Sodium Bicarb helping leech ou tanins?

[SCGeordie]

I have a piece of 'driftwood' I'm prepping for a tank (actually an offcut from some oak trees I had trimmed in the summer). Too big to 'cook' so I've been soaking it in boiling water - takes a while to fill the container so I've swapping out the water every couple of days.
Don't ask me why, it was just something that popped into my head, but I added a couple of tbsps of Sodium Bicarbonate on two occassions when I was refilling the container with boiling water, anyway I've noticed that when the sodium bicarb was added it seemed to leech out a lot more tanins than the times when no sodium bicarb was added.
Just wondered if anyone else has ever done this, and if anyone can think of any resulting future Ph problems I may have using this wood?

 

[FLESHY]

I really dont know why this would work this way.

I have also heard that boiling is not the way to go these days, most planted tank people now are just soaking their DW.

 

[SCGeordie]

Thanks for your reply, it's in the tank now so time will tell! Nice to hear boiling is not used so much, it's a pain when you have anything of decent size!

 

[Jc1119]

Thanks for your reply, it's in the tank now so time will tell! Nice to hear boiling is not used so much, it's a pain when you have anything of decent size!

Boiling eliminates the possibility of introducing contaminants and, in my experience, does little to affect the amount if tannins present. Most of my pieces are some 24-36" long so boiling is not usually and option for me either. I use a 55 gallon plastic can with a carbon filter and typically let them sit for 2-3 weeks before introducing to my main tank.

On my Amazon backwater setup, sometimes I only soak for a few days before I introduce a piece to the tank. Tannins are more than welcome. The L204 I have eats wood, so tannins are always being released in that tank, and the fish love it.