My new wood let out a orange tinge to water.. help?

Vinh

Vinh

Medium Fish
#1
Jun 25, 2003
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Hey,

Today I saw the white type of wood that caught my breath, looks like termites might of once lived in it but now its all good, got it for $30 at the fish store, I ask the guy and he said it was already treated so it wont release any chemicals...

Anyways I couldnt wait to get home and pop it in my tank, it does look good but IT LET OUT A ORANGE TYPE OF TINGE... :S

Any one know if there is any thing out there that will clear up my water back to normal? or will this tinge stay as long as my wood is in my tank :S

Btw I will get a picture up of my tank later tonight in about 5 hours time.

Vinh.
 

lilsilkk1112

lilsilkk1112

Large Fish
#2
May 19, 2003
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start doing water changes.

i'm guessing if it were treated it would not have done that.

he probably sold you some rotten red pine from his yard for 30$. i'd be pretty P0'd right now...

maybe someone can help out here, but i dont think 'commercial' driftwood that is sold does that. i just added a small piece i paid 8$ for. its driftwood from australia, but either way, it didnt do anything to the water. it just had to soak up some water b/f it sunk and now stays down...

i'd do a 25% water change every two days until the orange is gone. hopefully its not a poison though!
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#3
Oct 22, 2002
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#3
Leanr to live with it - most driftwood releases some tannin (dies water orange)
You can make it better tho - get it out, get it in a big pan and boil it for a few hours.That'll get most of it out, though it'll leak a little for a long time after
 

Vinh

Vinh

Medium Fish
#5
Jun 25, 2003
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Man I cant believe that there are some many algae and other nonsese chemicals and stuff for aquariums but they dont have a product that will kill wood tanning :S
 

Vinh

Vinh

Medium Fish
#7
Jun 25, 2003
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also if you look at the pic.. my driftwood is a bit big to ever fit in a pot to boil :S

So what ive done now is taken it out of my tank.. the thing still floats in my tank if i dont push the thing agasint the tank walls to keep it down, had a hard time trying to put it in the bathtime under the water... again i use bath wedge to keep it down..

Anyways ran the hot water till it got full, at 70% of the way.. the hot water system cant cope with pure hot water so the rest of the way was cold water :/ but it was pretty steamy.. so the water was warm.

Im going to leave it over night, Been 20mins since its been in the bath tub and it seems like the water in the bathtub isnt turning into orange colour.. hmm...

anyways i gotta get it out of the bath tub since its the only tub in the house by tomorrow night.

How long should i leave it soaking in tub for?
 

Scrumpy

Scrumpy

Large Fish
#8
Oct 22, 2002
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#8
Yes...if it's too big to boil, your best bet is to keep soaking it in a bath of the hottest tap water you can muster. I'd let it soak until the water is cold, then fill it up with hot water again. I'd keep doing it until the water remains pretty clear. TBH the longer you soak it the better because the tannins that leach out in the bath won't leach out in your tank.

To speed things up you could try boiling one end of the wood at a time....I had to do that with my bog wood. I used a giant preserving pan and boiled one half, then the other....and kept turning it and changing the water.
 

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Scrumpy

Scrumpy

Large Fish
#10
Oct 22, 2002
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#10
You'll get the tannins out faster the hotter the water....so say for my bog wood, 2 hours in cold water left the water clear, 2 hours boiling water left the water opaque oily brown/black like gravy. 2 hours in hotish water in the bath left it sort of clear but yellowy brown.
So....how long depends on how hot the water, and how big the wood. You can only tell by the colour of the water each time you come to replace it with new hot water....but you're probably looking at a couple of weeks of daily water changes at the very least.
Worth it in the end though :)


To speed things up you could try boiling one end of the wood at a time....I had to do that with my bog wood. I used a giant preserving pan and boiled one half, then the other....and kept turning it and changing the water.
 

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