driftwood problems

[aquarius]

i don't kow why i keep having problems with the driftwood i buy. the first piece, african driftwood, i soaked it for weeks, scrubbed it, boiled it, soaked it again and it still kept releasing tannins into the tank, so much so that i had to remove it. my water was really yellow and i hated it. finally, after a billion water changes, my water was fine and i decided to use the malasyan driftwood. again i soaked, scrubbed, and boiled it but it keeps on floating to the surface. i can't keep it on the bottom unless i bury half of it in the gravel which i don't want to do. so any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated. i don't want to go out and buy more driftwood though

 

[Leslie]

African Bogwood is great but it does indeed tend to leach tannins. The Mopani, which is the lighter colored African wood, is the worst of the lot.

Soaking it will eventually get the tannins out but it can take a very long time.

 

[The-Wolf]

when you say driftwood what exactly are you talking about?

have you seen my pinned topic on types of wood?
If not click here

 

[jflowers]

Dont worry about it, I know it may not look good to you (I love the effect), but the fish will love it and eventually, if you keep up regular maintenance i.e. water changes, it will dissipate and eventually dissappear.

Jon

 

[aquarius]

when you say driftwood what exactly are you talking about?

have you seen my pinned topic on types of wood?
If not click here

this is what i have

african

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...&Np=1&N=0&Nty=1

malaysian

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...&Np=1&N=0&Nty=1

i've soaked both pieces for far too long as it is so i don't know what the problem is

 

[jflowers]

Well the first link says "it is ideal for blackwater aquariums", look them up, the tannins are what make them blackwater, so no suprise there.

The Amazon system is made up with three different water types, blackwater, whitewater and clearwater. Blackwater is slowmoving and has lots of wood and leaf material, clearwater is fast moving and is filtered through rock and whitewater is very silty.

Discus and cardinal tetras thrive in blackwater.

HTH

Jon

 

[Tolak]

It would help keep it down if you attached a piece of slate to the bottom and held it in place with a brass or stainless steel screw. All my driftwood is set up this way. If you don't like the look of the slate, bury it under a bit of gravel.

Tolak

 

[Paul_MTS]

Fromt those links i think my most troublesome tannin leaking pice of wood was the bogwood, i'm pretty sure i have peices of all of them and multiplies in each tank but i never have a problem with tannins.

Firstly i soak my wood in the bath for a few days and i'm usually running carbon in my filtration.

If you don't like the tannis get some carbon in your filter.

 

[gale]

I bought driftwood with slate already on it, made for aquariums. I got it from big al's online but see my lfs has it too, only not the size I needed. Anyway, I boiled it for about 40 minutes and it's not floating or leaking color.

 

[Leslie]

Carbon has no effect on tannins.