How Do I Soak Driftwood/bog Wood ?

[daniel_2kaii9]

hey, i bought bog wood//driftwood yesturday and i want to know how u are suppost to soak it and how long for ?

i just put it in a tub and filled it with warm water 2 times a day right ? or wrong ?

thanks

~Daniel

 

[star4]

Just put it in a bucket and leave it, change the water each day depending on how "brown" the water goes, tannins can leak out of wood for weeks.

 

[Ryefish]

if its small enough, put it in a pan and boil it for a few hours each day, then leave in water to soak overnight. its like making a cup of tea haha

 

[daniel_2kaii9]

its 14 inches long so no way i could boil it lol

 

[CrystalClear16]

I soaked mine for a week and also poured boiled water over it. But then got bored and just put it in the tank. My external filter with carbon seemed to prevent any colouration of the water - it stayed perfectly clear.

I have heard of people soaking the wood for months and it still coloured their water when they put it in. I couldn't be bothered to wait and since the tanins don't harm the fish I figured why not!

 

[daniel_2kaii9]

I soaked mine for a week and also poured boiled water over it. But then got bored and just put it in the tank. My external filter with carbon seemed to prevent any colouration of the water - it stayed perfectly clear.

I have heard of people soaking the wood for months and it still coloured their water when they put it in. I couldn't be bothered to wait and since the tanins don't harm the fish I figured why not!

so if i soak it for a few days then put it in the tank and it still leaks it wont harm the fish ?

 

[Ryefish]

tannin's don't harm fish. You may find that the amount that it will leech into your tank won't make much difference at all. My tank water is slightly yellow, but i don't notice it until i syphon water into a white bowl when im cleaning

 

[CrystalClear16]

No the tannins arn't harmful, they just give your water a brownish tinge. Not great to look at but if you have a good filter with some carbon you proberly won't even notice.

Another point to note though is that the tannins will lower your ph. This was the main reason I got extra bogwood actually as I have a high ph in my tank.

 

[Ben M]

hi, if you do regular water changes then that seems to get rid of most of the tannins, and after a while the wood will stop producing tannins.

 

[alex.wardle]

I am going to say the same as every one else really. I placed mine in a bucket and boiled the hell out of it for a few days constanly adding boiling water as soon as it was cool enough to dip a finger in. Each day the water was less and less coloured. And again as other people have said activated carbon in your filter works well but will need replacing every few weeks, BUT a word of warning if you have a planted aquaiurm or are adding meds to fish the carbon is a bit of a pain because as well as removing impuritys orders and dyes (in your case the tanninggs) it will also remove any ferts you may be using for plants and medication you are administrating to your fish.
If I was to set up another tank with bog wood in I would boil it.
But on the flip side as again people have said the tannings will not harm your fish but the complete oposit the fish will atually like it.
Hope that's helped

 

[alex.wardle]

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