# When it safe to put new driftwood in the aquarium ?



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

I bought 2 days ago 2 little peaces of driftwood form BA to put in my 10Gl tank to increase hiding places for shrimps. I put them in container first (as suggested by BA) to get the color off them. They have been in container for two days now and I'm changing watter there every 8 hrs and it still getting yellow after 8 hrs. How long should I keep them in the container to make a watter clear there ? And when it safe to put them in my fish tank ?


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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

It can take a month or months for the color to dissipate away. The yellow stain is the tannins inside the wood which the trees naturally produce. It -will not- harm your fish. It is visually disturbing to some while some like it. To remove most tannins many people boil it in a pot over the stove. That is what I did and boiled it for a few hours changing the water from time to time. Still after boiling it was still leeching tannins. That is ok. I put it into my tank and about a week later some white fungus appeared but that was totally -harmless- to the fish. The fish/snail/inverts would consume that eventually. 

As for the tannins this is when having carbon in your filter will aid in removing the coloring along with some water changes. It can take about a couple days for the carbon to control most or all of the tannins leeched from the wood. I don't use carbon in my AC20 anymore and my driftwood has stopped releasing tannins months ago tho you can experiment say after 1 month then stop using carbon all together and see if the tank has a tea stain coloring after a weeks time. 

The main thing right now above the tannins is waterlog that wood. The boiling also aids in sterlizing the wood as well. Just don't use the wifes good pots to do it. Trust me on this one! You may get some brown spotting on the pots which you can clean away.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

OK. If I understood correctly, boil it for 2-3 hrs, changing watter every 1 hr or so and after put in fish tank. And also put carbon insert to my AC20 (or replace it with new one as I have one there for 3 months now). But the watter still will have a color for about a month that is harmless to fish and shrimps ? And after the month it should go back to crystal clear ? The only other question I have is to using carbon insert in the planted tank. I have a lot of plants in my tank that grow very well right now. Would carbon slow, stop the grows ????


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

The carbon should be removed after 2-3 weeks. It will start to release the stuff it has absorbed after a month.


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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

Ppaskova,

How large are the pieces of driftwood you have? LxWxH? If they're not that large and say small pieces like umm.. 2" x 4" x 2" small it may take an hour to boil out most of the tannins for that small piece of wood. The one I have is a mospani driftwood (creme outside with dark inside) which was for reptile/amphibians I owned before in the past before I used it for the aquarium. Mine was about the size of 2/3 the keyboard long so it took longer to boil.

I just changed the water while I was boiling it as it turned more darker tea stain then stopped I think 10-20 times water changing it.

I would use a new carbon insert as it would be most efficient. You could also take the mesh bag you get when you buy garlic (make sure there is no metal at the end of the mesh bag) and fill your own carbon inside that bag and put it into the AC20. That way you can control how much or how little carbon you need. 

I have yet lost livestock due to the tannins. It was mentioned to me by other GTAA members when I was doing it the first time then that the tannins won't harm livestock and that the white fungus may/may not appear but that is harmless as your livestock (and they did for me) will consume that white fungus in about a week or two time.

The carbon will control the tannins by trapping them as I understand it. Combining that with water changes it can take a month to a few months for the wood to stop leeching out tannins to stain the tank. I am not sure of the effects of the carbon filter on plants as I don't use it often and only use hte carbon from time to time then remove it out and dry it till next use.


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## camboy012406 (Jun 11, 2010)

currently, in my planted tank I am using hob filter with carbon media on it with no prolem. just make sure you put enough fertilizer or have a diy co2


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

camboy012406 said:


> currently, in my planted tank I am using hob filter with carbon media on it with no prolem. just make sure you put enough fertilizer or have a diy co2


Here is my problem. It took me 6 months to successfully grow my low / medium light plants without any fertilizer as it may be harmful to shrimps and fish. And I'm not planning to add it. So I have to find a balance in using carbon


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

Carbon should not affect your low light plants if they have been growing fine for 6 months You will still get poop from your fish and you should not need to add co2 or ferts if you do not do so now. Ps if you buy carbon in a box make sure ti rinse it first.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

ppaskova said:


> Here is my problem. It took me 6 months to successfully grow my low / medium light plants without any fertilizer as it may be harmful to shrimps and fish. And I'm not planning to add it. So I have to find a balance in using carbon


Not sure what kind of fertilizer you have used, but I would say 99.9% of the over the counter ones you can buy are safe for both shrimp and fish.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

matti2uude said:


> The carbon should be removed after 2-3 weeks. It will start to release the stuff it has absorbed after a month.


Interesting. I did not know that. So what are you saying, that now (after 3 months) my carbon is doing the opposite job of what it should be doing ?


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

AquaNekoMobile said:


> Ppaskova,
> 
> How large are the pieces of driftwood you have? LxWxH? If they're not that large and say small pieces like umm.. 2" x 4" x 2" small it may take an hour to boil out most of the tannins for that small piece of wood. The one I have is a mospani driftwood (creme outside with dark inside) which was for reptile/amphibians I owned before in the past before I used it for the aquarium. Mine was about the size of 2/3 the keyboard long so it took longer to boil.
> 
> ...


Yes my wood is very small I have 2 peaces that I bought about 2"x2"x2" or little bigger and one used one that somebody gave me which is about 3"X5"X3". The used one almost not ejecting any tannins after being over a week in the watter but two new small ones giving a lot of it. So I guess I should boil all of them for about 1-1.5 hrs ?


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

ppaskova said:


> Interesting. I did not know that. So what are you saying, that now (after 3 months) my carbon is doing the opposite job of what it should be doing ?


Yes that's what I mean.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

matti2uude said:


> Yes that's what I mean.


So in this case it's better to remove it, instead of just keeping there ? As if it not there the filter will do better cleaning job than now ?


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

When I use carbon, I have it in for 2-3 weeks then take it out and throw it away. If I want to keep using carbon I will replace it with new carbon. 
Your filter will work better without your 3 month old carbon or replace it with new carbon.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

Chris S said:


> Not sure what kind of fertilizer you have used, but I would say 99.9% of the over the counter ones you can buy are safe for both shrimp and fish.


Well what I heard from other people that Flourish Excel can be deadly for shrimps and fish sometimes.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Flourish excel is a carbon supplement, and yes, I have heard the same, but it doesn't mean you can't dose your NPK and micros to help a bit =)


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