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Preparing Driftwood

1K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  RSVBiffer 
#1 ·
I've just ordered some driftwood for my aquarium, and after reading stuff on what it does to the water after introduced, basically the discoloration, I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to prepare it before adding into the tank. Basically I want to get all of the trouble taken care of before adding it into my tank because the driftwood would hopefully be the only thing to protect some of my plants from my pleco and serve as both an anchor to some plants and an hiding place for some of the fish I plan to buy.
 
#2 ·
Tannins can leach from wood for a considerable time and different types of wood hold different levels of tannins. Some people presoak wood beforehand to both waterlog it and to remove the tannins. Depending on the size of the wood you can also boil it to remove them. However, that said, the chances of you removing all the tannins are minimal and I suspect you will still get some discolouration. I soaked some Mopani and Redmoor for about 6 months but it still leached when it went in the tank. Your alternative is to use carbon (or better still a Polyfilter) to remove the tannins/humic acid from the water column.
 
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