how do I get clear water?

[CraigG]

without using carbon how can I get clear water?
I have a planted tank, driftwood, I know the amazon extract that tinted it brown but even with water changes. It's still hard to see the back

Any help would be appreciated

[kenhappen2u]

i had that same problem when i placed a peice of driftwood in my tank...no matter how many WC i did the stained water look kept comming back. what i did it take the peice of driftwood and boiled it in a lagre pot on top of the stove . the water will look like dark tea for a while ...just keep boiling , empty out the staind water and boil again.. i think it took me about 3-4 pots of clean water before the heavy dark stained water started to lighten up , ...this is not a cure/fix but it will help with with your stained water problem. hope this helps

Ken

[ncyracer]

Boiling works. But what about fluval clearmax? Would that help.

[Graham]

Why not just put some activated carbon in the filter and be done with it...simple and easy...and no harm done

[scolley]

I've got to disagree Graham. Sorry.

Generally speaking anything that will pull tannins out of your water will also pull out the nutrients that your plants need. So it's not as simple as deciding to suck the tannins out of the water.

Fact is CraigG, you screwed up by putting a piece of untested driftwood in your tank that was - by your criteria - not ready for your tank. You were not ready to accept a major lack of water clarity to be an outcome of your action.

Now you've got some choices to make... deal with the extended amount of time and water changes that it will take to eventually make this go away (and it will eventually), or undergo the sort of work that kenhappen2u suggested. Or do as Graham suggested, but doing it at the detriment of your plants, robbing them of the nutrients that they need, and likely increasing the aglae in your tank.

Your choice.

[Graham]

Steve maybe with long tern use it would detrimental to plants, but using quality AC for 24 hours would clear the tannins and have no affect on the plants. With intermittent AC use and water changes they would have clear water and plants

[scolley]

That is absolutely true. And I have used Seachem Purigen to very successfully pull brown stain out of my own water, with no long term detriment to my plants. But then again, I pulled it out after a day or two. I had to because of the plants.

Problem is with leaching driftwood, it's going to be back. And soon. So while you can indeed do a "spot" treatment, be it Purigen, carbon, whatever, you are going to have to do it many, many times. But I suppose if you were willing to do that, you could at least keep it from building up as badly as CraigG described.