# removing tannins from tank



## Juicebox (Oct 24, 2012)

the new piece of driftwood is making the water in my tank a little too dark for my liking.yesterday i did a 50 percent water change and today its just as dark as itwas before the change..whats my options here to remove the tannins without removing the piece of driftwood? should i be doing big water changes every 1 day or 2 days? idont know how often is safe for my fish?? and how much water should i do in each change?


----------



## Nothingness (Oct 11, 2012)

after some time the driftwood will stop leaking tannins in to the water so just do your routine water changes to not upset the water balance too much, esp if your currently cycling the tank. Know that in about a month or 2 the tannin issue won't be problem anymore. Alot of people will soak new driftwood for weeks to leach out the tannins before placing it in a tank


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

purigen works well if you're not up for manual removal :3


----------



## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Bettas come from "blackwater" habitats, where driftwood, roots, and leaves decompose in the water, causing it to look like tea. I wouldn't worry about the tannins, as unsightly as it is, I'm sure your bettas are enjoying it.


----------



## Bounce (May 26, 2012)

Running carbon in your filter will also help with removing tannins.


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Using activated carbon _Bounce_ suggested and water changes-is about all you can do until the wood stops leaching large amount of tannins. I had to use some short term in one of my soil based tanks due to the wood I used last year myself. It took about a month before it stopped leaching large amounts of tannins and water logged...lol.....Then I stopped using the carbon.

You will need to change out the carbon weekly-depending on the quality and amount you use-along with 50% weekly water changes and if your tank is glass-you can use a razor blade to remove the tannin stains off the viewing walls-acrylic tanks can be a challenge to get them off-

The tannin stains on the viewing wall can sometimes make it look like the water is much darker than it really is.


----------



## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I hear purigen like Aokashi mentioned is the best at removing tannins. A lot of planted peope use it in their tanks. 

OFL can I ask what a tannin stain is? All my tanks are tannin heavy and I have noticed that on the outside of the tanks I get almost hard water type marks that can only be scraped off. I wondered if this was because of how acidic my water is, or the acidic water reacting with the plastic wrap I use to cover my tanks.


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Tannin stains are just that...stains from the tannins-they adhere to everything and stain them-usually brown or whatever color the tannins are to start with.

When you lower the water level you can usually see the color difference or if you use a razor on glass ONLY-you can see the difference too.

The hard water mineral deposits you can see at the water line and on the partitions between the light/water, filter, heaters...etc....just about anything that water hits...Its normal and expected with water that has minerals in it. It need to be manually removed on occasion along with water changes as a regular part of maintaining the tank. You don't want to try and get rid of the minerals in the water since they are important for the health of the system and livestock. Just one of those things we have to deal with.....Its not a bad thing just a pain sometimes....lol....


----------



## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Hm never had an issue with tannins leaving behind marks on my glass before. 

The trouble is my water isn't hard at all. Melbourne has some of the softest water, it has 0 carbonate hardness coming from the tap and then the pH does a big drop from 7 to around 6 if left to sit overnight. With the IAL and peat moss I use the pH is really low. 

This is why I was wondering what the tannin marks were. Thought maybe what you were talking about was what I had experienced.


----------

