Fs: Large Hollow Log

[Aussie]

I had this log in my tank for 12 months, still leaches a little bit of tannin. WHere i bought it, they had it in their tank at the time, so it shouldn't leach too much more. It's a large log, so suited for a tank 4 foot or bigger, probably not too good for a standard 4 foot though. It has no branches coming off of it.

I would like to swap for some white rock as i need abit for my tank, or $50 and it's your's. I paid much more for it than that.

PM me or leave a msg in this thread.

OH! the log is located in SKYE which is SE MELB, near Cranbourne.

[firedragon92]

can u send a pick and what is tannin and what does it do?

[GoGuppy]

........what is tannin and what does it do?[/b]
G'day fd

Tannin is an organic compound that leaches out of the wood into the tank water. It is acidic and therefore caused the pH of the tank water to fall. Also, the tannin causes the water to go a tea colour, which can be a light or dark colour depending on the amount of tannin leached out of the wood.

While this does not sound too good, in some tanks this is not all bad news, for instance in an Amazon style tank, the south American cichlids, tetras and corys would not mind this to a degree. Personal taste also comes into the decision whether a faint tea colouring is acceptable of not. The lowering of the pH can be counted by increasing the alkalinity of the tank (eg by adding crushed shells to your filter) but this needs to be monitored to ensure you don't over correct.

Cheers

[Prowse]

I find that if you boil the log for a few hours in a pot on the stove it will remove most of the tannins. Be careful though as I have ruined my mums good pots doing this so use an old one :rolleyes: . After u have boilded the log leave it out of the tank for a few hours because even though it feels cool on the outside the middle is still boiling hot.

Hope that helps

Cheers,
Andrew

[Aussie]

Just soak it in your bath for a week, gets rid of most of the tannin :) I'm even happy to soak it for someone if they want to buy it.

[wombat1100]

Boiling it is the way to go mate, just soaking it in a bath wont get all the tannins out unless you leave it there for 12 months!!
timber will continue to leach for ages if untreated b4 putting it in the tank, I have sourced natural timbers that have been submerged in lakes for my tanks b4 and still had tannins come out of them until i boiled them.
Dazz

[Aussie]

good luck finding a pot large enough for this haha. A hot bath is the only way to soak this thing, unless u have a huge pot for the stove. Or a cauldron haha.

[sharkybubba]

Boiling it is the way to go mate, just soaking it in a bath wont get all the tannins out unless you leave it there for 12 months!!
Dazz[/b]


I would have to agree with Dazz here, I tried soaking in an extremely hot bath, refilling the water every so often for a week and it still leeched once in my tank... i ended up just getting rid of it because it was a pain in the neck changing my water in the tank so often to get rid of the 'tea' coloured water.

[Aussie]

Just add active carbon to your tank, will take out all the tannin colour :) Also when soaking in a bath if wood is really really bad, add some rock salt, work's for some reason.