# Soaked My Driftwood For A Week, Water Still Turned Brown....



## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

Hey guys, a week ago I finally found a nice piece of Moponi driftwood for my tank. I soaked it outside in a plastic garbadge can for a week (changed the water every two days or so). Last night when the water wasn't turning so brown anymore (still a little tinted but I figured I could live with it) I put it in my tank and did a 50% water change to buffer the ph up because I know from reading threads on here that the Tannins in driftwood can lower PH.
This morning, my water was REALLY tinted, and my PH had went from 6.8 (after last nights water change) to 6.4 in roughly 9 hours.
I'm thinking that maybe it was because it was a little cold this week, and maybe the water in the garbadge can wasn't warm enough to leach out all the Tannins?


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## Ba20 (Jan 29, 2003)

Depending on how big it is, try boiling it. That has always worked for me. Even after a boil the tannins might still be present, but with time and maybe a little carbon they'll disappear


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## waldron (Jan 15, 2007)

if you do not have a big enough pot/ what you can do which i did and worked well,

1, place the pice in the sick, if only half fits in that will work, boil some water and then poor into the sink, and just do a aside at a time, i did that, over a 24 hour period , and it sank right to the bottom and never had a problem , and i got mine at the lake.. not even a store..

heres a picture


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2008)

Must be a big piece of driftwood.

Pre-soaking it with daily water changes for a week or two will remove alot of the tannins, but they will continue to exude from the bog wood for at least a year in a smaller quantities.

When I first got into fishkeeping, I didn't realize of how the bogwood affected my pH until I bought some big 'log-sized' pieces of malaysian bogwood and dropped them in my community tank. One day I noticed most of the fish were either dead or dying. I had no clue what was happening, I thought it was some type of disease, until I checked the pH. I dropped in baking soda and the sick fish all sprung back to life.


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

It's a large piece, maybe 3'-0 long and the way it's sitting in the tank 1'-0 high. I'd guess it's 5"-6" thick through the thickest part. Thanks for the tip about the PH Bullsnake. Just out of curiosity, how low can it get before I have to worry about it hurting my fish and/or killing off my benificial bacteria? I don't plan to just let it go (6.4 is usually what it's around when I do my twice-weekly water changes) but it'd be nice to know a number at which I have to start to worry.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

i have a ton of driftwood in all of my tanks, i always put the pieces of driftwood in a 5 gallon bucket or a big rubbermaid container if it's huge, then i stick it in the tub and run hot water into the bucket for about 20-30 minutes, it works really well, i have never had a problem with my water turning brown afterwards.


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## Big-Kev (Mar 29, 2008)

Hot water is the key to make the wood leach tannins faster, the heat opens the pores in the wood.


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

i have a piece of DW that i have been soaking all week. i just leave it in the tub, and fill the tub with scorching hot water, and then i let it sit for about an hour, and then i drain and repeat, then i let it sit over night, and clean the tub in the morning before i take a shower.
the method seems to work because all week the water has been less brown every day. this morning it wasnt brown at all, which im thankful for, because cleaning the shower every morning sucked ass. 
but i think this will be my DW prep method from now on with DW that doesnt fit in the biggest pot i have (to boil it)

i would suggest this method if you are still having a problem.


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

I guess water temperature was my problem then. On the plus side, the PH seems to have stabilized, no change since last night. I was going to do a water change, but since the PH hadn't dropped any further I decided to let it go since 2 50% changes in 2 days isn't a good idea. I checked it again this morning and it's still holding around 6.4. 
Nick, the bath tub idea is great, but I'm kinda' screwed because my place only has a shower stall.
Sorry about not posting pics last night as promised, I took a few but my girlfriend lost the cord that let you download them into your PC, so I'm camera-less again till she finds it.


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

hahaha^^^ reminds me, i have to get my girl a new chord for her camera, i lost it... completely gone...


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

Found the cord! Here's a nice full tank shot see the pics forum for more.
View attachment 166721


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## Guest (Apr 28, 2008)

Wow Dan, that's a good looking tank.

By the way, if you want to remove the yellow tannins from your water, just add some activated carbon to your filter. Your water will clear up overnight.


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

Bullsnake said:


> Wow Dan, that's a good looking tank.
> 
> By the way, if you want to remove the yellow tannins from your water, just add some activated carbon to your filter. Your water will clear up overnight.


Thanks. I've actually decided I like it a little yellow. That pic was taken right after the first water change I did after I put the driftwood in, that toned it down alot. Since then I've done another two water changes, and now the PH has stabilized. Guess I did get most of the tannins by soaking it.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

I had a root...that I kept in a 40 gallon rubermaid container...and it created black water from the tannins....seriously...the water was like rootbeer. I loved it and would add it to my tank like blackwater extract. It would keep my tanks nicely tinted. It really seems to calm the fish when the lights are on.


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## RBP7 (Oct 13, 2006)

i had a large piece like yours dan and the tannis took like a year before the water in my tank was clear. manny ppl add bogwood so that it will darken the water so its more like the amazon.


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

Yea, I'm glad I like the look, because it looks like it's going to be that way for a long time lol. The water is still turning darker over the days between water changes. The weird thing is the Tannins seem to be stabilizing my PH. Before it would be 6.8-7 after a water change then 4-5 days later it would have dropped to around 6.4. Now it just hangs at 6.4 all the time. From what I've read here that's a good thing though.


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