually a good idea!

 

[nicolaisam]

When I've bought wood before I stick it in the back of my toilet system(the area where the new water is held). Everytime someone flushes the stained water is removed and replaced with new water.

Did this for 3 weeks followed by a week in de-chlorinated water.

Good idea that

I also put mine in the diswasher,hottest wash,no detergent.

 

[mattyeatsmatts]

When I've bought wood before I stick it in the back of my toilet system(the area where the new water is held). Everytime someone flushes the stained water is removed and replaced with new water.

Did this for 3 weeks followed by a week in de-chlorinated water.

Good idea that

I also put mine in the diswasher,hottest wash,no detergent.

Yeah the dishwasher is another good one, especially if you need the wood to sink. The steam gets into the "pours"

 

[steelhealr]

Bogwood stains water. Period. Especially if it's new. It will wash out over time. It is not toxic to the fish. Boiling new bogwood first and letting it soak may help but it will still leach out overtime. The smaller the tank, obviously, the more intense the color.

Same as cloudy tank syndrome....time.
SH

 

[Akasha72]

I got mine at xmas ... it's still staining the water and I boiled it for about 2 weeks aswell.

I like the toilet idea ... if I ever get anymore I'll have to try it .. just for the fun of someone asking why the toilet water is brown

 

[shelaghfishface]

When I've bought wood before I stick it in the back of my toilet system(the area where the new water is held). Everytime someone flushes the stained water is removed and replaced with new water.

Did this for 3 weeks followed by a week in de-chlorinated water.

what a bloody good idea
tannins wont harm and infact are said to be beneficial for the fish.. carbon Will remove it to a degree but rem its constantly leaching while the filter is constantly removing ... i would say within a few days .. after 3-4 you will need to renew carbon.. so its getting expensive at this point.
reg water changes will keep it from going to dark and it will soon dissapear

i happen to love the look

 

[NightPhoenix]

When I've bought wood before I stick it in the back of my toilet system(the area where the new water is held). Everytime someone flushes the stained water is removed and replaced with new water.

Did this for 3 weeks followed by a week in de-chlorinated water.

what a bloody good idea
tannins wont harm and infact are said to be beneficial for the fish.. carbon Will remove it to a degree but rem its constantly leaching while the filter is constantly removing ... i would say within a few days .. after 3-4 you will need to renew carbon.. so its getting expensive at this point.
reg water changes will keep it from going to dark and it will soon dissapear

i happen to love the look

Personally I have always liked the stained water which natural wood creates -- at least if the tank has a natural "landscape" to it. Years ago when I had angels I actually used peet in the filter to stain the water because the drift wood wasn't doing the trick. In my new tank which is cycling I have mopani wood and the new carbon filter kept things crystal clear for about 8 days then bam -- now it's tinted which I kind of like. (makes my silk plants look even more real...LOL!)

 

[OldMan47]

Tom, you can expect the carbon to have an almost instant effect. The small amount of adsorbing capacity of carbon will act quite quickly. What you need to recognize is that the capacity of carbon has its limits. What does this mean, in practical terms? It means that the color that you see may or may not be completely removed by the carbon in your filter. If there is more leachate in the water than the carbon can control, the color response may not be as good as you might like. In that case you will replace the carbon after just a few days and watch the tank's response again. Each time you replace the carbon you are essentially replacing the method for removing the next bit of tannins from the water. Until you are satisfied with the tank water's response, you will continue to replace the carbon after just a few days. Each time you will be a bit closer to the final condition that you desire. I have never tried to control water color with carbon so I have not followed this to its logical conclusion. Instead I accept the fact that the color simply does not bother the fish and I let my wood go ahead and leach into the tank making the water look like so much weak tea.

 

[CezzaXV]

Tom, you can expect the carbon to have an almost instant effect. The small amount of adsorbing capacity of carbon will act quite quickly. What you need to recognize is that the capacity of carbon has its limits. What does this mean, in practical terms? It means that the color that you see may or may not be completely removed by the carbon in your filter. If there is more leachate in the water than the carbon can control, the color response may not be as good as you might like. In that case you will replace the carbon after just a few days and watch the tank's response again. Each time you replace the carbon you are essentially replacing the method for removing the next bit of tannins from the water. Until you are satisfied with the tank water's response, you will continue to replace the carbon after just a few days. Each time you will be a bit closer to the final condition that you desire. I have never tried to control water color with carbon so I have not followed this to its logical conclusion. Instead I accept the fact that the color simply does not bother the fish and I let my wood go ahead and leach into the tank making the water look like so much weak tea.

I agree.

I would say, however, that it would be more cost effective to just do a water change every few days rather than be replacing carbon all the time.

Wood leeches tannins, it's one of those facts of fishkeeping. You can remove the wood from your tank and soak it somewhere else, or you can leave it in your tank and live with it, doing what little you can to keep the water clear if it bothers you that much. Whatever you choose, there'll be no harm to your fish so it's just what you would prefer really.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

My current 50cm of bogwood leached tannis really bad in my 120L tank, so what i done was put in the small internal filter that came with my 30L tank (which isn't being used) and filled it with filter floss... the filter itself was something very similiar to this--->

http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/600LPH-Internal-Filter-Power-Head-Aquarium-Fish-Tank-Filtration-Oxygenator-/110804465303?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item19cc75f697

Each and every time i done my weekly water changes i then gave the old filter floss a thoroughly good squeeze into the old tank water and it cleared up with 2/3 months. Obviously, the 40-50% weekly water changes were doing most of the work, but i found the extra internal to be most helpful for extra water 'polishing'.

Terry.