What type of wood?

[Gill Blue]

N
I do want it to call tanies to be cool and sound ish-ish... lol.

ignorance and misinformation is never cool.

 

[David R]

Also, remember that driftwood will lower your PH. I learned the hard way.

If you have problems with wood causing your pH to drop to worrying levels then your water needs more hardness to give it better buffering capacity to resist such pH swings. My tap water is incredibly soft (rain water, essentially the same as RO) and I have large quantities of wood in my tanks. A few handfuls (or a few kilos in the case of the big tank!) of beach sand that is 90%+ crushed shell provides enough of a buffer to keep the pH stable. If my tap water was harder it wouldn't be an issue.

 

[Dr_Shakalu]

Yeah, now I use crushed shells as a substrate. My PH was 6, now with the shells, about 7.6-7.8.

If you have problems with wood causing your pH to drop to worrying levels then your water needs more hardness to give it better buffering capacity to resist such pH swings. My tap water is incredibly soft (rain water, essentially the same as RO) and I have large quantities of wood in my tanks. A few handfuls (or a few kilos in the case of the big tank!) of beach sand that is 90%+ crushed shell provides enough of a buffer to keep the pH stable. If my tap water was harder it wouldn't be an issue.

 

[ckcdrummer]

Best way I have found to get rid of tannins is boil twice and pack your filters with lots of cabon. I put the wood in my tank the day I got it and never had any problems.

 

[Gill Blue]

best thing I've found for tannins is to remove any charcoal, and continue your regular water change routine. then when they start to drop off, add enough indian almond leaves to bring them back to the desired level.