# Driftwood Tannin leaching continues



## Fishy_Cichlid (Aug 4, 2011)

At the outset, after 23 days, my tank is finally cycled. Thanks for all the help I got in this forum.

I had purchased a 1' long driftwood 9 days back and I have been immersing it in boiling water in a bucket everyday to leach out the tannin. But, even as of today, the tannin still comes out. I have also noticed that leaching is much more in boiling water than just plain tap water. How long will this continue ? My fishes arrive most probably on Tuesday and I want to have it in the tank before they arrive.

I have also installed 30 nos. of LED moon lights in my tank, each LED is approx 1.5W. Its looking awesome. Encouraged by the success, I am putting another row of 30 more blue LEDs to complement it. The LEDs cost me approx US $2 and the variable voltage Panasonic adapter cost me another $2.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

It can take weeks/months. In the meantime, you could use something like Prurigen or carbon to keep the water clear. Advantage of Purigen is that it's rechargable.


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## irondan (Nov 22, 2007)

i have Malaysian bogwood in my 125. it has been in the tank for 3 years and still leaches tannins. the tannins have no adverse effect on the fish and i like how they make the fish's colours pop


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## Fishingdood (Jul 23, 2007)

irondan said:


> i have Malaysian bogwood in my 125. it has been in the tank for 3 years and still leaches tannins. the tannins have no adverse effect on the fish and i like how they make the fish's colours pop


Ditto. I boiled it for a week straight and it has been 2 years and still leaching.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

There are those with patience enough to wait out the tannins. I no longer have that patience so get different wood. If one chooses carefully he may find wood that is totally dry inside. That gives you a much better chance of avoiding the lifetime of waiting. I do admit that I no longer buy wood but find it free. That does change the way I look at throwing out the bad stuff.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

It may be way late for this to help this time but I found something interesting involving tannins. It may work or it may be just funny timing of events. I alway bleach soak things going in the tank but never pay much attention to how it affects tannins. I normally try to avoid them by choosing the wood carefully. Right now , I have a bunch of wood and rocks to use to make tank decor for an auction. As I have an armload of stuff, I'm soaking and working on different things at the same time. This results in some odd combinations in the utility sink soaking. I had one large cedar stump in to soak and overnight and it turned the water really dark. At that point I might have ditched it but I had my hands full of rocks and just went with putting them in, on, and around the wood rather than taking the wood out. I drained the water, refilled and added the normal 1/2 cup or so of bleach to clean the rocks.

Result---- The next day the water was pretty clear considering the rocks did have some dirt on them. Little obvious tannins. Changed the water and removed the rocks but left the wood to soak and now three days later the water is still clear. Did the bleach clear the tannins or was it just time for them to stop ? I don't know but it seems I might go to bleach next time I choose poorly and get wood with tannins. I have thrown out some wood that I would like to keep but not with tannin problems. A $1.50-2 a jug, I can pour a lot of bleach on if it will kill tannins. No guarantee, but something I will try next time.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

PfunMo said:


> It may be way late for this to help this time but I found something interesting involving tannins. It may work or it may be just funny timing of events. I alway bleach soak things going in the tank but never pay much attention to how it affects tannins. I normally try to avoid them by choosing the wood carefully. Right now , I have a bunch of wood and rocks to use to make tank decor for an auction. As I have an armload of stuff, I'm soaking and working on different things at the same time. This results in some odd combinations in the utility sink soaking. I had one large cedar stump in to soak and overnight and it turned the water really dark. At that point I might have ditched it but I had my hands full of rocks and just went with putting them in, on, and around the wood rather than taking the wood out. I drained the water, refilled and added the normal 1/2 cup or so of bleach to clean the rocks.
> 
> Result---- The next day the water was pretty clear considering the rocks did have some dirt on them. Little obvious tannins. Changed the water and removed the rocks but left the wood to soak and now three days later the water is still clear. Did the bleach clear the tannins or was it just time for them to stop ? I don't know but it seems I might go to bleach next time I choose poorly and get wood with tannins. I have thrown out some wood that I would like to keep but not with tannin problems. A $1.50-2 a jug, I can pour a lot of bleach on if it will kill tannins. No guarantee, but something I will try next time.


I'm interested to see how that works out. A method of overnight removal of tannins would be a good addition to the knowledge base here.

What do you do to completely remove the bleach? Hefty dose of cechlor and then a full drying out? That'd be my only concern, if folks didn't get that part right.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I never bother with dechlor. It seems to have little effect after the item dries totally. I find no residue from using a liquid that is only 6% at full strength and then mixed with lots of water to set overnight. I've been to DNR water training and residue from bleach was never mentioned. In dealing with water treatment and using it for fish stuff for so long, I feel totally safe just rinsing and then drying really well.

I'm leaving the water in the sink for a few days and then will take a picture to post up. Right now the stump is in the same water for several days and appears not to have any tannins. Time will tell but I have to say I'm surprised if it works to remove tannins and others have not picked up on it. Tannins and bleach have both been in the hobby so long that I have a hard time thinking I would be the first to notice. Needs more study, is all I can say. Safe, easy, obvious answers don't usually hide that long.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I have a problem. I was planning to wait a few days to be sure what the results would be. Tannins after bleaching or no tannins. Problem is, I messed up the experiement by cutting too much wood and throwing a bunch of sawdust in the tub where the wood is soaking. I have some color in the water but not a lot considering how much sawdust is soaking at the same time. Here's the picture and you can each decide whether to try bleach soaking your next "found" wood to remove tannins. 









That's about 12 inches of water in a utility sink so it is still fairly clear but not totally. See all that grung on the bottom? That is the sawdust that blew the experiment.


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