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Did you rinse it well after boiling it?

If you used tap water to rinse it, did you put a little chlorine/chloramine remover in?

Also, maybe the gravel just stirred a bit and will settle.

Is it milky white or some other color?

Last edited by Cory_Di at 04-Feb-2005 16:41

Thx :-)

So far so good. Best of luck. Tiger...

Water is still mostly clear, pH has settled on around neutral. :-)

The aquarium in question is new (thank God) - no fish to harm... If this had happened in my mature 15 gal I would be in serious trouble.

I have replaced *all* the water now with non-KH treated stuff - only dechlorinated.. I will see what happens now.

That's the whole point of boiling. By removing the bulk of the tannins, you eliminate that which drops the pH. My 20 long tank has not dropped in pH worth any significance in 2 years with two big pieces of mopani wood.

Driftwood will drop the PH. I used crash coral to bring up the ph again. A ph drop from 9 - 7 in 8hrs is not good. Watch your fish don't die of ph shock.

It was rinsed, but not very thoroughly.

It was rinsed in untreated tap water.

Milky is the closest term - kind of misty.

I called my LFS, and they said it could be precipitated CaCO3, since I use a KH booster (our water is very, very soft)... The driftwood has driven the pH down quite sharply from 9.0 (what you get with the KH booster in a new and fishless environment - it doesn't do that in an established tank) to 7.1 in eight hours.

They reccomended a 50% water change (which I have just now done) and to wait and see and keep testing :-P The water seems clearer post-change, so maybe that's a good sign.

Of course, now, having just put 50% non-KH modified water in the tank, the KH will have fallen again :-P

Last edited by geesloper at 04-Feb-2005 17:11

I have a couple pieces of wood doing the same thing. I boiled it, and let it cool. Then boiled it again. On and off for a week. Still no good. The LFS and some people here at FP told me to leave it out in the sun to dry. Not for too long as the sun will bleach it. And it worked. absolutely no more tarnishing.

Hi all,

I just bought a small piece of driftwood for a new aquarium today (from an aquarium store), and have boiled it vigourously for four hours, changing the water periodically...

The blasted thing is *still* turning the water brown in the pot, and is beginning to disintegrate... :-P

I've never had driftwood before, so I'm at a loss. Any ideas?

Ok, the driftwood has been in the water for 8 hours now.. The water is not brown or yellow, but it has now gone murky? :-(

Hmm. Fair enough - I will attempt to put it in the tank, and post when I can see a result.

I would.

Just make sure that you have removed any loose wood particles since you mentioned it is starting to disintegrate.

All of the driftwood that I have in my tanks is dark wood and I've never had a problem with them leeching tanins into the water. Over time little pieces of the wood does tend to break off but this is easilly remedied when you vacuum the gravel.

In my opinion the problem comes when you want to use driftwood that you have found outside somewhere. Normally the driftwood you buy in the stores has already been cured and is good to go (once sterilized) unless otherwise stated. I guess all you need to do is ask the management where they get their driftwood from. I wouldn't always trust in what a general sales clerk would tell you. Sometimes they give you the answer that you want to hear without knowing.

Hope this helps...

Boiling time may depend on the wood.

Two years ago, I boiled my aqarium-store bought driftwood (labeled welaby wood, believed to be mopani) for almost 6 hours. It is a two-toned, very heavy wood and is self sinking. I had boiled it once for 30 minutes as it said to do on the label. I decided to put it in an empty 5 gallon aquarium overnight after letting it cool and rinsing it. The water was orange by morning.

I decided to go that second round and figured I've got all day to let it make driftwood soup. Within the first hour or so the water looked like weak tea. By hour 3 it looked like coffee. By hour 6 it was pure espresso. You couldn't see the bottom of the pot.

I let it cool, rinsed it and put it back in a newly filled 5 gallon again to test it. The water was clear. The only time you can see a slight tinge is during water changes, against a white bucket and I do mean slight. It is not noticeable in the aquarium at all.

I have repeated this with two more pieces of wood, one going into my nephews tank. No issues with coloring the water.

Morale of the story: Don't prejudge its readiness in the pot. If you have a big glass bowl or aqarium, let it cool, rinse it and put it in overnight to see just how orange it makes the water. Using a white bucket could be misleading. You want something you can see through.

Hope this helps!

Diane

Last edited by Cory_Di at 04-Feb-2005 07:02

It was from a reputable aquarium store, and I didn't notice any odd smell - it just smelled 'woody' :-P

I asked if I had to boil it, and was told that it helped to strip the tanin out (which I knew), but carbon filtration would also work if allowed to work for a long enough period.

Do you think I should just put it in the tank and see what happens?

Normally if you purchase the driftwood from a reputable aquarium store it is safe for use once sterilized and that takes less than 5 minutes in boiling water. What did the personnel at the store advise you to do?

By boiling it for an extended period of time you may be causing what you are seeing.

you said you bought it it, if you bought it from a pet store i thought you didn't have to boil it and uf it is drift wood from the ocean then give up i boiled wood from the ocean for 4 hours and it didn't work just made a big stink