Question on driftwood & what causes the wine colour?

[Tez_20]

My hubby purchased himself and me a tank as he loves fish.

He went and brought a 28 litre for himself, added smooth gravel and brought driftwood and some fake plants...well the cycle started ok and brought Tetra quick start and after the bloom, it started going red and you couldn't see through the tank but i let him carry on and the next thing i saw was long hair algae growing off the driftwood.

To be honest the lot looked disgusting and like some one had poured a couple of bottles of red wine in there and the next thing i know he's read about the long hair algae and about soaking driftwood for a good while (where he only soaked it for an hour) and before i know it the lots all being removed and cleaned out again and having water from my main tank.

My main question is what causes these issues please as knowledge helps a good way.

 

[Colin_T]

I assume you want to know why driftwood makes the water go brown and why algae grows?

All terrestrial plant matter releases tannins when put in water. This is the same stuff that causes a cup of tea to turn yellow or brown, depending on how long you soak the tea bag in the hot water. Driftwood is simply dead plant matter and also releases tannins into the water. It can release tannins for months or even years. Having said this, tannins are not harmful to fish and are beneficial to some species of fish.

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Algae grows anywhere there is water and light. If the aquarium doesn't have any live plants, then algae will grow instead. The easiest way to reduce or control algae in a tank without live plants is to simply reduce light. Have the lights on for a couple of hours in the evening and leave them off the rest of the time.

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LIGHTS
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

Try to have the lights on at the same time each day.

 

[vanalisa]

I assume you want to know why driftwood makes the water go brown and why algae grows?

All terrestrial plant matter releases tannins when put in water. This is the same stuff that causes a cup of tea to turn yellow or brown, depending on how long you soak the tea bag in the hot water. Driftwood is simply dead plant matter and also releases tannins into the water. It can release tannins for months or even years. Having said this, tannins are not harmful to fish and are beneficial to some species of fish.

-----------
Algae grows anywhere there is water and light. If the aquarium doesn't have any live plants, then algae will grow instead. The easiest way to reduce or control algae in a tank without live plants is to simply reduce light. Have the lights on for a couple of hours in the evening and leave them off the rest of the time.

-----------
LIGHTS
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

Try to have the lights on at the same time each day.

Thanks for the concise bit on lights; I need to improve.

 

[CassCats]

New driftwood gets biofilm and fungus on it, totally normal and healthy, fish and snails will eat it or it will go away on its own.

Tannins are totally normal too. If you dont like the tannins, throw in carbon in the filter and change it out every so often

 

[Koglin]

To remove the tannins, I recommend Purigen instead of activated carbon (ive heard a couple times that activated carbon also pulls out needed nutrients slowly, and purgien doesnt but havent seen anything to prove this).

Purigen lasts longer, and you can "recharge" it so you don't have to buy more. Rinse really well before use. To recharge successfully though, get enough to make 2 media bags of it and use 1 at a time. When it comes time to recharge/replace, put in your second media bag of Purigen a couple of days before pulling the 1st one out to recharge. Also recommend looking into the alternative methods to recharge it instead of using bleach like its directions say.

I like to get the Purigen pouches that treat 100 gallons, and I just cut open its bag and divide it into portions with an old credit card to fill my own media bags with. I get the $.99 filter media bags at petsmart, they work well with purigen and I can usually get them for buy 2 get 1.

I split the 100 gal bag between a 10 gal tank, an 8.5 gal tank, and a 20 gal. tank, had enough to make 2 bags for each tank. In my nano snail tank, I just stick with activated carbon.

 

[Tez_20]

I assume you want to know why driftwood makes the water go brown and why algae grows?

All terrestrial plant matter releases tannins when put in water. This is the same stuff that causes a cup of tea to turn yellow or brown, depending on how long you soak the tea bag in the hot water. Driftwood is simply dead plant matter and also releases tannins into the water. It can release tannins for months or even years. Having said this, tannins are not harmful to fish and are beneficial to some species of fish.

-----------
Algae grows anywhere there is water and light. If the aquarium doesn't have any live plants, then algae will grow instead. The easiest way to reduce or control algae in a tank without live plants is to simply reduce light. Have the lights on for a couple of hours in the evening and leave them off the rest of the time.

-----------
LIGHTS
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

Try to have the lights on at the same time each day.

Colin thanks for replying and your knowledge on the subjects.

He read about it being Tannins and it could take ages to remove then read about the long algae hair, which put him off more because what he was reading said it can spread and then become hard to remove, i couldn't give him the knowledge on it never having driftwood or long hair algae issues.

Regarding the lights all that's done correctly and thanks again

@NCaquatics and @Koglin thanks for you knowledge also on the subject but now he's added rocks in their and is having my tank water to take it through it's cycle, the colour put him off, although there is ways i now know you can remove it and thank you to you both on the subject.