Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping => Gallery Showcase => Topic started by: heather62 on December 28, 2016, 11:10:55 PM
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Thanks to everyone for the excellent advice I received when planning my aquarium. I am pleased to say that I have set it up and hope to start cycling at the weekend. I managed to get some lovely rocks/ wood and am having a go at plants too!
I do have a question if anyone could answer? I have placed a bit of 'bonsai wood' in the tank with java moss between the branches with the hope that in time it will grow out to resemble a tree (I was feeling adventurous). I did buy this from maidenhead aquatics and rinsed it well under the tap before placing in the tank. I have noticed today that there is an ever so slight yellow tinge to the water (which I was expecting). I have gone through the forum and internet and found people boiling the wood, but seem to see this is more important if you are picking it up (rather than buying from a LFS).
Should I just leave it alone with the hope that a few water changes with help, or should I take it out and boil/ stand in water and re-do the moss?
Any advice appreciated!
I have attached a picture :)
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Your tank looks fantastic Heather! Can I ask, what is the clear plastic item to the left hand side?
The wood will continue to stain the water for a while and the colour may well get stronger. This is not necessarily a problem for the cycling process it's may just look a bit funny. The wood may also grow a kind of clear jelly like mould for a period which you should look to remove during water changes. Boiling the wood will reduce all of this but not prevent it...
Water changes will remove the staining over time as will carbon if you have any in the filter. Having said that, running carbon at this stage is probably not neccessary as the carbon pad in your filter if you have one will not contain much bacteria and with all the tannins to soak up the carbon will become 'full' quickly. As such, you may wish to run this towards the end of the cycle to remove any left over tannins at this stage as you will have also done some water changes by this point.
:cheers: good luck!!!
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Your tank looks great, well done. :cheers:
It would seem a shame to boil the wood and have to replace the moss at this point, especially as the tannins aren't a problem. There is also a large water change at the end of the tank cycle, which will help to remove the tannins before putting any fish in the tank, so that will also help.
Best of luck with your tank cycle, I hope that it all goes well for you, and please keep us updated on your progress. :)
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If you have soft-ish water, fish that like that kind of water also like the brown colour - tannins - so they'll be fine with it. It's fishkeepers who tend not to like it.
But one thing to watch for during cycling - tannins can lower the pH so monitor that as well as ammonia and nitrite. If it starts to fall there are things you can do to prevent a pH drop during cycling - assuming you mean fishless.
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Yes - great tank. I agree with the points above. I quite like the tannin-stained water - I have catappa leaves and a banana leaf in my tank which do release tannins but, as they're what my fish like and seem content in, I prefer to have it that way. I think that tinge seems more 'natural' once the plants have grown a bit and when they start to overhang or provide water surface coverage whereas in the early stages of plants and when the tank is pristine new, it probably seems less 'natural' to have that tinge ie you might find that you would actually like to have it later down the line, in which case a few catappa leaves will provide that effect for you.
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@fcmf the leaves that you sent me went down a treat, so I ordered some more and have them in several of my tanks now. :)
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@fcmf the leaves that you sent me went down a treat, so I ordered some more and have them in several of my tanks now. :)
Ah great - glad to hear of that; thanks for letting me know. :)
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Nicely setup tank. :)
Nothing to add to the tannin query as I think that's been comprehensively covered above.
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Thank you for all your replies!
I will leave the wood there and see how we go! Thanks for the heads up with pH, I will monitor closely and may also add carbon to the filter later down the line.
@Matt - the clear plastic thing is a tropica CO2 system 60, and after reading your post I noticed the clear slime on the wood!