Bogwood. Tannins. Ph. Boiling

[Maxta]

Lol.

As some of you may know, if youve read any of my posts, i may have a pH problem - hard to determine this as of yet because my tank is cycling. Basically my tap water has a pH of 7.6, but as soon as i treat the water and put it in my tank with 2 bits of bogwood, after a day or so the pH dramatically drops to around 6.0.

Also the bogwood leaches tannins. So iv read i have to boil it a couple of times to prepare the bogwood which will stop it from turning the water brown/yellow.
I googled boiling bogwood and on a forum someone posted a link to a website which has a guide on boiling bogwood, and amongst other information it said this:

The most common question most cichlid keepers have about driftwood is "how will it effect my pH?" Answering this question is not easy, but there are a few things to consider. Since driftwood contains tannins (which is also referred to as tannic acid) it will try to lower your aquarium's pH. Your pH may drop if the buffering capacity of your water is low (low mineral content).

Is this true? Does this mean if i boil my bogwood and stop it from leaching tannins, i may not see a drop in pH?

Either way im going to boil my bogwood because i dont like the colour it turns the water. At first i thought it was the ammonia turning my water that colour. And i thought it was the actual bogwood itself that caused the pH drop, not the tannins.

Over and out.

PS. Heres the website: http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/driftwood.php

 

[BigIan]

yep, its true, but thie effect is shortlived mist bogwood will stop leaching tannins after a month or 2

 

[Maxta]

Thanks

Boiling the new bit of bogwood now, the guide im referring to said boil for 15 minutes before pouring out and repeating. I have it on the highest setting, first time iv used the hob....and its for boiling wood But i think its going to take longer than 15 minutes, been going 10 minutes and the water isnt even boiled yet and hasnt really changed colour (its a hefty pan compared to standard, so probably takes longer to heat up i assume).

Lol! The other bits been in my tank for 2 and a half weeks so hopefully some of the tannin has already gone, il boil that a few times (if its fit).

Thanks once again B.I.

 

[Maxta]

I think adding that second bit of bogwood which lowered my pH, has stalled my cycle or killed my bacteria.

On the 26th i added ammonia to ~2 ppm.

On the 27th i measured ammonia and its level was ~0.50 at 10am, 4pm and 10pm.

On the 28th i measured ammonia and its level was ~0.50 at 10am


So it looks as if the ammonia eating bacteria have gone or most have died. Because before adding this bogwood i was topping up ammonia every 5 hours.

So my plan is to boil both bits of bogwood until ALL tanin is gone, do a 50/60% water change and start again, REINTRODUCE BOGWOOD WHEN READY!

GOD DAMNIT!!!

 

[BigIan]

what is your ph reading now?

 

[Maxta]

The pH of my tank is 6.0 - but it could be lower because thats the lowest value the test go's to. Cant afford to buy a pH reader atm.

Im boiling the bogwood for the second time now. The water went very brown after leaving it in for 25 minutes the first time. Once the water stops going brown, i will be finished with boiling and add back to the tank.

I went to my LFS and the pH of the water in the bag that we bought tetras was around 7.4

My dads tank is 7.0

My tank currently has no bogwood in now because im in the process of boiling them. I will do a water change and take pH readings and monitor the situation to see if it actually was the bogwood that was causing the problem, or if its the cycling process.

PS. I found out my dads wood isnt bogwood, tut. Knew it looked different!!

 

[BigIan]

sounds like you`ve stalled your cycle...

just do a partial water change and that should kick start it.

happened with me when i cycled

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if your boiling all the wood and starting over, i'd do a 100% water change get the pH back up to the level fo your tap water, then when you add the bogwood if the pH drops again at least you know it wasn't that and you can look for the culprit. or if it doesn't drop you know you've sorted it and the cycle should be easier too.

 

[BigIan]

if your boiling all the wood and starting over, i'd do a 100% water change get the pH back up to the level fo your tap water, then when you add the bogwood if the pH drops again at least you know it wasn't that and you can look for the culprit. or if it doesn't drop you know you've sorted it and the cycle should be easier too.

However ammonia nitrate and nitrite are all acids and so will lower the ph of the tank so you can`t rule out bog wood or the chems in the water...

and given the fact you`l be doing a 90% change at the end, then there no point just do a partial 30-40% water change and carry on with your cycle

 

[Maxta]

Yeah. Il keep you updated. The bogwood has been in the same amount of time as it was before and the water isnt as dark, hopefully its all going. Then il work on the bit thats been in my tank for 2 and a half weeks, hopefully that shouldnt need as much time boiling.

Im also going to order some of that matrix stuff today to replace my carbon and zeolite bits in my filter catridges.

Anyways il keep you updated.

 

[Maxta]

Still busy boiling my bogwood, about to start the 3rd session. However stats as following:

pH of my tap water 7.6
pH of my tank before cycling 6.0

Did a 50% water change, water is still browny of course

pH of the water i added to the tank 7.6
pH of the tank now is between 6.4-6.5

pH of the water in the pan after boiling the bogwood 6.0

I am going to do another water change probably tomorow, progressively getting there so i can up my pH. Il be testing my pH later and will post the results.

Actually my pH looks higher in that picture, looks more towards 6.8? Dont ya think?

 

[Maxta]

Did a 80% water change earlier. pH of water beforehand was around 6.4. pH of the water immediately after water change was 7.2 (tap water pH is 7.6). And two hours down the line the pH of my water is between 6.8 and 7.0.

 

[Maxta]

Ammonia 0
Nitrite ~2

What the heck? How is nitrite still at 2 even though i did a 80% water change? My ammonia was at 0.50 the day before i did a water change, whether or not the bacteria munched this down or the water change brought it down to 0 i dont know, im guessing bacteria because if the water change removed the ammonia why didnt it remove the nitrite? Strange?

Can my cycle be resumed? Or will it be starting again from scratch? Its only the water iv changed bearing in mind, and removed the plants/bogwood for now.

 

[Monkeyseemonkeydo]

Hi mate. This sounds like a kH issue to me. I live in Newcastle so I'm close to you and the water here has a very low kH, and therefore buffering capacity. The pH is thus susceptible to rapid drops if conditions aren't maintained. As your tank is still cycling I suspect the nitorgenous wastes are causing your rapid pH drops. The cycle is obviously working, which is why your nitrite is showing after a water change; the bacteria are breaking down the ammonia quickly. This is a good thing! The bogwood, imo, is unlikely to be affecting the situation a great deal.

Do you have a nitrate reading yet?

Cheers

Matt

 

[Tessla]

Your pH is jumping all over, likely a buffering issue as Monkey just said. Testing pH can often give you an idea of the actual problem and tell you what else to test for, but really doesn't matter much for the most part so long as it's stable. Unfortunately, every test kit comes with a pH test since it's so easy to test for and steers you towards a pH of 7. Sounds like you're fishless cycling, don't worry about your pH.

pH will fluctuate during cycling, bogwood will lower pH, crushed coral and shells will raise pH but none of that is half as important as buffering. I find myself repeating this a lot, so I threw a very informative link on water hardness in my signature. Get readings for your tap and tank GH and KH, explained in the article. So long as you have sufficient KH to keep your pH stable once you get fish in there, it doesn't matter if you have a pH of 5, 6, 7, 8 or anything in between.