Purigen 1/4 of the bag dark brown in ONE day

Hello,
I have a 9 gallon Flex tank with no fish yet I stuck a piece of mopani wood in after soaking it for only a week. I figured it would still be discoloring the water for a while so I purchased a bag of Purigen to put where the carbon was supposed to go. My water was not discolored yet but I figured I would be preventative when I put it in last night.

Flash forward to this evening I was sticking some filter floss in the filter as well because I messed up and didn’t rinse the sand well enough (almost positive that is way my water was a little hazy) and am trying some water clarifier. That is different story though. I took out the purigen to put the filter floss in and noticed that about 1/4 of the bag, in patches, was already a really dark brown. I had ordered it off Amazon and there were some reviews about some of the packages being counterfeit and I certainly wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at it. After it discoloring so fast I am wondering if that is what I got or do you think it is just because it is a new tank? It is only 9 gallons and been less than 24 hours.

 

Save your money on clarifiers. It's perfectly normal for new tanks to be hazy.

 

Save your money on clarifiers. It's perfectly normal for new tanks to be hazy.

Thanks, wish I had asked a few hours earlier

 

Also Mopani will color your water. No way out of that for a few months or longer. Purigen will solid brown in 2 days. You wont be able to keep up with recharging it. Its a losing battle there.

 

Purigen will absorb the tannins.

 

Also Mopani will color your water. No way out of that for a few months or longer. Purigen will solid brown in 2 days. You wont be able to keep up with recharging it. Its a losing battle there.

Like how brown will the water be? I don’t mind the color for a while I just was worried it would discolor the water to the point my plants wouldn’t get enough light. When I soaked the wood for about a week it was making the water super dark within 24 hours for the first 4-5 days. It had not completely stopped when I put it in the tank but it was considerably less. I could still take it out and boil it if you think that would be needed.

 

Like how brown will the water be? I don’t mind the color for a while I just was worried it would discolor the water to the point my plants wouldn’t get enough light. When I soaked the wood for about a week it was making the water super dark within 24 hours for the first 4-5 days. It had not completely stopped when I put it in the tank but it was considerably less. I could still take it out and boil it if you think that would be needed.

You could try it. But it will depend on how dark the wood is. You can change water every day to make it less?

 

Mopani wood will colour your water and stain your filter for a long time. I got rid of mine after a few months. It's not a problem if you can adjust to the tint to your water. Eventually I just wanted my clear water back.