Tannins keep coming back!

[Sgooosh]

Hello! In my small paludarium, water is designed to flow through the land part into the water. However, the structure for the land part was made with manzanita wood, and stained the water with tannins quickly.
Even after changing the water multiple times for almost half a year now, the tannins are still strong enough over time that the water is not see through. vampire crabs, small fish, pest snails, and one mystery snail seem to live fine in this though.
Will they ever go away?
How can I make it so that the water is stained less/ more slowly?

 

[CassCats]

If you have any soil in the setup, that will also add to the tannins.

Otherwise you may need to run Purigen or carbon in your filter to clear the water

 

[Sgooosh]

If you have any soil in the setup, that will also add to the tannins.

Otherwise you may need to run Purigen or carbon in your filter to clear the water

I see, I only have dead moss for the substrate but I recently put a plant in the water column which has soil.
I will try those and see how it goes!

 

[Colin_T]

Wood can release tannins for weeks, months or even years. It's just a matter of waiting it out. Doing bigger more frequent water changes can help clear the water, as can adding carbon to a filter. However, the carbon will need replacing regularly because tannins fill the pores in the carbon quite quickly.

 

[Magnum Man]

I had a couple pieces of wood that did the same, and read that boiling it, would make the tannins come out faster, but also heard that boiling it will make the wood not last as long… adding baking soda to the water when boiling is also supposed to help… I boiled mine, with baking soda off and on, changing the water each time and it still stained my tank water… a year later, and both pieces are still in use, and have finally stopped staining the water ( at least it’s not as dark as coffee ) I can see the wood degraded some, but they were hard pieces, so I expect, even after boiling, they’ll last for years… a softer wood, may not survive the boiling… but short of boiling… patience

 

[connorlindeman]

Manzanita wood is some of best looking wood, but also releases the most tannins. You just have to wait it out. It can take years.

 

[TNG]

Hello! In my small paludarium, water is designed to flow through the land part into the water. However, the structure for the land part was made with manzanita wood, and stained the water with tannins quickly.
Even after changing the water multiple times for almost half a year now, the tannins are still strong enough over time that the water is not see through. vampire crabs, small fish, pest snails, and one mystery snail seem to live fine in this though.
Will they ever go away?
How can I make it so that the water is stained less/ more slowly?

If you want to speed up the process you need to fully submerge the wood in water. That will mean removing the wood from the paludarium and drop it in a bucket of water, keep changing the water every week or so until the tannins have leached out - then put it back in the paludarium.

 

[Magnum Man]

mine still leached a lot of tannins ( Iced Tea color ) into my tank water ( fully submerged ), for at least 6 months, after a dozen pots of boiling water, that was the color of coffee, each time I changed it... some wood, can take a long time... no guesses on how long, if I had not boiled it... ( but maybe boiling it, did nothing to speed up the process??? )

 

[GaryE]

I always thought that if you bought manzanita wood, it was because it would release tannins for close to forever. I thought that was the goal.

Being cheap, I've never bought aquarium decorative wood, but have used a lot of native hardwood and tree roots in my tanks. They don't give me enough tannins.

 

[Magnum Man]

If you really wanted a "black" water tank, that is the wood for you... I rinsed mine initially, & put it in the tank, 2 days later, it was like coffee... no fish yet, but you could not see through the aquarium, couldn't see the substrate, or the few plants I had in there at the time... it was then, that I tried boiling it... I was after a light tea color to the water... but initially was way too dark

 

[Sgooosh]

Thanks for all the help guys! Manzanita is native here and i got it when a large piece fell up in the mountains.
I will just embrace it as a darker water tank then, and try to tone it down with some carbon