Can Driftwood Cause Ammonia?

[AndreaW]

I have a couple pieces of driftwood soaking in a 5G Home Depot bucket and have been changing the water every day (except yesterday). I went to change the water today and there was a slight smell. I thought I recognized ammonia (thanks to the many years running blueprints in an architect's office). I tested the water in the bucket and sure enough, there is a bit of ammonia.

So, where would the ammonia have come from? 

I bought the driftwood, dry at a LFS. One piece has been soaking for 2 months and developed some mold on the end (but there was no ammonia smell when I dumped it out). See this post. The other pieces are new and I've had them soaking since Thursday. It's just tap water with conditioner and we don't have ammonia in our water source.

Is it the driftwood? Is it the bucket?

I'm nervous about putting the driftwood in my established tank with fish, if it could be the source.

(Note: I have the old API Ammonia test where it is completely clear if there is no ammonia, and there was a noticeable yellow tinge as I added the solution.)

 

[Kirsten]

That's a little unusual! Are you sure there wasn't any ammonia in your tap water? If it's municipal water piped into your home, it can sometimes fluctuate. May want to test in a clean test tube with just water from your tap to really rule it out.

My first thought is that 2 months is a long time to soak. I'm thinking it's possible that some of the plant material is decomposing, feeding bacteria, which create ammonia. If you want to keep soaking it, I'd recommend using water from a mature aquarium, and possibly adding some pond plants like duckweed or hornwort to start eating up the byproducts.

[AndreaW]

On 3/13/2022 at 3:10 PM, Kirsten said:

That's a little unusual! Are you sure there wasn't any ammonia in your tap water? If it's municipal water piped into your home, it can sometimes fluctuate. May want to test in a clean test tube with just water from your tap to really rule it out.

My first thought is that 2 months is a long time to soak. I'm thinking it's possible that some of the plant material is decomposing, feeding bacteria, which create ammonia. If you want to keep soaking it, I'd recommend using water from a mature aquarium, and possibly adding some pond plants like duckweed or hornwort to start eating up the byproducts.

The driftwood that had been soaking longer had been in a different bucket and had no ammonia smell so I don't think that was it. It's the new driftwood/bucket that I noticed the ammonia smell and tested, and I have tested the tap water (and tested again today, 0ppm) and I think I would notice the lack of chlorine and presence of ammonia as I can taste/smell the difference. 

I'm wondering if I should do some experimenting/testing. I rinsed the wood and bucket and filled it up with fresh dechlorinated water and will see if anything develops in the next 24 hours. Beyond that, I can pull the wood out and test just water in the bucket, and test soaking the wood in a different bucket. Maybe I should test soaking the wood in a food-grade bucket instead of a utility bucket though?

The orange bucket may have been used for something previously that I don't know about. It looked like a new bucket with some dust in it so I rinsed it out really good before filling it up to soak the driftwood.

I'll admit, I'm a little impatient as I was hoping to re-scape the tank when my plants got here tomorrow.

[Patrick_G]

It might be worth trying a new test solution or test strips. Those tests have a self life. 

[Cory]

Driftwood can definitely cause ammonia. it's essentially always rotting. A normal cycled aquarium processes it faster than anyone notices.

[AndreaW]

@Patrick_G ~ So far it has detected ammonia the two times I suspected it, and none when I expected none. However, I am down to the last of the bottle and now have a new bottle on order.

@Cory ~ That makes sense. I'm adding it to a well established aquarium so I'll just keep an eye on my levels. Thanks!

 

[gardenman]

Yean, anything organic you put into a tank will create ammonia. If it's alive (a fish or invertebrate) it'll produce ammonia as a waste product. If it's dead (fish food, driftwood, catappa leaves, etc.) it'll create ammonia as it decays. Ammonia is natural and necessary to feed the good bacteria in our systems. You just don't want too much.

[gardenman]

Just to follow up on my previous post, the organic-rich, tannin filled tanks, tend to be tanks for fish that prefer a low pH. The low pH helps neutralize the issues ammonia causes at a higher pH, so that helps offset any issues caused by the decay of the organic matter creating the tannin-rich water. It's almost like nature knows what it's doing.

[AndreaW]

@gardenman ~ Thanks. Of course it makes sense now that I make the correlation.