Bogwood

[Haveagojoe]

Don't know if this is the righr section but here goes, bought a piece of bogwood from maindenhead, it said on the label to soak it for 8 hours in hot water and rinse it in cold water till it runs clear, which I did, I put in the tank and next morning the tank was dark brown, took it out and repeated the process but this time put in a bucket of water and that turned brown, I have changed the water in the bucket every day now for 5 weeks but it still leeches brown.
Someone told me to weather it outside for the winter but this seems a lot of messing around to me has anyone any ideas apart from taking it back to the shop.

 

[RadaR]

Don't know if this is the righr section but here goes, bought a piece of bogwood from maindenhead, it said on the label to soak it for 8 hours in hot water and rinse it in cold water till it runs clear, which I did, I put in the tank and next morning the tank was dark brown, took it out and repeated the process but this time put in a bucket of water and that turned brown, I have changed the water in the bucket every day now for 5 weeks but it still leeches brown.
Someone told me to weather it outside for the winter but this seems a lot of messing around to me has anyone any ideas apart from taking it back to the shop.

To a certain extent, wood will always leach tannins. Some do more than others. The hot water opens up the pours in the wood which helps release the majority of the tannins.
These tannins arent harmful at all and some fish even appreciate the humic acids in the water.
If you dont like the colour it creates then just run activated carbon in your filter. It will need replacing every few months but it does the job.

 

[Ben M]

also, regular water changes seems to dilute the tannins.

cheers

 

[Amunet]

I love it when I add new wood to a tank and it makes the water all tea colored. But yeah, great advice above

 

[stevereade]

I normally put mine in one of those metal trays you used to get school dinners served in (mother in law is a school cook), fill it with water and put it on the hob for an hour or so and it normally does the trick.