Tannins.. How Long Can You "drag" Them Out?

[VespertineStar]

Lol, 8 months on from putting a bit of mopani in mine and it still looks like tea. I do like the tropical look of it though so I don't mind too much.

 

[ALW]

i put oak in Bo`s tank,actually only because MHA didnt have any bogwood, didnt really like the look of it , but ive now planted it with java fern and love it ( and he hasnt touched it )

i love the look of tannins in a tank, makes for a much more natural look i think, so anyway how many water changes do you think i could expect to see it for? given the fact that i didnt soak only scrubbed it before adding it,will they leak longer than bogwood do you think?
if i remember correctly i got away with about 8 weeks when i added mopani wood

thanks
shelagh xxx

Depends on how big the piece is, how much water is in the tank and how much water you change and lenght between changes. A medium sized piece in a 100l tank will leach tannins for arround a month to a month and a half, with weekly water changes of about 20%. So the tannins will then last for about 2-3 months. If it is a large piece in a 300l tank then it will take longer for the tannins to make the colour of the water change (it could take 1-2 months for it to start changing the colour), then if you only changed 25% of the water every 4 weeks then obviously the tannins will last much longer and so could go into many months.