# Malaysian driftwood



## PBrods (Dec 10, 2011)

I have a 1 foot piece of driftwood sitting in a bucket of water to leach out the stuff that clouds the tank. How long does this take and is there a way of speeding up the process?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I have had mine in the tank 2 years now and it still leaches some.


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## luananeko (Aug 27, 2010)

If you have carbon in your filter it should take out most of the tannins without any soaking or boiling needed. I use malaysian driftwood and have never needed to do more than an initial boil (for sanitation reasons) before plunking it into my tank. Water never seems noticeably brown to me. A little bit of tannins isn't bad either as most fish either like the tannins or are indifferent to them. It's all about whether you mind the look or not.


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## PBrods (Dec 10, 2011)

How long do you boil it for?


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## luananeko (Aug 27, 2010)

15-30 minutes depending on the size and density of the piece is usually enough to make sure it's free of any contaminants.


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## Subaru4wd (May 6, 2011)

I got my driftwood from a local lake, its been in the tank for months and still leaches tannins. I never boiled it, i just gave it a good hosing off and made sure all loose debris had been removed. 

Adding Charcoal to your filter will help clear the water. I do frequent water changes and the water remains clear.... the brown water is a reminder for me to do a water change so I do not mind it.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

Tanins are quite awesome and makes for a healthy, natural look.

If it's a new piece, you could be boiling for a very long time to get all the tanins out. If the tea color bothers you that much, I would suggest boiling for a couple of hours, changing water frequently during this time. Let cool and then place in your tank. Add a lot of carbon to your filter media. You'll be replacing that quite frequently as well.


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## King James (Jan 30, 2012)

I have used it for years....I just got a good sized piece about 2 months ago and I soaked it in bucket for about 3 days and put in tank. 75 gallon tank and it still makes tea colored water....it looks cool and is totally non-harmful to fish! Tetras love it as the native waters for them has a lot of tanem in water from tree roots and lots of natural driftwoods.
I don't worry about tea color in water at all and it gives it the blackwater look and I like it anyway. It will eventually go away. I have 6 tanks and this one always gets the most compliments from visitors!


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

I had some beautiful bogwood from a peaty region that leached tannins for 4 years. Most of the root pieces I recycled from the hedge here stopped in about a year.
It's wood, and it will release tannins just as it does in a river. If you're going to have wood, you'll have tannins.

I don't see boiling - you'll soften the wood and maybe make it sink faster, I guess.


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## luananeko (Aug 27, 2010)

From what I've heard from my LFS and various websites, the boiling is supposed to do a few things:
1) Makes some of the lighter woods sink better (Malaysian driftwood generally doesn't need help sinking, but the mangrove roots and the like do)
2) Sterilizes any creepy crud that might be in the wood, be it fungus, bacteria, or live critters
3) Helps leech out some of the tannins so it doesn't turn the water brown for quite as long (really makes a difference if you boil it for several hours, not so much if it's only a 15-30 min sterilization boil).
It's not mandatory, but it can be helpful.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Boiling does leach out tannins much faster than soaking.

Black water fish like neons do well with tannins in the water but I believe too many tannins over a long time can cause liver damage to some fish.


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