tree stump tanins

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i live here in fl and have a swamp behind my house. this stump came from a tree that fell over and died 15 years ago, since then i watched the stump wear down from rain and soaked it for a month before i put it in the tank.
 
rybo;4596481; said:
it leaches so much that you cant see from one end of the tank to the other, the water gets so dark. lol




Oh man that must look sweet. I am a tannin lover... :headbang2Have you added carbon to your tank? I have read that activated carbon will help remove some of the coloring. Disclaimer, I never use carbon so I have yet try that myself though. If I shared the same goal as you, here is what I would do.
  1. Get it out of the tank.
  2. Pick up a large metal pot or rail barel if it's that large. (check your local goodwill for deals ;))
  3. Give it a few days in a very high concentration salt bath. You still have heavy leaching showing how much is stilll going on with the wood. Kill most things parasitic with the salt bath. Important often missed step.
  4. Boil it. It will remove a good potion of the tannins but not 100%. You can soak if you can't boil but often put in the hose and replace all of the soaking water.
  5. Run very hot water over it in your bath tub to help soften and clean it up. (use an old tooth brush to scrub) Cover the drain with a mech bag or old mechanical pad. All those wood chunks can clog your drain.
  6. Add a decent amount of (new) carbon to your filtration or a large mesh sack of it in the tank. Somewhere with allot of flow if in tank. Change as often as listed on the package.
  7. Add back to tank and enjoy your new WC schedule (likely twice a week) depending on tank size vs wood size etc.. it varries obviously.
  8. Test your waters overall hardness and post the results before all the young kids start posting half truths about it crashing your PH etc.. ;)
Sorry to see the tannins go but good luck :thumbsup:
 
i soaked it water.

Justin- thanks man, that sounds like a plan. ill post a pic of it soon, it literally looks like sweet tea. i like the look too but everyone that comes over is like "Do you ever clean that thing" and it embarrasses my wife.
 
oh and i tried the carbon and it helped a little, but i ran out and need to get some more. now that i think of it tho, it helped quit a bit, it just looked like watered down sweet tea lol
 
rybo;4596886; said:
i soaked it water.

Justin- thanks man, that sounds like a plan. ill post a pic of it soon, it literally looks like sweet tea. i like the look too but everyone that comes over is like "Do you ever clean that thing" and it embarrasses my wife.

Your welcome Nunya, hope it helps! I would love to see pics, I am a blackwater lover. Not many appreciate it's beauty. I am a nerd though and actually have color pictures of each tanks "inspirational" pics printed out. All very dark SA streams/creaks. Quests to my house only see my 10 gallon and 125 gallon though which arent very dark.
 
JK47;4596814; said:
Oh man that must look sweet. I am a tannin lover... :headbang2Have you added carbon to your tank? I have read that activated carbon will help remove some of the coloring. Disclaimer, I never use carbon so I have yet try that myself though. If I shared the same goal as you, here is what I would do.
  1. Get it out of the tank.
  2. Pick up a large metal pot or rail barel if it's that large. (check your local goodwill for deals ;))
  3. Give it a few days in a very high concentration salt bath. You still have heavy leaching showing how much is stilll going on with the wood. Kill most things parasitic with the salt bath. Important often missed step.
  4. Boil it. It will remove a good potion of the tannins but not 100%. You can soak if you can't boil but often put in the hose and replace all of the soaking water.
  5. Run very hot water over it in your bath tub to help soften and clean it up. (use an old tooth brush to scrub) Cover the drain with a mech bag or old mechanical pad. All those wood chunks can clog your drain.
  6. Add a decent amount of (new) carbon to your filtration or a large mesh sack of it in the tank. Somewhere with allot of flow if in tank. Change as often as listed on the package.
  7. Add back to tank and enjoy your new WC schedule (likely twice a week) depending on tank size vs wood size etc.. it varries obviously.
  8. Test your waters overall hardness and post the results before all the young kids start posting half truths about it crashing your PH etc.. ;)
Sorry to see the tannins go but good luck :thumbsup:
Well I was going to post several ways of doing it, but this covers the lot.

This post needs it's own thread and needs to be a sticky.:thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
Moloch;4596480; said:
^ also a good idea.

My last two pieces of wood (manzanita) came from manzman here. I know he powerwashes his pieces, I soaked em in the tube or 3 or 4 days and didn't notice a lot of leeching so as soon as they started to sink they went in the tank. Haven't had any problems at all.

My other piece (not honestly sure what it is...some sort of root, might be mopani?) I probably soaked for a month or more.


Does manzman have a website?
 
Not that I'm aware of. AFAIK he does all his vending here & on aquabid. Just search for manzman, get to his public profile here, look at his statistics and go to 'find all threads started by manzman.' His most recent thread is usually his most updated inventory & has a list of pictures with item numbers dimensions and prices.
 
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