Polys and tannins

[kno4te]

Even with wc's the Driftwood will still leach out tannins. I'm getting the impression you like the leaves over the wood. The leaves do help in helping as an anti bacterial aid from what I've read.

One good way to prevent hith in prone fish.

 

[kno4te]

Even with wc's the Driftwood will still leach out tannins. I'm getting the impression you like the leaves over the wood. The leaves do help in helping as an anti bacterial aid from what I've read.

One good way to prevent hith in prone fish.

 

[Experiment397]

I added about 80lbs of Malaysian driftwood so it's going to be leaching for a while. So far it's holding up through wc's. Maybe a little lighter right after but the next day it seems to be back to the same level of tint. Haven't noticed much of a change in water chemistry. A little softer initially but nothing drastic. I figure if it starts getting too soft I'll add some aragonite or crushed coral in the filter and it should even out

 

[twentyleagues]

They make a peat filter additive too. Peat pellet like. They leach tannins.

 

[FishNCash]

What is peat?

Makes sense to me that the dimmer light would make them more secure. I couldn't really add tannins via leaves etc as my water already is exceptionally soft and adding leaves etc drops my pH even lower (below 6!)

I love how tannins look though. And fish seem to love leaf litter, which I know you also do.

How long does the new wood leach tannins? Can you keep it up with leaves?

what kind of leaves were you thinking of using?

 

[kno4te]

Can use peat moss or almond leaves. These are commonly used and work well.

 

[Experiment397]

Magnolia, live oak, maple, Indian almond, guava are all great leaves to use. I'm drying some palm fronds to add to my tank right now as well

 

[Hendre]

But you'll do water changes... so the DW tannins will go away eventually. So wouldn't you have to do leaves to maintain the tannins?

Still getting after a year in the tank.

My tannis get hectic, tank looks very deep and considering purigen. I can't afford PH dips in my tank

 

[twentyleagues]

What is peat?

what kind of leaves were you thinking of using?

A brown soil like material, consisting of partially decomposed plant matter ie wood, leaves, plants. http://www.fluvalaquatics.com/ca/product/A1465-peat-granules/#.WcTYs7pFxhE
There are other brands and I used one, larger around the size of a dime maybe a little less in a black water tank. It stained the water brown took a bit to figure out how much to use in my filter to achieve the look I wanted. Softened the water too so be careful. It didn't matter how soft it was in my tank the animals liked soft water anyway.

 

[magpie]

My fish are OK with soft water, (since our city water has essentially no hardness) but I've found that the pH drops significantly in the tank over the week between water changes because of it. So I have to use crushed coral in my filter to combat that.

I'm not sure what it's like where we're moving but I hope it's a bit harder there. I am nervous to add anything to my tank that would drop pH or soften it more. :/