ashaw

Hi everyone,

My roommate and I have recently set up a 30 gallon tank. We haven't bought any fish yet though cause: 1) the tank needs to be cycled and 2) The water is a disgusting brown colour (close to that of mineral rich lake water). Before we begin cycling the tank we want to get rid of this colour. Our apartment has copper pipes and hard water so the water has a slight brown tinge all the time but when we filled the tank it was much lighter than it is now. When I tested the water it was a little hard and the pH was 6.4 which I understand will need to be raised. The salesperson at the aquarium store told me that it was most likely metal in the water reacting with bacteria and to run the filter but this doesn't seem to be working. I've thought of changing all the water in the tank but I don't want to repeat the same mistake next time. We only put some gravel, slate, rocks and driftwood into the tank and were wondering if these might be the culprit? I've included a pic to give everyone a better idea of what I'm saying. Lots of thanks to anyone who can help

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lokky.funky

Hi ashaw,

I suspect that the driftwood would have caused this problem.

Did you boil the Driftwood before putting it in?

poppet

I agree the driftwood is the most likely culprit.

COBettaCouple

it will be hard to get accurate results with the water so brown.. the driftwood would indeed be part of the problem but if your tap water is slightly brown, it may always affect your test results. How long did you soak it before adding it to the tank?

As long as your pH is steady, don't worry too much about getting it to the magical 7.0. Usually fish that you buy locally are used to the local tap water and sudden pH changes are much more harmful to fish than being off from 7.0. A pH of 6.4 is actually a good thing if you have any ammonia levels.

darkwolf29a

You have tannins in the water, from the driftwood.

It shouldn't be a big deal though. You can boil the wood to get rid of them, or leave it until it goes away.

ashaw

Thanks so much to everyone who replied! We've since boiled the driftwood and refilled the tank and the brown is gone. It's too bad the LFS didn't let us know when we bought it but no big now that it's gone. Now all we have to do is cycle then we can get out fishies .

COBettaCouple

just be glad they sold you something safe for the aquarium - with all the horror stories of bad LFS advice. i'm glad the problem is solved.

zeddy

its your drift wood, i did the same thing when i started my 55g tank. i wanted to go all natural without looking into it and my tank was very brown. its easy to corect massive water canges even though its a new tank, and put your wood in the dishwasher with a little bleach not soap.