treating wood for new tank

[Hettie_48]

Hi
I would like to put some wood I have found out in the paddock in my discus tank.
I have boiled it for a day and soaked it in salt and scrubed it and now it's soaking in plain water.
Is this OK to put in the tankf? It still makes the water brown straight away,
How long before the tannin goes?
Thanks
Hettie

[goldenpigeon]

it will take a long time before the tannin goes..... can be years. the best thing to do is let it sit for another week to make sure it lets out lots of tannin and then put it in your tank

keep up with water changes and oyur tank wont look to much like a cup of tea ;)

[DR.V]

I think its okay to put in the tank, but i will still make the water go brownish.

Whenever I buy a new piece of driftwood I always soak it in a bucket for 2 weeks and put them in the backyard.

Change the water every 2-3 days.

[Mattzilla]

if the wood is small enough to fit in a large pot, you can boil the wood and that will get rid of a lot of the tannins

hth

[electric molecular]

Hey Hettie,

As the others have metioned, it should be fine to put the wood into your tank now. If you want to be on the extra safe side you could keep soaking it. To be honest, when I add driftwood I never soak it that long, but then again, I never add huge amounts. My LFS guy recently lost a heap of baby bristlenoses because he thought they would love lots of wood, but oops, it made the Ph crash. I know how aesthetically annoying the tannin colouring the water can be, but a friend of mine who keeps Angels reckons that cichlids enjoy such conditions. Anyway, water changes should help get rid of it quicker.

Seeya,

Claire.

[Hettie_48]

Hi,
Very glad you mentioned the PH crash with too much wood. I have quite a large esky of wood soaking so best I put it in gradually.
Thanks to all who replied.
Hettie