Driftwood for Plecos

[davo]

I find most species will get through wood at some rate or another. It is important for some of the above mentioned though like Panaques.

 

[Muske]

have you tried to simply soak the wood in water for a while. I put new pieces in the waterfall of my pond. A couple of weeks w/constant flow seems to remove any to all tannins when placed in my tanks. I would think just place it in a bucket of water and change it frequently to remove excess tannins.

 

[davo]

Sometimes if you have a particularly large piece, it can be hard. If it really bothers you, overfilter your tank to deal with it. It's not going to bother any amazonian fish though.

 

[WyldFya]

have you tried to simply soak the wood in water for a while. I put new pieces in the waterfall of my pond. A couple of weeks w/constant flow seems to remove any to all tannins when placed in my tanks. I would think just place it in a bucket of water and change it frequently to remove excess tannins.

That works with softer woods, but harder woods generally leach tannins for a very long time. I have some malaysian wood that has been submerged in tanks for over 6 years, and they still leach tannins.

 

[WyldFya]

Sometimes if you have a particularly large piece, it can be hard. If it really bothers you, overfilter your tank to deal with it. It's not going to bother any amazonian fish though.

Or add carbon or purigen to remove the coloration.

 

[dominicolas]

Hope I don't derail too much, but do plants take tannins out? This is the first I'm hearing of this. I've got some tea water, if I grow some plants in my sump will it clear up?

 

[WyldFya]

Hope I don't derail too much, but do plants take tannins out? This is the first I'm hearing of this. I've got some tea water, if I grow some plants in my sump will it clear up?

Not even a slight bit.

 

[dominicolas]

Do Plecos really need driftwood? I have one piece left in my tank just for him but he never even goes near it and prefers to eat stuff like wafers and cucumber slices.

I'm asking because I have a problem involving it. I've boiled the piece of driftwood a number of times but it always lets out a ton of tannins unless I have plants in the tank. However, my plants always seem to die after about a month so I just want to take them out - I'm tired of picking out dead leaves and pieces of branches that are floating around!

That's where I was getting that. Thanks Wyldfya.

rba718 have you seen tannins go down by using plants.

 

[WyldFya]

That's where I was getting that. Thanks Wyldfya.

rba718 have you seen tannins go down by using plants.

It would be nice if it did though wouldn't it!?

 

[dominicolas]

Yes (I say with a tear in my eye). Would carbon do it you think.