Driftwood... Will It Ever Start Leaching?

[fishwatcher]

I have 2 small pieces of (malaysian?) driftwood and have been soaking them for almost 24 hours now. They still have not started turning the water brown. How long will it take? I hate the idea of putting them in the tank only for them to turn it brown in a few days. (Can you tell I'm new to this!?! LOL)

Thanks!

edit: typos

 

[JArtiles305]

I have 2 small pieces of (malaysian?) driftwood and have been soaking them for almost 24 hours now. They still have not started turning the water brown. How long will it take? I hate the idea of putting them in the tank only for them to turn it brown in a few days. (Can you tell I'm new to this!?! LOL)

Thanks!

edit: typos

Can't tell you when or if they will start.

Only thing I can say is the Malaysian Driftwood I bought at Petco never leached any tannins into my water, or too little for me to notice.

 

[robjack]

Whenever I've soaked wood it's started leeching tannins straight away, so you might have got lucky Either way, I'd leave it another 24 hours just to make sure

Hope this helps,

Rob.

 

[big mick]

The bogwood I get from my supplier never leeched any tannis either, and it sinks straight away. I just assumed they pre soaked it.

Just add it to your tank (assuming you're soaking it elsewhere)

 

[TammyLiz]

Boiling it a little bit will jump-start the leaching process. I have had mixed experience with mopani. Usually, it leaches like mad for months, but one piece I had leached in the pan while it was being boiled, and never colored the water in the tank. I would reccommend boiling for about 20 minutes.

 

[Bloo]

The bogwood I get from my supplier never leeched any tannis either, and it sinks straight away. I just assumed they pre soaked it.

Just add it to your tank (assuming you're soaking it elsewhere)

Unlikely - I assume it just comes from a muddy bog which means it's been leeching for as long as it's been in a bog. And wood that does't come from a bog shouldn't be called bogwood.

So in my experience bogwood and driftwood (in general) do not leech (or much) as it's already been in contact with water for a long time.

But some woods like Mopani (that are just cut down trees of which the wood gets sandblasted on the one side usually) - will leech like mad for up to many months.

 

[fishwatcher]

I got mine from SuperPets... it's malaysian driftwood, I think. (I already threw the tag away.) I checked the ph in the bucket compared to the tap, and the tap is 7.0, the buckets is 6.6. Do you think it will negatively affect my tanks? (I'll have german rams and tetras in one, have harlequins and honey dwarf gouramis in the other.)
Thanks!!

 

[Qays]

nope, most of your fish are fine with low pH, i dont know bout the ram though.

My bogwood leeched for a few weeks, but is fine now!

 

[TammyLiz]

Rams do best in low ph, soft water. In fact, when they breed the hatch rate of their eggs is reduced in hard water/high ph. They benefit from the tannins.

Bloo, I have observed the same about the mopani. Those who don't want tannins should probably stay away from it. I personally think the 'tea' look can be kind of nice.