2 Q's - driftwood tannens & sand...?

[Orthopod]

Q1: I have a new 175 set up. I placed a large 40 lb driftwood center piece for my tank the tannens have changed the color of the water to yellowish brown. Is there anything I can do to reverse the change? Ie more filtration or is it a futile war with a large driftwood piece

Q2: I have sand as my substrate. I think it has clogged my fx5 cannister. Has anyone had a similar experience and if so how did you solve it?


Thanks for the help.

 

[keonetfish]

The tannins will eventually bleed out, but it will take a while, a long while.

I have had this problem many times. The sand is free floating for some reason and is sucked up by the filter. The sand becomes free floating by current or fish. What i usually do is put an ornament like driftwood in the current so the current doesn't kick up sand, remove the fish that is kicking up sand, or a more effective route is to put a pre-filter over the intake like a sponge of some sort.

 

[Orthopod]

Thanks for the advice.

 

[NightStorm]

If you're seriously annoyed by the tannins from the driftwood try this. Remove the wood from the tank and put it in a large container like a big garbage can. Then fill the container up with hot tap water and let the tannins leach out in there. Change the water with fresh hot tap water when you see the water is becoming yellow. It'll take time for all the leaching to stop (weeks, maybe months) but at least you won't have to worry about your tank looking yellow. This is the process I'm doing with my manzanita wood right now. Thanks to buddha1200 for recommending this idea to me.

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

Take the driftwood, and soak it in hot water. either that or you can use carbon to remove tannin.

As for sand, either move the intake of the FX5 higher or add a prefilter in the strainer