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Hi all,

My water colour in my 285L has got a slight brown colour to it. i have got some bogwood in there and i know it can leech a brown colour to your water but these pieces of bogwood came from tanks and their water was crystal clear.

Its not really a problem except when you look at tank from a distance it looks quite sickening then. Will upping the water changes slowly get the brown colour out? or am i doomed with these few pieces of bogwood....

Add carbon to your filter.
It will help remove the tannins being leeched into your tank. Keep in mind, if wood is dried and then resumerged, the tannin leeching can be brought back on. Also, some waters that are softer or harder may cause more or less tannins to leech out.
Those people may have had superior filtration than you do.
Theres lots of reasons why.
Water changes and activated carbon will clear it up if you dont like it. Also, have you added peat at all to your filter? if you add peat it too will cause the water to go tea brown colors.


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Is there any harm at all fish from the leeching? im gunna try some of the things you said i just dont want to fiddle to much and upset my fragile rams

No.
Actually your rams will appreciate the tannins leeching into the water. It will make the water more acidic, perfect for rams.


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Do watch that the ph doesn't go too low. In already slightly acidic water peat and driftwood can potential lower the ph to 5.0. Other than that alot of fish prefer tannins in their water and the resulting acidic ph. It can help with spawning some south american species.

will the tannins keep on lowering the ph? or can it only lower so far. will this be ok conditions for other tank mates like neons glowlights and corys(soon to be added)

It depends on how much buffering your water has(kh) and how much tannic acid the driftwood releases. Usually after awhile the outside of the wood will swell and seal off the inside so you don't get anymore tannins. If you have a higher kh the ph may not drop any or may only drop a little and stay there. If the wood keeps giving off tannic acid without any water changes eventually the buffers will be used up and the ph will drop. For my water that takes 3 pieces of driftwood, some peat, and too dark of water to see through before the ph drops any. In other water that starts with a low kh it may only take 1 piece of wood to drop the ph below 6.
Glowlights and cories shouldn't mind tannins and would probably prefer them but do make sure to check the ph occasionally if you have soft water.

Last edited by sham at 05-Oct-2005 18:21

So far ph hasnt dropped at all and water hasnt got any murkier. have noticed glow light and rams colouring is alot better though..