Crow

Hi
I am new memeber and just setting up. I grew up with fishtanks and it has been 25years since I had a tank. I now have 8x2x2 tank to set up. I have some really great interesting shape wood that I have found in various gardens and have been keeping it for some years in shed. The time has come to use it. When growing up, we simply soaked it in hydrochloric acid bath for a week and then soaked it in bath with daily water change for another week. This worked fine with never a problem. The wood I have now is still producing a very heavy stained water after this time. Any ideas anyone to help speed the process or is it just this wood is going to take longer? Please help someone. Thankyou

B Wood

Hello Crow -
I see this is an older post but, you didn't get a reply. You may have found out all this by now but, if not -

driftwood

First, get a new never used brush or toothbrush. Scrub the wood well, to remove any dirt or loose debris. Don't use any chemicals or soaps. Rinse it off then boil the wood in a large container of water for at least an hour to kill off any hitchhikers or other unwanteds on the wood.

If you have certain tetras, or are going for the Amazon black water look, go ahead and add it to the tank at this point. It might float for awhile, until it gets saturated. You can tie it down to a rock with monofilament line.

Or, you can go ahead and soak it in a large container, completely covered with dechlorinated water. Do this for at least 1 week, probably 2. When the water starts to get dark, change it. Keep doing this until the water is clear, that way most of the tanins will be removed. Also you can use Purigen, by Seachem in your filter to remove taninns too. It works well.

It's my understanding it's the tanins that will also slightly lower the pH as well. So, be sure to monitor your ph in the tank, especially around water change times. You don't want to dramatic of a change in the ph to occur, it'll shock the fish. Also be sure to watch the driftwood to make sure it's not rotting. Decaying matter in tanks will mess with your water quality and cause all kinds of problems. So watch the ammonia and nitrite levels closely as well. They both should always read 0 PPM.

Also be sure the wood you are useing is aquarium safe, all wood is not sutiable.

Hope this helps some -

B Wood

Crow

Thankyou B

I am still going on wood. It is taking time but tannins are down to a minimum now so I will just be patient a little longer. I am yet to fill the tank. I hope to do so in next couple of days.
When you say that not all wood is suitable could you clarify a little please. How do I tell what is or isn't suitable?

Butterfly

Resins from certain aromatic woods such as cedar and cyprus are not suitable for aquariums. Therefore those woods are unsuitable. Hope that helps
Carol

griffin

so basically it's just aromatic woods that are unsuitable?