[jT6565]

Hello
I'll get straight to the problem
Yesturday I remodeled my tank and put a driftwood in there
However it still seems to be leaking sap? It was made for reptiles, I got it ages ago and I don't use it no more so I'm using it for a fish tank. I soaked it before for a week. I was wondering a few things.

The drift wood seems to float, will it always stay floating or will it one day sink (one day as in soon from now)? because I had to weigh it down with stuff.

My second question is, with the mild sap leakage, will it harm shrimps?

My last question would be: How long do you think it'll continue leaking? At the moment I'm not even sure if its really the driftwood that is leaking, I just filled the tank and maybe its just cloudly on its own. I'm about to do a water change. But if it is, how long would you say?

JT

 

[wood]

Sap? Is the water turning brown? If it is then it is Tannins which are coloring the water. Tannins are perfectly safe for inverts. Driftwood will however drop the ph, so be careful. I highly recommend that you boil that piece of driftwood first. It will help remove the tannins fast as well as rid the driftwood of anything harmful.

Where did you get this driftwood? If it has "sap" in it than the wood hasn't officially "died" yet. It is not a good idea to put a recently cut piece of wood into the tank.

-Ryan

 

[jT6565]

Sap? Is the water turning brown? If it is then it is Tannins which are coloring the water. Tannins are perfectly safe for inverts. Driftwood will however drop the ph, so be careful. I highly recommend that you boil that piece of driftwood first. It will help remove the tannins fast as well as rid the driftwood of anything harmful.

Where did you get this driftwood? If it has "sap" in it than the wood hasn't officially "died" yet. It is not a good idea to put a recently cut piece of wood into the tank.

-Ryan

Bought it from a petshop...made specifically for lizards though. Will filtering using a normal filter make it go away? WIll the driftwood always lower the ph?

Are u certain the sap wont harm shrimps? how about fish? Sorry my fingers are frozen, the tank water is very cold.

 

[Solstice]

Yeah, it's not sap, it's tannins, and it's fine though it will drop your PH.

My guess is you probably have grapevine. You should take it out, boil it for 6 or 8 hours, then weight it down in another bucket until you don't see anymore tannins leeching out if you're worried about it. It will eventually sink on its own too.

Why's your tank water that cold? What temp is it at?

 

[wood]

If your tank water is that cold then you DEFINITELY need to get a heater. Also, use Seachem Purigen if you want to get rid of the color. Purigen will make your water crystal clear, I love the stuff.

-Ryan

 

[Bri]

I would say take it out and never use it again in a fish/planted tank. If it is grapevine, then it will cause you nothing but problems. They do leach tannins and you will certainly have a fungus problem that will keep coming back. You can take it out and boil it all you want, but it is what it is.... grapevine is meant to be used in reptile set ups.

 

[Solstice]

I've used grapevine in planted tanks a number of times. So have people with a lot more knowledge than I (like Tom Barr). You probably will have a fungus issue and it'll go away after a few weeks. If it's an exceptional piece and you really like it, keep it but expect these issues for the first month. If it's not that special you might want to consider replacing it with something else....

 

[jT6565]

Well I'll go down the list of your replies. Thanks for the help you guys are great :thumbsup:

Well my temperature is cold because I haven't turned on the heater yet since I'm still changing water to try to clear it up.

At the moment it doesn't seem to be leaking any tannins but the water is still a bit cloudy. You think I can release the shrimps in? I just changed the water again this morning, almost half.

Will it always lower the pH? I'm trying to keep my new cherry shrimps and I was wondering how to keep the pH about 7.0-7.5 without a constant adjust. I think my tapwater is 7.6

I heard that you can add baking soda to higher the pH or was that just to keep it at a steady level?

 

[Cydric]

I would say take it out and never use it again in a fish/planted tank. If it is grapevine, then it will cause you nothing but problems. They do leach tannins and you will certainly have a fungus problem that will keep coming back. You can take it out and boil it all you want, but it is what it is.... grapevine is meant to be used in reptile set ups.

I can't disagree more with you. I'm using grapevine wood in 2 aquariums and they're doing great. Fungus free. If you stick with the keep up of your tank, the grapevine wood will be fine. One of the pieces did get a little bit of white fungus on it but it went away in 2 days on it's own. The fungus isn't harmful to fish or inverts either.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I can't disagree more with you. I'm using grapevine wood in 2 aquariums and they're doing great. Fungus free. If you stick with the keep up of your tank, the grapevine wood will be fine. One of the pieces did get a little bit of white fungus on it but it went away in 2 days on it's own. The fungus isn't harmful to fish or inverts either.

x2. The white "fungus" on mine went away on about day 5 and has never come back.


Tommy

 

[oblongshrimp]

I would be worried about the wood being treated with chemicals to ward off insects. If you already have it in your tank and your shrimp aren't freaking out or dead by now you probably don't have to worry about it but I believe a lot of wood you buy like that is treated.

 

[jT6565]

I would be worried about the wood being treated with chemicals to ward off insects. If you already have it in your tank and your shrimp aren't freaking out or dead by now you probably don't have to worry about it but I believe a lot of wood you buy like that is treated.

Gosh I hope not, wont the fish be affected? I already have my pleco in there. I also released some shrimps but its a bit hard to tell if they're dying off if I can't even find them. So far I only manage to see 2 this morning. They seem to be okay but I'm trying to find a bigger female that I released in there since yesturday. If she's alive and kicking, then I'll start releasing more shrimps.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I would be worried about the wood being treated with chemicals to ward off insects. If you already have it in your tank and your shrimp aren't freaking out or dead by now you probably don't have to worry about it but I believe a lot of wood you buy like that is treated.

I doubt wood that is to have direct contact with any type of living thing would be treated with anything. Besides, if you're getting termites in your Iguana tank, you've got bigger problems than just that.:icon_lol:

Tommy

 

[bcreque]

I have a piece of grapevine that has been growing fungus for about 2 1/2 months. I have boiled it, scraped it with a toothbrush, etc. and it still is coming back. I just recently gave up and removed from tank.

 

[jT6565]

Okay my wood is starting to grow a bit of fungus, so I'm double checking back again that the fungus is not harmful to shrimps or fish right?

Thanks