PH with new drift wood

[Jdogtrainer]

I've been rescaping and replanting my 29 gallon. I bought two new pieces of wood to add in and have been bucket soaking them for the last 3 days. I was curious as I watched all the tannins leaching so I tested PH of the wood bucket water against my normal tap water.

Tap water: 8.0ph

Wood bucket water: 6.4-6.6ph

My tank water runs about 7.8 after 3 weeks without any water change, so the difference is obviously nominal.

So, my question is: do I need to be concerned putting these new wood pieces in my tank?

I'm a bit concerned that the ph will be lowered too much and hurt my fish whom are well used to the much higher ph.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Jdogtrainer

[Streetwise]

I think wood is great to use with higher pH water, and I use it in all my tanks. I enjoy the tannins and they mellow a bit with the age of the wood.

PS, your tank looks really nice!

Edited December 19, 2020 by Streetwise

[Jdogtrainer]

Just now, Streetwise said:

I think wood is great to use with higher pH water, and I use it in all my tanks. I enjoy the tannins and they mellow a bit with the age of the wood.

I understand that and I agree that lowering the ph slowly and slightly is good. But I'm concerned that I'll crash the ph too fast if I use these wood pieces. 😬

[Streetwise]

I have not heard any reports of that happening. It should be fine. I try to put in wood pieces big enough that they emerge from the surface of the water.

[Daniel]

6 minutes ago, Streetwise said:

I have not heard any reports of that happening. It should be fine. I try to put in wood pieces big enough that they emerge from the surface of the water.

I agree with @Streetwise. It is hard to crash your pH especially in one with a normal pH of 7.8. Not saying the pH in your aquarium won't go a little lower for a while, but short of not putting wood in the aquarium...

[Marc]

I have driftwood in a few of my tanks and after about 4 or 5 months I'm still in the upper 7.8 ish range, when I started around 8.2. It has way less affect than I had hoped if its even the driftwood doing it. I also drop in cholla wood and Catappa leaves. And I do very few water changes, more water changes will keep your pH closer to your tap level.