Soaking driftwood

[Naughts]

I have a new piece of driftwood which is too big/ irregular to fit in a bucket. The shop said soak for two weeks to reduce tannins. I thought maybe put in tank with carbon. Does anyone have any other ideas please?

 

[Byron]

I never bother with soaking driftwood. Tannins are not harmful to fish, beneficial to many in fact. And water changes over time will remove them as the wood leeches fewer.

 

[nic1]

I was going to say that Byron I always just put the wood In my tank and weight/wedge it down. Once I just let a piece float in the tank till it sunk itself after a few weeks... No harm done and it gave the tank a lovely natural colour. (Also, the fish ate the white stuff it leeched out)

 

[Back in the fold]

I have followed Byron's advice. I just set up a new tank and put in a new piece of driftwood. I cleaned it in tap water and did not boil it which was my previous practice. It is leaching color into the water but it is a pleasant sight. I'm not worried.

 

[Naughts]

Great, it's in the tank, thanks for the help everyone!

 

[Fishmanic]

I put a very large malasian driftwood in my 29 gallon tank. It wouldn’t sink, so I used a slab of marble to weigh it down. After drilling two holes in the marble, I mounted the marble under the driftwood and attached it with 2 screws . I then put the sand substrate over the marble to hide it. Heres a video showing the large piece of driftwood.

 

[Ingrid]

I didn't soak my piece of driftwood and it all seems fine

 

[Naughts]

Thank you all. It sank so it's just the tannins to deal with.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

If the tannins bother you - it will make the water look like a fairly dilute tea... the more tannins, the darker the tea coloration - you can remove the tannins by putting carbon in the filter. The carbon will adsorb the tannins.


I don't recommend it, as I like the look of tannins, and actually miss mine (my driftwood has been in the tank so long that I can't notice an effect anymore). I've actually purchased rooibos to add tannins to my tank (and polyphenols) to give me the color and the anti-oxidant properties.