stained ( tanin water ) from my drift wood

[nicholas76]

Hi all

just wondering how you go about reducing or eliminating tanin from drift wood.
im aware of the tanin benefits but hate that brown water.

im setting up a tank with fine sand as the base. what can i use as a feature, within the tank, its a 4 x 18 x 18. Contemplating drift wood but i dont want that brown water!!

still havent decided on the discus type either, maybe blue D's,, reds not sure.

[Proteus]

Activated carbon, replaced regularly... or lots and lots of water changes...

I have a MASSIVE piece of bogwood in my 4ft'r, and through water changes of approx 5-10% per day, and a 50% change every 10 days or so keeps the water nice and clear. (mind you, 2 x Sponge filters, 1 x AC300, 1 x AC200 HOB's, and 1 x 30x18x18 mini-reef full of bio-balls, E-heim filter mesh and a thick layer of filter wool help as well) as they say, you can never have too much filtration...

[flukes]

If you soak the crap out of the wood with boiling hot water you can reduce the amounts of tannis. I did this too a piece of wood i got from a lfs and i didnt notice a difference in water color

[nicholas76]

aah ok shall do

also - normal sand from the local sand and soil place! what do you think ?

can it be used after vigourous cleaning?

im looking at setting it up and putting fish in , after about 1 - 2 months time

[kevkoi]

Why sand?

Going to be a PAIN to siphon the crap and gunk left over at the bottom with sand substrate. U'll be sucking out more sand than waste when u siphon.... and u will have to siphon.

U can't use a tool like the gravel vac with sand substrate.

[nicholas76]

I think it looks awsum !

i wonder how others cope with a sandy subsrate?

experiences??? anyone???

I heard of tanks not being gravel vacd at all with thick sandy bottoms. research time I think!

[luvfishies]

I don't gravel vac the sand here,l but use plumbers hose (clear) to suck the nasties off, Just the same as a BB tank, but nicer to look at IMO

[nicholas76]

how thick is your layer of sand?

[Tryhard]

Try getting hold of the sand they use in the filters for swimming pools - comes in two grades coarse and fine , actually not that hard to get hold of just go to the nearest pool supply shop and ask - a little cheaper than I thought when I bought it $13 for 20kg - even the fine is heaver than normal sand so suctioning the bottom is not much of the problem.

[nicholas76]

excellent will go to the nearest pool shop.

why is it that the LFS sells it for $30 a kilo for 2mm sand ? Rip off !!!!!

now im thinking fertilizer granuels or those slow dissolving balls and allot of grasses and long stem type plants

this is looking easier by the minute