Mopani Wood, Tannins Question

[JArnold]

Hi, about two weeks ago i purchased a piece of mopani wood for my aquarium, i only soaked it for a day in hot an rinsed it well a good amount of times because i was eager to get it in the tank, of course the next day the water had turned a slightly nasty greenish brown colour which i was prepared for. now 2-3 weeks later the water is still green (not so much a bad thing because i quite like the water the colour it is at the moment) however i think i would prefer it clear and was wondering how long it should be before it has returned to a clear colour (btw i have been doing roughly 25% water changes every other day for 2 weeks is this normal?)

thanks in advance for any help

 

[kingmed]

Hi, about two weeks ago i purchased a piece of mopani wood for my aquarium, i only soaked it for a day in hot an rinsed it well a good amount of times because i was eager to get it in the tank, of course the next day the water had turned a slightly nasty greenish brown colour which i was prepared for. now 2-3 weeks later the water is still green (not so much a bad thing because i quite like the water the colour it is at the moment) however i think i would prefer it clear and was wondering how long it should be before it has returned to a clear colour (btw i have been doing roughly 25% water changes every other day for 2 weeks is this normal?)

thanks in advance for any help

I'm not an expert but I had the same problem with my 55 gallon tank. I eventually got tired of the tea color in the tank and boiled the mopani drift wood in a large pot on the stove, I did this for 3-4 hours adding water as I went along while I kept boiling. I didn't mind the color but my wife didn't like it. I don't have the problem anymore, don't know if it was due to periodically boiling the wood and just letting it leak out into the tank or what happened. I would boil it and see if that helps. I'm sure others may have a better idea/ideas, good luck.

 

[JArnold]

Hi, about two weeks ago i purchased a piece of mopani wood for my aquarium, i only soaked it for a day in hot an rinsed it well a good amount of times because i was eager to get it in the tank, of course the next day the water had turned a slightly nasty greenish brown colour which i was prepared for. now 2-3 weeks later the water is still green (not so much a bad thing because i quite like the water the colour it is at the moment) however i think i would prefer it clear and was wondering how long it should be before it has returned to a clear colour (btw i have been doing roughly 25% water changes every other day for 2 weeks is this normal?)

thanks in advance for any help

I'm not an expert but I had the same problem with my 55 gallon tank. I eventually got tired of the tea color in the tank and boiled the mopani drift wood in a large pot on the stove, I did this for 3-4 hours adding water as I went along while I kept boiling. I didn't mind the color but my wife didn't like it. I don't have the problem anymore, don't know if it was due to periodically boiling the wood and just letting it leak out into the tank or what happened. I would boil it and see if that helps. I'm sure others may have a better idea/ideas, good luck.

ahh i might give that a try, think i've heard of it working in previous situations too

thanks very much for the help

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, from what I've heard and read every piece of wood can be a bit different and you just have to be patient and keep it in a bucket, doing things to it when you have time and watching it until your particular piece finally clears. I've heard of it being boiled directly, having boiled water poured over it and also just having hot water added to the bucket periodically as it soaks for somwhere between a day or to all the way to some months.

And, of course, if one gives up too soon or one has already put it in the tank and doesn't want to take it out but wants clear water, then about the only alternative is to do more frequent, larger water changes and to do a series of 3-day at a time carbon additions to the filter. Carbon will remove some of the yellow from the water.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[mark1979]

i have loads of mopani in my tank and i soaked it for a week.

when i put it in the tank i bought some seachem purigen,works a treat,no colour tannins what so ever!!

 

[waterdrop]

O, that's pretty cool to know! Perhaps that works even better than carbon! Thanks! -wd-

 

[Tw3lv3]

Do's that seachem purigen replace the carbon filter media in external filter compartments?

 

[JArnold]

i have loads of mopani in my tank and i soaked it for a week.

when i put it in the tank i bought some seachem purigen,works a treat,no colour tannins what so ever!!

ok sounds good, thanks very much for your help everybody

 

[waterdrop]

Do's that seachem purigen replace the carbon filter media in external filter compartments?

Its weird stuff, has always looked to me like it would need a fairly fine-meshed bag to contain it!