Tannic Acid

[KeithV]

Beautiful driftwood can dramatically change the appearance of your aquascape....BUT...it can also turn your water a brownish tea color and leave stringy brown fuzz all over your plants due to the tannins in the wood and this can leach into your tank for years before it’s done.

My experience: I trusted the guy that sold me the driftwood..."It's presoaked and tannin free!" ...yeah right, my water turned brown after a day or so and a tea colored dust settled over everything and threatened to never leave.

Solutions:
1. Wood can be boiled in water with some salt for a couple hours to remove tannic acid.

2. Purigen is a synthetic adsorbent filtration product made by Seachem that does a good job of stripping tannins and other unwanted dissolved stuff from your water.

3. Activated Carbon can't hurt the cause...

4. Increased water changes help but won't solve the issue.

Note: Purigen and Activated Carbon have the potential to strip out some of the good stuff too, like the stuff that’s in liquid ferts...ect


Lesson Learned: Always treat your wood, presoak it, boil it, scrub it with a brush, then do it all again.

Good Luck everyone

-KeithV

 

[jacko32]

the brown stuff that settles all over your plants is algea caused by poor water flow and traces of ammonia
the tannings are great for creating black water biotopes for dwarf cichlids, angel fish, discus and any other black water species
not that theres any problem with removing them its just they do also have great benifits and are actually really good for most plants

 

[lljdma06]

the brown stuff that settles all over your plants is algea caused by poor water flow and traces of ammonia
the tannings are great for creating black water biotopes for dwarf cichlids, angel fish, discus and any other black water species
not that theres any problem with removing them its just they do also have great benifits and are actually really good for most plants

I am also a tannin fan myself. You just presoak it for a few weeks and then have good filtration once you put it in. And I use Mopani, which is the worst of the tannic woods. At least that has been my experience with Mopani.

Sorry you do not like it though.

llj

 

[KeithV]

the brown stuff that settles all over your plants is algea caused by poor water flow and traces of ammonia
the tannings are great for creating black water biotopes for dwarf cichlids, angel fish, discus and any other black water species
not that theres any problem with removing them its just they do also have great benifits and are actually really good for most plants

Thanks for the reply! So the tannins will make my Angels happy? Cool!

 

[KeithV]

the brown stuff that settles all over your plants is algea caused by poor water flow and traces of ammonia
the tannings are great for creating black water biotopes for dwarf cichlids, angel fish, discus and any other black water species
not that theres any problem with removing them its just they do also have great benifits and are actually really good for most plants

I am also a tannin fan myself. You just presoak it for a few weeks and then have good filtration once you put it in. And I use Mopani, which is the worst of the tannic woods. At least that has been my experience with Mopani.

Sorry you do not like it though.

llj

The wood I bought is Mopani as well, I really like the slight tannins in the water...just not an over abundance. Mainly I am concerned about this stringy brown haze that came with the introduction of the wood,did you get that when you put in? It does look like an algae..might be why its worrying me...

 

[Ryefish]

this brown dust that has been mentioned, i assumed it was from the gravel in my tank not from the wood i cant get rid of it. I get a really thin air tube and try and syphon it off everything but there is just loads of it

 

[KeithV]

this brown dust that has been mentioned, i assumed it was from the gravel in my tank not from the wood i cant get rid of it. I get a really thin air tube and try and syphon it off everything but there is just loads of it

I am doing that too..with the air tube. If it doesn't get worse it should be fine...I'm just envisioning a tank full of the stuff covering all my bright greens that I worked so hard for. Maybe it'll be ok after it's siphoned a half dozen times or so

 

[jacko32]

its ussually caused by low water flow try to increase your filtration or add a small power head
you could add a apple snail or some MTS though if you add the MTS they can take over your tank which has a knock on effect as you have to find a way to controle there numbers to keep your plants nice and clean you could add a group of oto's
but really the best thing you can do is increase your filtration

 

[KeithV]

its ussually caused by low water flow try to increase your filtration or add a small power head
you could add a apple snail or some MTS though if you add the MTS they can take over your tank which has a knock on effect as you have to find a way to controle there numbers to keep your plants nice and clean you could add a group of oto's
but really the best thing you can do is increase your filtration

Any Ideas on how to increase filtration? I have a Rena Smart Filter 55 with a sponge attachment on the intake so my little black-shirts don't get sucked up, can I just add another power filter on the back of the tank?

I have a small power head I could set up and add as well...right now I'm wondering how to put all those things on my tank as I already have 2 heaters and two c02 lines, and a difusser on the back wall...

 

[jacko32]

its ussually caused by low water flow try to increase your filtration or add a small power head
you could add a apple snail or some MTS though if you add the MTS they can take over your tank which has a knock on effect as you have to find a way to controle there numbers to keep your plants nice and clean you could add a group of oto's
but really the best thing you can do is increase your filtration

Any Ideas on how to increase filtration? I have a Rena Smart Filter 55 with a sponge attachment on the intake so my little black-shirts don't get sucked up, can I just add another power filter on the back of the tank?

I have a small power head I could set up and add as well...right now I'm wondering how to put all those things on my tank as I already have 2 heaters and two c02 lines, and a difusser on the back wall...

yes you could just add another small filter

 

[Ryefish]

I really don't think this brown dust is algae. Its not sticking to anything and its not slimey, it is literally like dust balls.
You can kind of see it on the plants here:
http/i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh163/ryellephoto/BiOrb%20Tank/2010_0502fishtank0007-1.jpg
Is this the same as yours KeithV?

 

[jacko32]

I really don't think this brown dust is algae. Its not sticking to anything and its not slimey, it is literally like dust balls.
You can kind of see it on the plants here:
http/i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh163/ryellephoto/BiOrb%20Tank/2010_0502fishtank0007-1.jpg
Is this the same as yours KeithV?

yes thats algea defo caused by traces of ammonia and low water flow

 

[Ryefish]

I should have mentioned that the plants pictured do have that black brush algae on them.
So, its still algae even though it falls off the plants if i move the water around them?

 

[KeithV]

I really don't think this brown dust is algae. Its not sticking to anything and its not slimey, it is literally like dust balls.
You can kind of see it on the plants here:
http/i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh163/ryellephoto/BiOrb%20Tank/2010_0502fishtank0007-1.jpg
Is this the same as yours KeithV?

Thats the stuff, if I fan at it gently it floats about like a little brown dust cloud before settling back down, it seems to love the java moss and marimo moss patches. I am going to add a small power filter with a little bag of AC when I get home along with a little power head to add some current. I'll post pic's this evening after I dig my camera out of it's hidding spot.

 

[Ryefish]

let me know how it all goes. im kind of stuck with my current air flow, but im planning on getting a snail hopefully by next week. we can try different methods and see who gets somewhere with it haha