Tannin Troubles... Still!

[lozronz]

I am running out of ideas now... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have two lovely large pieces of bogwood that have been soaking in my tank for 6 months, I soaked for a month previous and have boiled for 6 hours contiuously, bigger water changes than needed every week and an extra filter purely filled with carbon (changed weekly)... And my tank still looks like its filled with pee from the morning after a night out on the lash!

Don't get me wrong I like a little tannin in the water to give it that authentic river bed feel but this goes very yellow and dampens own the colours of the fish, so for example Kribs just look Red black and white.

Is there anything, anything else I can do? Bake it? seal it somehow? I'm running out of ideas .

 

[Underwurlde]

Is there any carbon in your filter?

 

[Squid]

Is there any carbon in your filter?

Yes... see below from first post..

and an extra filter purely filled with carbon (changed weekly)...

That must be one hell of a bit of Bogwood... how big is it?

Squid

 

[lozronz]

Its two pieces, not that big really, probably 2.5kg and 1kg but very dark. I know that some bog wood just keep releasing tannins pretty much forever but I would have thought they would have slowed down.

I even took the wood out for three weeks and gradually did 90% water change so the water was clear again. I put them back in and in two weeks back to yellow!

 

[Themuleous]

Carbon and water changes are about the only things I know of. I always find I have tannis in the tank for the first year or so and thats just with small pieces of wood. It can take ages, as you well know! It should clear given time, but it might just be one of those things, Im afraid.

Sam

 

[Squid]

Its two pieces, not that big really, probably 2.5kg and 1kg but very dark. I know that some bog wood just keep releasing tannins pretty much forever but I would have thought they would have slowed down.

I even took the wood out for three weeks and gradually did 90% water change so the water was clear again. I put them back in and in two weeks back to yellow!

i had one that took 6 weeks to get it down to an acceptable level, and i changed the water every day to hotter water. That piece was pretty dark too.. It also has the affect of lowering my PH a fair bit, so keep an eye on that to make sure its not a problem.

Are you still doing 25% water changes weekly for the fish?

What carbon filter are you using?

Other than that.. as said above, there isn't much more you can do AFAIK.

Squid

 

[lozronz]

Still doing normal water changes, thats the one thing that the wood is good for, I can't be lazy and skip a week cos the yellow bugs me too much!

Im just using a biggish box filter with activated carbon tucked away behind some rocks (d box filters work well with carbon?)...And the carbon layer in my fluval.

 

[DarkEntity]

If its any help, ive got the 125litre tank in sig with 1 huge piece of wood that covers 3/4 of the length and another vertically thats 20" tall. I soaked/boiled etc for 2 months prior to adding to the tank and its still full of tannin. Ive got carbon in 2 filters but no joy.

Id say you will just need to live with it until it stops leeching

 

[lozronz]

Hey Hey,
I seem to have found a rather labourious solution to the yellow water but I wanted to run it past you guys to see what you think. It seems to be working at the moment but there might have been something that I have missed.

When doing my weekly water changes now I put the 25% water changes from both of my other tanks (crystal clear water) into the four foot tank with the problem tannins before doing the 25% on that one.

I therefore get a 60-70% change on the four footer without having to use uncycled water (I do dechlorinate the tap water)

All my tanks are kept at the same water parameters. I know this increases the chance of spreading infection but, touch wood (no pun intended) I have never had any problems in any of my tanks so far.

Its working as far as aethetics are concerned, the water is much clearer and the fish actually seem livelier but I don't know the ins and out about mixing bacteria from tanks. Does this seem viable?

Any advice?

 

[thefirethief]

Ive asked the very same question many times but my bogwood seems to be calming down quite a bit these days. Changing the spectrum of my bulbs made a huge difference too. Some bulbs seemed to really show up the tannins.



Heres an idea you could try....

Most bamboo is sealed with polyurethane varnish before its put into the aquarium as it will rot otherwise. Ive often thought about sealing my bogwood with it, but dont have the need anymore. Could be worth a shot.

 

[Themuleous]

To be honest. 60-70% water changes with tap water would be fine, I easily do that much in my nano and thats every other day, the fish and plants should be fine. So I would stop taking it from the other tanks and just use the tap water. As you say you're running the risk of cross-infection.

Sam

 

[BigIan]

i do a weekly 50% change on my 60 gallon tank with no ill effects, i drop a load of meaty treats in with the fresh water and the fish seem to get all giddy thinking its a change in the seasons, this can actualy trigger some species to spawn.

a 50% change is nothing, i`d be more worried about the cross contamination.