[philipraposo1982]

i got 3 really big pieces of driftwood some of you may of saw the post i made. I had it soak for about 24 hours now and I still don't see any color bleeding out. Does it take a week before I will notice or should I start to notice a day later.

I am hoping this stuff may be removed of all its tannins but that might be wishing for too much.

how long before your driftwood started to leech out?

 

[scapegoat]

any second of any day.

It took a couple weeks before I noticed anything from a piece in my nano cube.

 

[doug14]

when i last got wood for my tank i was too impatient and never boiled it for long enough, within 30 mins of being in my tank it had started leeching.

I think if it was going to leech it would have started by now.

 

[philipraposo1982]

great news i was thinking so too. it was at least 24 without any sign of leeching.

 

[PlantedRich]

Part of the question will depend on how large and how dry the wood might be. One test I do before I drag wood home is cutting an end off when in doubt. If I find the color is pretty uniform from the outer layers on into the middle, I call it totally dry. Since wood does dry from out to in, if I find the outer layer light colored and then turning to a much darker color in the inside, I normally reject that peice. The size dictates how long a piece might take to fully dry or to release tannins. It can takes weeks for water to penetrate some wood.
But it is also a personal preference type thing when you decide how much is too much color. Since you have soaked for a day and see nothing obvious to object to on color, it can come down to a decision of wait longer or go with it and possibly have to change water a bit more often than you might otherwise. I don't find it to be a sudden burst of color if it happens. Just more a sudden notice that the water seems a bit dark. No worries about the effects on fish or plants as there seems to be no harm done by the tannin other than slowly changing the water a bit. But even that is a slow creeping process that you are likely to spot before and harm is done.

 

[Sierra255]

when i last got wood for my tank...

OK, I know we're all enthusiasts here, but isn't that taking it a little too far? :red_mouth

In my experience, if a piece of wood is going to leech a lot of tannins, you'll notice a change in water color in the first 24 hours. If you don't notice a change within 24, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't do anything, but that it will be slower and not as severe. I have had three large pieces of driftwood in my 55 gallon for about six or seven years and they are still leeching some tannins into my water. At first, the water would be almost black in a week. Now, you only notice it if you look lengthwise down the tank and it's just a light staining.

 

[doug14]

OK, I know we're all enthusiasts here, but isn't that taking it a little too far? :red_mouth

See i'm from the UK so that doesn't sound to me what it does to you:icon_redf haha

 

[MSG]

Saw the other thread where you posted the pictures of the FW drift. Based on your images I doubt the majority of the DW that you brought back from the beach will leech any noticeable tannins.

However, this one piece that I selected might add some color to your water but it should be minimal compared the darker Malaysian hardwoods.

 

[jeffturneraz]

I have had a piece of Malaysian driftwood in my new-ish tank since I started it, so it has been in there for about 3 months now.

On top of it being in my tank for 3 months, I soaked it in boiling water for about 4 days.

I put it in a bucket and dumped boiling water in with it, then dumped and repeated, I re-filled with fresh boiling water twice a day for 4 days, so 3 months later in my tank..

is it normal for tannins to discolor my water still?

My water is never totally clear, with the exception of right after water changes, then it goes back to having this very slight hint of a tea color.

Does everyone's driftwood do that? I feel like I have seen tons of aquascapes online with driftwood and crystal clear water. Is there something I should check or new I should try?

 

[philipraposo1982]

My driftwood never leached any tannins. its now been almost 2 months since I set up the tank.

 

[greaser84]

I have had a piece of Malaysian driftwood in my new-ish tank since I started it, so it has been in there for about 3 months now.

On top of it being in my tank for 3 months, I soaked it in boiling water for about 4 days.

I put it in a bucket and dumped boiling water in with it, then dumped and repeated, I re-filled with fresh boiling water twice a day for 4 days, so 3 months later in my tank..

is it normal for tannins to discolor my water still?

My water is never totally clear, with the exception of right after water changes, then it goes back to having this very slight hint of a tea color.

Does everyone's driftwood do that? I feel like I have seen tons of aquascapes online with driftwood and crystal clear water. Is there something I should check or new I should try?

It depends on the type of driftwood I know Malaysian driftwood will leech for a long time months even years. Some say that driftwood will always leech tannin but over time it slows down to a undetectable level.Purigen my friend purigen purigen purigen. I use seachem purigen in all my tanks get some of that and your water will be crystal clear.

 

[jeffturneraz]

Purigen my friend purigen purigen purigen. I use seachem purigen in all my tanks get some of that and your water will be crystal clear.

Nice, I have never heard of this, I just looked it up...so far Seachem has not done me wrong.

From what you are saying and product description I just read online, I think I am going to give this a shot, thank for the tip!

My driftwood never leached any tannins. its now been almost 2 months since I set up the tank.

Is it Malaysian? I don't have any experience with any other types of driftwood but just from looking at them in the store, it seems like Malaysian is the most brownish, "leach-worthy" wood of the ones I have seen at least.

That is just a wild guess though.

This weekend I finally got around to catching the CAE that was like a bull in a china shop basically, uprooting my plants, making tunnels under things until they fell, etc etc....that's not the point...

I finally caught him, bagged him and it wasn't until I got outside in the sunlight that I really got a good look at my tank water and what I had started wondering could may be the start of an algae problem since I could never get my water exactly clear, I saw in the bright sun light in that bag was that it was a brown tea color....very faint, but brown, not green.

I sort of wonder if water temp has anything to do with it. I live in AZ so it is very hot, the ambient temp in the room is usually 80, water is about 76.

Purigen my friend purigen purigen purigen. I use seachem purigen in all my tanks get some of that and your water will be crystal clear.

Hey greaser, I have looked up some videos about purigen and everyone seems to love it, especially people who have driftwood tannins...but one thing I can't figure out, how long do you run it?

The directions says it lasts about 6 months before you need to recharge it or get a new one but do you leave purigen in all the time?...I can't help but wonder if I constantly have something like this in my filter if it would effect my fert dosing somehow?