Driftwood staining my water

[aquadon2222]

I've got a relatively new (3 months) large (300 gallon) tank and have recently added more driftwood - I do have some plants but trying to stick with more of a hardscape look. I'm sure this topic has been brought up before, but my water is slightly off-color. When I vacuum into a white bucket it's light brown/yellow and it's affecting the look of my fish - my albino whites look slightly yellow. It's been a month and I will say that it does seem to be getting better, but is there anything I can do to clear it up? Will carbon help?

[OC Discus]

Most driftwoods will stain the water, which does not hurt the fish and may actually be good for them. Did you boil the driftwood before adding it to the tank? Boiling can remove more of the tannins than simply soaking. It should diminish over time, and become less noticeable, especially with frequent water changes.

[aquadon2222]

I didn't boil it But if it doesn't improve with the next water change I think I will. I'ts knot critical to the fish, but id does take some of the sizzle out of my tank.

[nikond70s]

overtime with constant waterchange will get rid of the tanning color. or take it out and boil it a few times. but give it time. it will go away.

[OC Discus]

Boil, Rinse, Boil, Rinse repeat a few times until the rinse water is clear. Be sure to let it come to room temp/tank temp before returning it to the tank.

[joanstone]

Use some Purigen, it will clear it right up.

[Skip]

Its called tannins

[Keith Perkins]

Its called tannins

+1. Some people pay extra to simulate these conditions thinking they're good for their discus, meanwhile others complain about them. At the end of the day, I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference either way. At this point boiling your driftwood isn't going to do any good because anything bad it might have had in it has already been introduced to your fish, so personally I'd just let the tannins be and let WCs take care of the rest. JMO, now you can do what you want.

[Tazalanche]

I agree with Keith's suggestion. The point of boiling is to kill off anything that might be on/in the wood, but your tank and fish are already exposed. If you don't like the tannins in the water, just keep doing water changes & it will probably fade away within the next month.

I think the longest any tannins took to dissipate on any of our tanks was 2 months & that was when the big piece of driftwood on the right of this picture of our 135 (taken Spring 2013) was first placed in a 55 in December 2012. However, different types of wood have different amounts of tannin.

[joanstone]

I have massive pieces of driftwood in my big tank and for quite a while the water was obviously darkened. I agree, it doesn't hurt anything and may help, but if you get sick of it or don't like it, as I said it can be gone pretty much over night.

[tonytheboss1]

Gotta agree w/ most of the above. More aesthetics than anything else. My water was discolored about 3/4 mo before the tannins were gone. It depends on the wood. Just keep with the W/C's. "T"

[xmas_dude]

In worst case, I had the tea color stay on for about a month with one of my driftwoods that I had just soaked in water for a day before use in tank. I think the tea color can look pretty cool and natural. However, if you want clear water as soon as possible, I would boil the wood for few mins to accelerate the leaching of tannins. I usually do this with couple rounds of boiling water till it is clear.

[aquadon2222]

I pulled out my driftwood, cleaned it and boiled it and did two massive water changes and WOW, what a difference! The fish were indifferent, but it's just so much more visually appealing to me that it's really satisfying.

[OC Discus]

[j123]

Activated carbon will take the discoloration right out. I usually put it in a canister filter. I recommend Seachem Matrix carbon.

Many aquarists think tannin is the water is really great. And they, myself included, have to remove their carbon to keep the water stained.