Tannins...

[Acrus]

Well i bought a piece of bog wood, and i thought i boiled and set it for long enough to get rid of that nice brown tannin... well i was wrong. now my tank looks like Tea! Any suggestions on how to get rid of it? or am i just doomed to slowly get rid of it via frequent water changes?

 

[Phantom Thief]

You can try activated carbon.



P.T.

 

[Chasing Puck]

Carbon will remove it, but you'll likely need to replace it often--I found every week worked for me, with about 3-4 medium sized pieces leaching the tannins. Otherwise, it will eventually be removed with water changes, but that can take years. Since it doesn't hurt the fish, I usually don't spend the money on carbon--I will if I have company coming and don't feel like having everyone wonder why my tanks are tea colored.

 

[Acrus]

carbon, eh? well, in other words, the long route. LOL, i don't think carbon is going to take care of the mess the wood had created. I'm talking dark tea color, like day old coffee (almost) dark. *sigh* But thank for the sudgestion, greatly appreciated!

 

[Acrus]

Agreed, the money issue is the thing, i would need to buy carbon often... and well... i'm lazy to go the the store.

and it can take years you say to get rid of the tannins??? but it won't hurt fish?? okies, guess the only thing to do is deal with it

 

[clutterydrawer]

jsut take it out and boil it some more...

 

[TorPeteO]

Hey, clutterydrawer's got a really good idea. I hadn't even thought about it, although once mentioned, it sounds like common sense.

Take it out, boil it more, and keep it in a bucket of water (replace the water as it gets darker) until the water you're taking out of the bucket becomes as clear as you want it. Or, you know, you could just live with it.

I got some mopani driftwood for my tank, too, and it did the colouring thing. Not too bad, though, and now (after 6 weeks or so) it's starting to get almost as clear, kind of, as it was before the wood was put in.

Oh, and I have activated carbon in my filter, and it hasn't seemed to help an incredible amount. Or maybe it has, I'm not sure, I haven't tried it without carbon.