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Hello,
I just took my driftwood out of the curing process after 3 weeks. The water was really brown and gross. So I put it in my tank w/o fish and the water is starting to turn sort of yellow and wont sink. The driftwood was at the bottom of this bucket being held down. I put some fishing water and rocks to hold down the DW. Is it okay the put a pair of Rams in there around thrusday? Thanks.

Chris

If the driftwood isn't sinking yet then maybe you needed to soak it for a bit longer. Did you change the water you had it soaking in over the three weeks? I think your suppose to change it frequently.

The yellow stain in the water is caused by the tannins leaching from the wood, generally they are harmless to fish. You can buy a product that you put in your filter to take the yellow out of the water. Not sure what its called but your LFS should be able to help you with that. Otherwise water changes will eventually remove the yellow stain.

Personally, I would have soaked it until it had sunk and I would be a bit hesitant to add fish just yet. Rams could be risky as they are very sensitive to water conditions and like their water pristine.

Cheers- Crusha

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

So the water is definiently yellow. I never changed the water but It isn't sinking. So it could disappear before thursday.

Chris

You should change the water every other day so it won't be nasty when soaking driftwood. It will leach the tannins which make the water yellow. If you change the water, you get rid of the tannins quicker, otherwise its just leaking stuff into the water and just sitting in it. Soak it a little longer...maybe attach a piece of slate to the bottom with a screw. Change the water every other day so its clean. I'd soak it until the water stayed clear. If it won't sink, just put it in the tank with rocks attached. The tannins are a little acidic, so if you have low pH already I wouldn't add it. If your pH isn't low and you don't mind the color, then soak it for another week, changing the water out every other day...then add it to the tank.

*Kristin*

Ah, the classic mistake.

Soaking bogwood involves frequent water changes. When I cure my pices of wood, I change the water in the bucket daily. Additionally, the kind of timescale I adopt for determining if the bogwood is ready for use is of the order of three months for a small piece. Larger pieces may need up to a year depending upon how large (and solid) they are.

Once again, that favourite word of veteran fishkeepers looms on the horizon - 'patience'.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Not saying what type of timber it is the answer to how long it will take is totally impossible. Many/most timbers release tannins (the dark staining colour) and no matter what you do or how long you prepare them. I have soaked some for three months and they still release tannins. As for the floating some timbers will never sink completly it is in their make up. If that is the case you will have to hold it down with a rock or use plastic or stainless steel screws through a piece of slate.

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Keith

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Driftwood water is not nasty. In fact it is preferred by many species of fish and not minded by most others. It is only disliked by humans and even then there are plenty of people that like the natural look of tannin stained water. It is what the natural water of those fish would look like. For that reason I usually just cure my driftwood in the tank after boiling it for a couple minutes if possible to speed up the process. I've had a tank turn nearly black for a few days and my tetras were just thrilled. My otos also spawned for the first time during that period.

The only way to solve it permanently is to wait it out. Most wood will stop giving off tannins eventually but some always will. I've also found if you have any driftwood eating plecos they will cause the driftwood to release some tannins continually. Carbon can remove some of the color but will get used up quickly. Since I have several clown plecos I use purigen which absorbs probably 100times what the carbon did and can be recharged numerous times. With that you don't even have to soak the wood except to get it to sink. Also some wood will never sink and will have to be connected to a slate base or weighed down with rocks. I got a really thick piece of wood that has a huge slate base and still wouldn't sink so I set it on the bottom of the tank, put 4 good sized flat bottomed rocks on the edges of the base, then filled it over with 3" of substrate. It's not going anywhere.

If you can boil it for an hour, it'll sink quicker as the heat seems to open up the pores of the wood. It doesn't help with the tannins but it should get your wood a bit more waterlogged. Otherwise, just wait it out

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Hello,
So I am still desperatly trying to get the tannies out and make it sink. I wanna put a pair of German Balloon Rams (19.95 a piece, ) but The water is starting to turn color every OTHER day. How long will this take and are there any other ways? Thanks.

Chris

*Bumps Thread*

Chris

OK where did the DW come from? Timber being my trade (Cabinet maker and trade teacher 26 years) I do have a little knowledge about it. All timbers as they srart to break down in water they release tannins in a fish tank this can be increased by all the chemicals naturally and added to the tank. But as you DW is not a tank it is releasing lots of tannins naturally, in otherwords what I am saying you piece of DW could be releasing a very high rate of Tannins no matter what you do. I have never boiled DW as I think it "could" actually start to break down the structures of the wood.

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Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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Are you saying that it could never stop releasing tannins? I found this at a harbor.

Chris

It's not always a good idea to use driftwood you've found laying around. It can carry pollutants could kill your fish. I tried a piece I'd found laying around and first I ended up with tons of pond critters in the tank that multiplied out of control and then it started to release ammonia and never stopped. If you really want to use a piece of driftwood you've found I would test it with some other fish or ghost shrimp would be as sensitive as any fish to make sure it's safe before putting any expensive fish in the tank.
Also rams really love tannins. Most people add either driftwood or peat in order to lower the ph and even purposely stain the water brown. I loaded my ram breeding tank with several pieces of wood and peat granules. The only problem I had was overusing the peat and causing a ph of 5.0 instead of the 6.0 I wanted so I had to add a little tapwater on occasion to buffer it back up.

Not knowing your area and you dont know the type od timber you have it could easly be a poluted piece poisons etc. The ones I have collected are well and truely sonbleached and come from very clean waters.

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Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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This is from a Marina off of Long Island Sound. I think the water is pretty clean. What do you mean by sunbleached?

Chris

'Sun bleached' means more or less what it says.

A piece of wood that has been left out in the open for a long time will become paler in colour, as the ultraviolet light from the sun breaks down several of the chemicals that contribute to the dark brown pigment of wood. Mind you, this applies to pieces of tree branch that have been left out in the open on land. Under water, the water will filter out UV depending upon the depth at which the wood has been resting, so the 'bleaching' effect of UV rays will be reduced.

However, if the wood has been underwater for a long time in a stream or lake to begin with, and is already waterlogged, then a fair amount of the resident tannins will have leached out to begin with. Your problem with this kind of wood, as Sham has stated above, is that a piece taken from a natural water body will almost certainly harbour its own collection of inhabitants, that need to be removed before you add it to an aquarium. Unlike live rock used in marine aquaria, what could be termed 'live wood' from a stream or pond will contain a host of creatures that you would NOT be advised introducing into your aquarium.

In the case of a piece of 'live wood' (i.e., wood that is likely to contain all kinds of inhabitants) you would be advised to boil it first, then soak it in a bucket with daily water changes until tests on the water revealed no cause for alarm. Last thing you want is a host of dead critters in the wood rotting and jacking up ammonia levels to horrendously lethal values.

Even wood bought at an aquarium dealership should be treated. Because treating the wood generally takes time (I set aside 3 months for new pieces of wood), I'm once again minded to quote my favourite fishkeeping mantra ... "patience, patience, patience"



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002