Mopani Wood.

[GiantManLittleFish]

I just bought some Natural Mopani Wood for my tank with a clown pleco in it. It says it sinks instantly. But the other side says to soak it due to tannins in the wood for a few days and change the water daily. Can I speed up the process and boil this wood to make it aquarium safe today?

 

[unwritten law]

boiling removes any fungus and bacteria that can be on the wood. The tannins it releases is not harmful to fish, they are actually what make red wine good for you. It will stain the water but carbon will help or pre-soaking. I pre-soaked my wood for 2 weeks and never boiled and mine is fine. I don't know if boiling will help speed up the release of tannins but I would think it would. Boiling does break down the wood a bit though and it won't necessarily last as long.

 

[GiantManLittleFish]

It says this stuff doesn't rot either. I'm boiling it to be on the safe side. I'll add some carbon to my filter to buff the water.

 

[unwritten law]

yeah boiling wont hurt at all....usually its already aquarium safe, I don't know why they recommend daily water changes.

 

[GiantManLittleFish]

No, while you're soaking it do daily water changes to remove tannin from your soaking water. Plus I'm boiling it mainly because they keep it near all the reptiles, anphibians, and arachnids at the store, so it's getting boiled. We'll just see how brown my aquarium water will be later tonight.

 

[joy613]

I have some in 2 of my tanks. I washed it with super hot water, the tannins didn't last that long. My bf doesn't like the tannins in his tank so he boiled his in his turkey fryer. The person that was helping us at the LFS looked at me like I had lost my mind, but it worked out well, he got very little discoloration in his tank.

 

[TMony]

No, while you're soaking it do daily water changes to remove tannin from your soaking water. Plus I'm boiling it mainly because they keep it near all the reptiles, anphibians, and arachnids at the store, so it's getting boiled. We'll just see how brown my aquarium water will be later tonight.

I don't blame you . . . I get paranoid with that kind of stuff too . . . boil away and be safe rather than sorry later

 

[Violet]

Lol, the way I read the first post, I thought the wood had a pleco in it that you didn't realise was there, which means the rest of the post made no sense.... Yes I've got it now, no need to explain lol.

 

[GiantManLittleFish]

I boiled the heck out of it twice and inbetween boilings I let it soak in the hot water and then dumped it and boiled it again. No discoloration in my tank water!

 

[Bullcrappy]

So i did not presoak the wood and now the tank has a brown tint. I added another charcol pack to the filter, anything else I can do?

Maybe a partial water change and more charcol? How long till its disapaites?

thx
bull

 

[unwritten law]

maybe a few weeks depending on how much carbon and water changes you do. Mine doesnt do it anymore but I dont know when it stopped leaching.

 

[Sykesy]

I actually like the "brown" affect the wood gives to the water gives it a more natural look. I only got it after reading up on my Dull eyed royal Pleco (a stunning looking fish) which says it needs wood in its diet. love the more natural feel to the tank and the more natural look.