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 L# Water Quality
  L# Light brown water from drift wood. Is this O.K.
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SubscribeLight brown water from drift wood. Is this O.K.
steven1982
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male canada
I put 4 pieces of large drift wood from the pet store in my 80 gal fresh water tank. I could not boil it like it said to do as the wood was to big. So I soaked it in the bath. The paper that came with the wood also said that this was O.K. I soaked it for 4 hours then put it in the tank. My tank water is now a light brown. From the drift wood, I think? The water does not smell to bad. PH is 7, Nitrate is 10 ppm, Nitrite is 0, carbonate hardness is 120 ppm and alkalinity is 100 ppm. I have 1 albino pleco and 1 apple snail that seem to be O.K. I have 2 kissing fish that are in a quarantine tank and I would like to put them in the main tank in 10-12 days. Do I need to clean up this water before I put the Kissing fish, or any other fish in my tank.

Please HELP!
Post InfoPosted 15-Jan-2008 23:40Profile PM Edit Report 
Joe Potato
 
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It's perfectly natural. The driftwood is releasing tannic acids into the water. As the name implies, tannic acids will lower your pH and alkalinity (carbonate hardness). I notice that you list carbonate hardness and alkalinity as different values -- they are actually the same thing. Did you perhaps mean general hardness?

Usually, the tannins are harmless. Some people use carbon to remove them from the water simply because they don't like the way it looks. The only thing I'd be concerned about in your tank is the apple snail. Snails, in general, like harder, higher pH water to help them build their shells. Since you put in so much driftwood, I'd expect the pH and alkalinity values to go down quite a bit, which could be bad for the snail. For this reason, I'd start running some carbon in the filter.
Post InfoPosted 15-Jan-2008 23:44Profile Homepage AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
steven1982
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Yes I did mean general hardness. I also run 2 packs of carbon in my fluval 405. Thank you for the help
Post InfoPosted 15-Jan-2008 23:51Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Joe Potato
 
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I also run 2 packs of carbon in my fluval 405.


Good deal. If your water was discolored after only 4 hours, the wood is leaching a heck of a lot. You're probably going to have to replace the carbon pretty frequently until the discoloring slows down. I'd do it weekly.

Oh, and since I forgot last post...

Welcome to FP!

Post InfoPosted 15-Jan-2008 23:58Profile Homepage AIM PM Edit Delete Report 
Shinigami
 
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EditedEdited by Shinigami
Welcome to FishProfiles!

I only put one piece of wood in my 125 gallon and the water is discolored, and that's after soaking for 48 hours! I can only imagine how dark your water is.

I bet that carbon is probably all filled up with tannins now; you might want to change the carbon pretty soon.

In any case, if you don't already, you'll learn to love driftwood. IMO one of the best types of decorations possible. Right now I'm eyeing a piece of mopani at my LFS, while trying to figure out how I'm going to boil the darn thing...

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.
Post InfoPosted 16-Jan-2008 03:03Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
keithgh
 
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Depending on the species of DW it can take a long time to basically no time at all. I always soak for at least 2-3 weeks or until the water is clear. Some DWs never stop leaching out tannins.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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Post InfoPosted 16-Jan-2008 05:03Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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