Using Carbon To Get Rid Of Tannins

[STEWARDSONS]

after putting a large ammount of wood into my tank it went really brown, almost like tea.

i purchased some fluval carbon bags from the lfs and put one in my external. its not really doing much so shall i put one in my internal also? my internal has 4 moduals so i would need to remove one of the sponges to do this. problem is that i will lose the good bacteria from that sponge it i take it out.

did a large water chage and its better but starting to go brown again, could i do daily water changes of say 30%?

any ideas

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Did you boil the wood before placing it in the tank?

 

[STEWARDSONS]

i soked it in the bath for a few hours, changed the water 3 times then ran boiling water over it before going into the tank

 

[ZoddyZod]

the only reason to remove the tannins is for the aesthetic appearance of the tank. If you don't mind it I would just leave it. EVENTUALLY the wood will stop leaching them, but it will take a while.

 

[STEWARDSONS]

i want clear water back, not tea lol

 

[Overload]

But your fish probably like tea!

 

[STEWARDSONS]

i like tea too but dont want to stare at it all day,

so will adding more carbon help?

 

[Overload]

maybe a little, but it will be a long slow process until the wood has leached out all the tannins it holds. Water changes would probably have more of an effect.

 

[raptorrex]

i like tea too but dont want to stare at it all day,

so will adding more carbon help?

carbon will remove tannins. it also removes other things your fish need.

tannins are actually good for your fish. and the brown will ease over time.

to reduce it you can soak the wood (for god sake dont boil it) and give it a scrub in warn/hot water. apart from that? buy plastic wood decorations!

differing types and consignments, of wood, give up differing amounts of tannins.
I've found that mapani gives out more than plain bogwood. so perhaps a better choice of wood is in order.

here's a thought. how about considering your fish. rarther than just your eyes?

 

[holidayinn]

the tannins will reduce over time

 

[Tizer]

Best advice would just to be "sit on you hands!" It will go away slowly, but trying to force clean water will just result in more days doing water changes.

 

[raptorrex]

Best advice would just to be "sit on you hands!" It will go away slowly, but trying to force clean water will just result in more days doing water changes.

very well put!

 

[ian]

I'm one for not liking tannin stained water. Water changes will remove it as will the carbon. The best thing i have found for Tannin removal is Seachem Purigen, this stuff is amazing.

As for Tannins being 'good' for fish, there is little to no evidence to actually prove this theory. Because some fish come from Tannin stained water, it doesn't mean that it is necessarily good for them.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

I added a 50cm piece of bogwood into my 120L tank on day one. The first 2/3 weeks it was a weak tea colour, only clearing up after a 50% water change. the tank is now 6 months old and the tannis is still there, i am not sure how long it would take to go back to a weak tea colour as my weekly water changes gets it nice and clear... but the fish LOVE the tannis. As another poster put it earlier, try not to worry about what you are looking at but think about your fish. If all else fails, take it out and buy something else.

Terry.

 

[ian]

but the whole point of having a fish tank is for something nice to look at and if you don't like the look of tannins, then you defeating the point of having a fish tank lol. In what way are we measuring, that fish love tannins?