Added Driftwood To Tank Now Ph Is Out Of Control

[eaglesaquarium]

wouldn't that be alkaline Eagles? Acidic means it should drop the pH/gH/kH - Alkaline would raise it? I admit to being confused by this too but suspect Byron may have hit upon something in that it may have been used previously and had soaked up something that's causing it now to leech it back out

 
Well, that's exactly what my original hypothesis was.
 
If its just wood, then the 'leaching' stuff is tannins, aka tannic acid, (and that's where the dark coloring in the bucket is coming from).  That's what's so baffling about this.  In other words, its not the 'wood', but something that's in the wood that's causing this.  The question is:  What is it?  And where did it come from?
 
 
I'm almost wondering if this 'driftwood' was found in a saltwater marsh or something...

 

[Akasha72]

I agree ... it's baffling. Like you, I knew tannins leeching was acidic but acidic means a lower pH (and gH/kH) but this has gone the other way so it's not leeching tannins .... I'm also thinking down the lines of some kind of saltwater enviroment .... unless it's been used before and been in a saltwater aquarium ??? 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I agree ... it's baffling. Like you, I knew tannins leeching was acidic but acidic means a lower pH (and gH/kH) but this has gone the other way so it's not leeching tannins .... I'm also thinking down the lines of some kind of saltwater enviroment .... unless it's been used before and been in a saltwater aquarium ??? 

 
 
No, I'd say its likely leaking tannins (as evidenced by the color change in the water) but that whatever else is it leeching is having a more profound impact.

 

[Akasha72]

ahhh I'd missed the comment about the bucket now having brown water. That's how I've got confused

 

[eaglesaquarium]

ahhh I'd missed the comment about the bucket now having brown water. That's how I've got confused

 
It happens.  That's why we discuss things.

 

[ShinySideUp]

Chuck it in a water butt in the garden and leave it for a year as it seems to be some seriously messed-up wood that should, as has been said, cause your pH to fall, not rise. There is something in it and it's not something you want in your aquarium.
 
Semantics perhaps but I prefer to use 'bogwood' rather than 'driftwood'. I havepieces bogwood in my tank that have been there for a couple of years and they are still leeching brown tannins (not much though) and the pH has always been around 6.2-6.5

 

[Far_King]

 

wouldn't that be alkaline Eagles? Acidic means it should drop the pH/gH/kH - Alkaline would raise it? I admit to being confused by this too but suspect Byron may have hit upon something in that it may have been used previously and had soaked up something that's causing it now to leech it back out

 
Well, that's exactly what my original hypothesis was.
 
If its just wood, then the 'leaching' stuff is tannins, aka tannic acid, (and that's where the dark coloring in the bucket is coming from).  That's what's so baffling about this.  In other words, its not the 'wood', but something that's in the wood that's causing this.  The question is:  What is it?  And where did it come from?
 
 
I'm almost wondering if this 'driftwood' was found in a saltwater marsh or something...
 

 
Yarp.  That was my first thought and why I asked where it came from.  You would expect a LFS to sell something that's aquarium safe but you never know.  I would expect this sort of problem with "foraged" wood.

 

[Byron]

Yarp.  That was my first thought and why I asked where it came from.  You would expect a LFS to sell something that's aquarium safe but you never know.  I would expect this sort of problem with "foraged" wood.
 

 
As you mention it, I will relate an experience I had in 1997.  Something was affecting the fish, slowly making them lethargic (new additions died within a couple days) and after testing everything possible, in the end it turned out to be some toxin leeching out from a chunk of wood.  I had purchased this from a reliable store.  The professional biologist who helped me get to the cause said we don't know exactly where any of this wood comes from, and it is impossible to know what may be deep inside, that can leech out months later.  No supplier can, or will, guarantee wood.
 
Byron.

 

[Far_King]

I suppose if it is naturally sourced it's very difficult to know what's occurred in that environment, rivers and streams can wash all manner of toxic material for many miles which could be absorbed.
 
I suppose the morale of this thread is if you'd added something to a tank, and things suddenly change within the tank, chances are what you've added is the cause.
 
I was going to say "root" cause but felt that pun would have been a bit wooden for this thread