Bogwood

[muzzy]

I bought a piece of bogwood that had been pre-soaked, on the package it advised to rinse/soak it for 24 hours or something but once that was done it was fine to just put in, i didn't have any problem with tannin. Only thing is that it might be a little more money than the bogwood that hasn't been soaked.

 

[Squid]

I think it depends on each bit of wood. I soaked mine for about 5 weeks, changing the hot water every day as the wood was a dark old gnarly bit that leached loads of tannins. Yes i could have just put it in the tank as it had no problems sinking, but there were so much tannins it would have been unsightly and would have required monster water changes all the time.

The density of the wood will also affect its ability to sink. So when it sinks, its all about personal taste as to how quickly you put it into the tank. I couldn't boil mine, the bit was to big for my biggest pot. I did scrub it a bit however, as bloo said, and kept it in a 45 litre bucket from B&Q (cost a fiver, was good for water changes too).

Squid

 

[Miss Wiggle]

tannine's far from being bad for your fish can actually be really good. a lot of fish's natural environment is coloured by tannines and you'll find a lot fo fish really appreciate the cover provided by the brown water, you can buy blackwater extract to put this into your tank as some species really do love it.

the only thing i'd recommend doing as a nescessity is to give the wood a bit of a scrub before it goes in the tank, we didn't with a massive bit for our big tank and it had loads of little bits of wood fall off it, they're too big to get up with the siphon and too small to pick up by hand so most of them are still in the tank!

 

[Killi]

I've had mine soaking/in the tank for over 7 weeks now and it still leeches tanins like theres no tomorrow. Suppose they will stop eventually & at least its keeping me fit with the twice weekly water changes
Apart from that I think bogwoods great

 

[Invader Xan]

Personally, I found that some carbon in the filter did a good job of removing excessive tannins. Water's still a little brownish, but not unpleasantly so.

 

[mark.w.jones]

The worse culprit in my experience is Mopani wood - but that's just normal chopped down trees - not bogwood.

Now aint that strange. There I was, going to recommend to go for mopani wood instead of bogwood as ive found it doesn't stain the water as much and youre saying the complete opposite . Ive decided that it must just depend on the bit of wood itself, and also how it was treated by the manufacturer, and that actually you can't make a recommendation as some bits will leach tannins and some won't. Not very helpful I know. Ive had some bits of wood that I scrubbed abd chucked in straight away which only stained the water for a week and other bits I soaked and boiled for a month which still stained the water for years. who knows.

 

[Jozlyn]

I just boil my wood for a few minutes (till the water changes colour) then change the water, boil again etc till the water stays clear. Took about 10 boils I think, only a couple of hours, but my piece of wood fit in a pot.

It's a terrible waste of water but you could do the same thing in the bath or a large bucket, just add hot water from the kettle, leave it for a while, change it etc etc etc It's a really quick way to get rid of the tanins if you're so inclined, I was, love a cupp a tea, but didn't like the look of the tea coloured tank water