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driftwood curing


Craziiininja
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i got this driftwood for my 125g planted rainbowfish tank. 2 pieces are mopani and the other branchy one is mangrove root. My questions are is mangrove root safe to put in aquariums? Also how long would it take to get most of the tannins out of the pieces of mopani. The one on far left is over 20 inches tall and the middle one is a pretty thick piece of mopani. I can not boil them they are too big and heavy. I'm concerned about the tannins lowering my ph. My ph is 8.0-8.2 gh 12 kh 10. I know people use driftwood for softwater fish but every rainbow tank i see has driftwood in it. Thanks for any help

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the larger pieces of mopani with really dark wood in them can take several months before they quit staining the water. id soak them in 5 gallon buckets for a week or so changing out the water a few times. that will get a good portion of the water staining tannins out. they will still leech color, but in a larger tank it will be less noticeable than in a smaller one.

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you can always try the tile method after you soak them in a 35gallon tub/trashcan. 

drill holes through some tile, and use zipties to attach them to the wood. depending on your substrate, it may have enough surface area and weight to keep the wood sunk. I've always struggled to get my large pieces of wood to sink. even after boiling them in a large steel vat using some propane outside. they still floated. so you may still need to weigh them down. OR!, I've also seen some examples, where putting up a new aquarium, and they glue/epoxy the wood to the bottom glass using the tile method as well. 

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