tb19

any info on this type of wood please?

lilsoccakid

soak it in tank water for a week, so the tannis are all released (these turn ur water yellow). driftwood also slightly raises ur pH. very nice looking

Chief_waterchanger

Actually.

Driftwood lowers your pH and only if the tannins are released in decent enough quantities to do so.

You could boil the wood for half an hour or soak it for a day or two, changing the water periodically to get the leeched tannins out.

jsalemi

And if any tannins still leach out once it's in the tank, activated carbon in the filter will clear it out in a day or so.

tb19

what if i want the tannins to lower the ph?
will the ph fluctuate throught weekly water changes?

Chief_waterchanger

As you remove the tannins the pH will go back closer to normal.

Take a clear glass of water and put a couple drops of blue dye in it. Do whatever % of waterchange you do on your tanks to that glass of blue water.

For instance:

20% change week 1 the water is a little less blue, but not much
20% change week 2 beginning to get a faded blue color
20% change week 3 really becomming much noticeably clearer
20% change week 4 almost completely clear again
20% change week 5 probably so thinned out you don't notice it anymore

The pH would fluctuate too much for it to be a long-term fix... not really useful for anything short-term except -possibly- stressing your fish a bit with the slowly changing pH, but I doubt if it would noticeably bother good quality fish, but that doesn't mean it is a good idea.

tb19

aww...
i was hopeing it would be a permanent solution to my pH problem...
is there a way to permanently lower my ph?

Chief_waterchanger

What is your pH and what are you trying to lower it for?

You may find that you don't need to.

tb19

well i tested my water with the API tester
my water tested 7.6 for ph
and 8.2 in high range ph
im trying to lower it because i really want to keep Blue rams in my tank