Soaking Driftwood with Purigen?

[Troy328]

Hello, everyone.

I am trying driftwood again for the first time in about 6 years or so. The last time I did driftwood, I let the tannins take over, but this time I want to remove them or reduce them as much as possible. I have three nice pieces of spider wood, and one piece of "tiger wood". All of the pieces have been soaking in a plastic container that I fill with the hottest water I can get from my bathtub, and they are finally sinking! However, each night the water is tea colored, so I dump it out and start anew, but it doesn't seem like I'm making progress. None of the pieces are small enough to boil, at least not conveniently.

I was wondering if sticking a bag of purigen in the tub while they soak would help speed up the process? Or would it be more likely to just "hide" the tannins without actually helping to remove them? I know purigen can help clear up small amounts of tannins in a running tank, but what effect will it have if I just drop some into a tub with the wood, and then later add those pieces to a tank?

More specifically, I guess my question is this: will purigen help to pull tannins out of the wood? Or will it just capture all of the tannins that would have leached out regardless?

[Gwallace]

It will absorb the tannins out of the water (as will carbon and it's way cheaper) but it won't "draw" it out of the wood.  Only boiling or repeated soakings will get all of the tannins out.    

[tolstoy21]

Purigen is most effective if the water is actively flushing through the bag its in, much like water softener resin. It can only remove stuff from water its in contact with. It won't attract the tannis. 

Purigen is great in a filter if you want to pull the tannins from your tank because the water in the filter is forced (mostly) through Purigen media bag, and across the resin beads.

I'm not sure you'll get any benefit over just soaking, rinsing, re-filling bucket with clean water, soaking, rinsing . . . . rinse, repeat until done (pun intended).  Purigen certainly won't speed up the process. At best, it will clean tannins from a small amount of the bucket water, but this won't affect the rate at which the tannins are leached from the wood. 

Edited July 28, 2022 by tolstoy21

[Dancing Matt]

tannins are kind of a part of using wood in aquariums.

[Troy328]

On 7/28/2022 at 6:15 AM, Gwallace said:

It will absorb the tannins out of the water (as will carbon and it's way cheaper) but it won't "draw" it out of the wood.  Only boiling or repeated soakings will get all of the tannins out.    

On 7/28/2022 at 9:26 AM, tolstoy21 said:

Purigen is most effective if the water is actively flushing through the bag its in, much like water softener resin. It can only remove stuff from water its in contact with. It won't attract the tannis. 

Purigen is great in a filter if you want to pull the tannins from your tank because the water in the filter is forced (mostly) through Purigen media bag, and across the resin beads.

I'm not sure you'll get any benefit over just soaking, rinsing, re-filling bucket with clean water, soaking, rinsing . . . . rinse, repeat until done (pun intended).  Purigen certainly won't speed up the process. At best, it will clean tannins from a small amount of the bucket water, but this won't affect the rate at which the tannins are leached from the wood. 

This is unfortunately what I suspected, but I thought it was worth a shot, since I had an extra bag of purigen. I will save it for the tank once it is running. Thank you both for your explanations!

 

On 7/28/2022 at 11:25 AM, Dancing Matt said:

tannins are kind of a part of using wood in aquariums.

I suppose, yes. After all, I did have a tank with driftwood before, and it was nearly a blackwater tank. So I'm familiar with it, but I would prefer to have this new tank to have a different look, that's all. Even if I can't fully prevent tannins, just having less of them would be preferable for the kind of look I want.

[tolstoy21]

On 7/28/2022 at 4:19 PM, Troy328 said:

I will save it for the tank once it is running.

Yeah, that's a good plan. Get as much out as you can in the bucket, then when you put the wood in the tank, run the Purigen in your filter to remove the coloration from the water. Regenerate the Purigen as needed.