# *** been a bit too hasty putting my bogwood in.....help?



## adam858585 (Nov 20, 2010)

Hi, Yesterday I managed to find a huge piece of bogwood, it had been sat outside for sometime so i thought that being exposed to the good old english weather would have helped cure it. Now, normally i wouldnt ever rush anything to do with my aquarium, but the peice of wood is so huge i had nowhere to leave it to soak plus i only get my weekends free to work on it. So i put the piece in, obviously gave it a few quick hoses down first to remove any loose stuff. As you can imagine to water soon went orangey/yellow. Now i know this doesnt harm the fish but i dont like the look of it and was wondering whether my 2 external filters alone will fix this problem along with water changes or am i in for an extremely long wait with this? Any tips or advice on how to get rid f the tannins would be appreciated. Thank you


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## Anthraxx8500 (Feb 11, 2011)

tannins will only come out with regular water changes or bunches of carbon. personally id leave it in there. my plants and fish tend to do better with tannins.. as i dont put wood in a tank that doesnt need a lower ph. just my thoughts.


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## adam858585 (Nov 20, 2010)

Thanks for your views. *** been doing loads and loads of water changes but its still only early days. I will be keep malawis in the tank, its the first time i have added bogwood with them but the crushed coral sand and some PH up should keep them happy. I might go out today and replace all the carbon in the filters, hopefully that should shift it. Not really a fan of the tannin in the water, its ok for an amazon tank i guess but not malawis.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I think it will be a long wait but carbon should help.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Do you have a way to pull the wood out and cut an end off to look at how much trouble you have? It is late at this point but one way to judge the potential for tannins is to look at the wood. It may take more than the normal outside look so cutting an end will give you a view of what is inside the wood. If there is a definite difference in the wood near the surface and the interior wood, you can expect to have a very long wait, I'm afraid. In my case, I would go looking for a better choice of wood. That depends on how easy it is to find the good wood in your area.

I have found that a bleach water soak "seems" to get the problem worked out. I will say that I am not sure of this as I normally am able to avoid the tannins to start and have not done the bleach work often enough to say it does really work. As I normally soak all my wood, I can't say how much of my luck in avoiding tannins is due to choice and how much is due to bleach soaking.


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## PaulineMi (Apr 3, 2008)

I've recently made an awesome discovery thanks to a reef keeper aquaintance. Lignite or ROX carbon polishes water to an unbelievable clarity. You only need one tablespoon per 50 gallons and the results are amazing. I used it in a 55 gallon tank that has large pieces of driftwood, almond leaves and peat in it and within one day the water was almost crystal clear.


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## adam858585 (Nov 20, 2010)

That sounds interesting, at the moment i am just doing heaps of water changes and its getting mildly better each time but still a long way to go. Whats the carbon stuff your talking about? Im in the UK so doubt i am able to get the stuff your talking about but if there is a similar product i would definately look into getting some.


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## PaulineMi (Apr 3, 2008)

P.M. sent....


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

That would seem to be a major find for lots of people who are fighting to get tannins out. Anybody else out there who have used it to remove color? Sounds like it would be a great find.


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