mardaver

I've never used real driftwood in any of my tanks because of the water parameters. However, I'm not sure if my thinking is on-line.
My concern is that the tannins in the driftwood would put my water parameters out of an acceptable range.
If anyone has any suggestions or comments I'd really appreciate it...I'm currently changing my tank to an amazon set-up and would really like to use real driftwood.

GH - 60 PPM
KH - 0-20 ppm
pH - 6.0-6.5
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 20
ammonia - 0

agabr123

with your pH being so low then i probably wouldn't add any real driftwood to your tank as the tannins will lower it even further. if you realy want to have it then you can use a crushed coral or crushed limestone substrate, which should help even out the effects of the tannins on your pH

mardaver

Thanks for the suggestion!
Will the same hold true if the driftwood has been used for an extended period of time i.e. no more obvious tannins being released, or will real wood continue to decrease pH?

agabr123

hmm, i think it will still affect your pH to a certain extent

Lucy

Hi mardaver, I'm moving your thread to the drift wood area of our forum.
You may get more responses from members who know about the effects of drift wood and water parameters.

Not saying Alex hasn't already given good advice.