I can’t get my water clear

[bettafishlover86]

My water has been this color ever since I added my drift wood 6 months ago. I do weekly water changes. 2 weeks ago I did a big water change and tended to all of my plants. My water is now worse than ever. I added a second filter because I thought 1 filter might not be enough. It didn’t work. I feel like no matter how hard I try my fish tank hates me. Any ideas on how I can get my water clear?

 

[Fishmanic]

It doesnt look that bad to me
it's caused by the tannins released by the driftwood.. With time, it will eventually cease releasing tannins.

 

[hansgruber7]

This looks fine to me. I kind of like the looks of tannins in the water personally. Looks more natural. If you can't stand it, the only solution is to remove the driftwood. But I think you should leave it in. It will stop eventually.

 

[Rocky998]

Sorry but that ain't bad at all lol... If you want to see a tank that was REALLY full of tannins I can show you one. Your tank looks fine and actually, tannins have benefits for the fish that help with diseases.

 

[BrianK]

You should see one of my tanks. So much tannin the back of the tank is hard to see. The piece of wood I have in there is leaching tannins something terrible. I am looking forward to the day mine looks more like yours.

 

[Colin_T]

You need a picture on the back of the tank to make the fish feel more secure.

The slight yellow brown discolouration to the water is tannins released from the wood (as mentioned by others). You can do big water changes to dilute it or add activated carbon to the filter to remove it. However, the carbon will fill up pretty quickly so you will go through a fair bit of it before the wood stops leaching tannins into the water.

The other option is to put the wood in a bucket of water outside and change the water every week. When the wood stops releasing tannins, put the wood back in the tank.

The tannins are harmless to fish and are simply an eyesore if you don't like it.

 

[bettafishlover86]

Thanks for the help

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I think a black background would help, the wall colour behind the tank is making it look cloudier than it is I think. You can use black posterboard, or even just use black trashbags to try it out and see if you like the look before you invest more effort into it. I think it would improve the look of the tank as a whole a lot! As an example, I'll show you the difference adding a black background made to my newest set up the other day:

Before:

After - Still not a show tank! It's a work in progress that I'm still tidying/plants growing in/changing the filter intake cover to a black net so it blends in etc, and the floating hornwort is temporary while it all settles in, but the light blue wall background was making the water look cloudier than it really was.