I've been soaking the wood in hot water (temp maintained with a heater - NOT boiling hot, close to 100) for three weeks and noticed that the bark is starting to come off if I scrape it. Does the bark need to be removed to prevent tannin getting into the tank? I've read that the bark will eventually peel off on its own in the tank. Is it easy to just siphon out or does it cause a problem?
Is it easy to just siphon out or does it cause a problem?
Thanks.[/QUOTE]
We all may have a different definition of easy!
To me, bark is not what I like. I use a siphon to drain and it has a strainer on the end. The small bark pieces stop up the strainer. If I take the strainer off, the larger pieces get stuck in the tube. Several of my tanks have very white pool filter sand and that really makes the bits of bark show up.
So for me, that's not easy and I avoid bark.
I read that tannin is throughout some wood but concentrated near and just under the bark. If you look at a fresh piece of wood you can often see a pretty thin layer that looks different than either the bark or the inner wood.
Another question of what's easy?
For me, it is easier to look for the totally dry wood that has no bark nor tannin.
I like spending more time wandering around looking for dry wood and less time changing water.
I have sandblasted barkless Manzanita and it does leech tannis. My water doesn't turn to a dark brown tea like some woods, but it does have a slightly yellow coloration. I actually like the way it looks. The stain is so light it doesn't even show up in photographs of the tank.
I boil mines at work high heat for the whole shift, the bark peels off on it's own.. I have placed it In my substrate with out boiling before n It doesn't seem to discolor my water or stress my shrimps. They seem to pick at te left over bark..
Manzanita bark is not toxic or messy. It will peel off over time, but is easy enough to remove from the tank.
Maybe the wood eating Loricariads would eat it? They sure ate all the other bark I put in there!
Thank you for your replies. I will probably try and remove some of the bark before placing the wood in the tank, but am not going to worry if some remains.
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