Tannin from Malaysian driftwood

L

lake_tuna

AC Members
Dec 14, 2009
428
0
0
42
So, I got this piece of driftwood (I don't think it actually drift b/c it's pretty heavy), and it's too large for any of my pots to boil to get rid of the tannin. I'm reading that tannin is safe for fish.. I'm assuming it is for the shrimp, too?

I'd like to add this to my shrimp tank, but I don't want to disturb any water parameters in there. What effects does driftwood tannin have on water, beside the coloration, and shrimp?
 
Tannins are a natural softening agent and will lower ph. Bucket soaking for a few days will deduce the tannins, though not as much as boiling. Adding carbon will soak up tannins, though in my experience, a large chunk can out pace carbon pretty easily.
 
Driftwood should be fine in your shrimp tank. Another way to get most of the tannins out is to put it in the bathtub with as hot water as you can get and jst replace the water as muh as you can for a day or two. Good luck! I personally love driftwood in planted tanks.
 
I have it in the bucket filled with water at the moment and changing water once a day ( no tub in my apt). I remember boiling a smaller piece about 4 times for 30 minutes at a time until the water became really dark, and it still had tannin left in it! This is going to be a long process, doh! I'd rather not split this thing into two.
 
My drift has tannin still so a water change each week clears it up.... Figure a year and hope it stops. If not I'll just have to wait as I keep doing water changes. :)

I soaked it in a 5 gal. bucket of hot water in the tub a few times before putting it in the aquarium.
 
Well you will never get it all out.

The idea of soaking or boiling is that it gets out the majority of the surface, easy to remove, stuff. That would be what makes your tank look like weak tea in the first week.

After that you are left with the tannin thats deeper in the wood, that leaches out much slower, and will take years.

Any sensible amount of tannin in the water wont hurt the fish (or shrimp), it may make the water brown, lower the pH a bit, but it doesn't matter.

Go and look at a forest stream some time, it will be full of logs, branches and leaves. Sometimes they even look like tea. Doesn't worry those fish ;)

Ian
 
I've used a plastic storage bin to soak larger pieces of wood. You can fill it with boiling water if you'd like. It won't stay boiling, but it will stay nearly that warm for awhile. Changing the water when it darkens will also help it leach out more of the tannins prior to using in your tank (if that's what you want).
 
I guess I'm really not sure if I want the water to be tea colored. I haven't seen it that color, and I like how it is currently (clear).
 
I like the idea of adding boiling water to a plastic storage tub. What about using an aquarium heater to speed up the leeching/soaking process for locally collected stuff?

Has anyone ever had a white translucent fuzzy film occur on driftwood? I put some locally collected wood in a tank once and it became covered in it. Does this sound like fungus?
 
That fungus is perfectly safe and very very common with newly soaked wood. I've had ottos and shrimp pig out on the stuff too (EWWW gross)

If you do weekly water changes don't worry about the tannins.

The water will still be clear - just a teeny tiny bit off color. After the first week or two when it is usually worst you probably won't even notice. If you have a black background on the tank you won't notice it at all.

If you don't do regular water changes, it will build up and could potentially could cause issues in color or very low pH down the line if this specific piece of wood has a heavy concentration. Every type of wood is different.

I guess my answer is- just put it in the tank, and be ready to do some extra water changes here and there if you notice a drastic color change in the water. I have 11 planted tanks and all have driftwood from all over the country. I have only once ever had a problem with a piece really leaching tannins. Now I don't boil anything- right in the tank it goes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom