Concentration of tannins and humic acids.

[Seized]

I just bought a piece of mopani wood and I’ve been soaking it in water for the past few hours and I’m going to save the tannins for later use in my black water tank. The only issue is I don’t want to have to keep a 2 liter bottle of tannins around. Is there an effective way to concentrate tannins? I’ve thought about boiling off the water and leaving the tannins behind but I’m not sure if that will destroy the tannins. Any ideas? 

[TheSwissAquarist]

You’re able to make a kind of ‘tea’ by boiling Indian almond leaves. 
@Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/1/2023 at 4:45 PM, Seized said:

The only issue is I don’t want to have to keep a 2 liter bottle of tannins around. Is there an effective way to concentrate tannins? I’ve thought about boiling off the water and leaving the tannins behind but I’m not sure if that will destroy the tannins. Any ideas? 

I have a few pieces of mopani I keep for tannins and just because I really like mopani...

You don't need to save the water at all.  If you have a tank for it, toss it in, it will be fine and do just as well as cooking the wood so to speak.

If you can a concentrate, this is like anything else in cooking, get botanicals and cook those botanicals to get a liquid, reduce that down to a concentrate and you're off.  You don't need to do this, and you can simply control the amount of tannins by dosing in rooibos tea (organic) or by dosing in botanicals.  If you truly want to go blackwater, then go for it! You're not going to insanely drop PH, but you will lower it slightly.  Depending on what is in the tank matters more than PH to me.

If you enjoy mopani, enjoy tannins, get a few pieces and just let it do it's thing.  You'll get enough in there week to week and be very happy with the look.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 2/1/2023 at 7:45 PM, Seized said:

I just bought a piece of mopani wood and I’ve been soaking it in water for the past few hours and I’m going to save the tannins for later use in my black water tank. The only issue is I don’t want to have to keep a 2 liter bottle of tannins around. Is there an effective way to concentrate tannins? I’ve thought about boiling off the water and leaving the tannins behind but I’m not sure if that will destroy the tannins. Any ideas? 

 I keep the tannin water either in the fridge or at room temp but I use it within 2 weeks 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Let’s see your blackwater tank! I’m currently over here daydreaming about turning my 20 long into a blackwater set up. All in due time 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

it looks like this when I put the tannins in, but then in like a day it just changes to clear water idk. @AllFishNoBrakes blackwater is not my goal though. I just put tannins in because my betta benefits from them.  

Edited February 3, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea