Litter without tannins

[keddre]

Hey y'all, I want to do a slightly more natural aquarium for my neons and shrimp with leaf litter and debri as you would find in nature, but I am already growing some high-light cabombas so I wanted to try and restrict tannins. Any ideas, or am I shooting for the stars? I am already getting a decent amount of tannins from my driftwood.

 

Thanks in advance,

keddre

[Colu]

Active carbon in your filter will help remove some of the tannins

[OceanTruth]

You could boil them and then let them sit in clean water for a few days before adding them into the tank.

[Andy's Fish Den]

26 minutes ago, OceanTruth said:

You could boil them and then let them sit in clean water for a few days before adding them into the tank.

My suggestion as well, boil, drain and rinse, then let sit in clean fresh water should get most tannins out.

[David W]

I use Purigen in a hob filter. It does a great job removing tannins.
 

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/seachem-purigen

Edited February 10, 2021 by David W

[Will Billy]

6 minutes ago, David W said:

use Purigen in a hob filter. It does a great job removing tannins.

I agree with David on this one. Pound for pound purigen is much more aggressive at removing tannins than activated carbon. If purigen is too aggressive for you and you want to keep some tannins then activated carbon might be better. Lastly if you want moderate amount of tannins filter floss is the weakest of the 3. Those methods will reduce tannins after releasing into your water column, and as mentioned above boiling will pre release the tannins before entering your water column. I personally like tannins in my water and find that over time through water changes, it is a bit more difficult to keep tannins in my water column, than it is to remove them. But that may just be my experience, someone else may have a contrary experience. 

[keddre]

Thanks y’all. I will try boiling and research purigen, but I’m hesitant to use charcoal because of fertilizers. I will also look into crypts and Java ferns as a backup plant if it gets too dark 

[Streetwise]

I would encourage you to embrace the tannins.

[keddre]

I don’t have a problem with tannins. My “problem” is I love these Cabomba plants and want to keep their high-light needs

[Will Billy]

Purigen from what i understand doesn't remove fertz like carbon does, and can be recharged and reused up to 10 times. 

[Mmiller2001]

Purigen, hands down. Carbon is fine.

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/filters-overview/what-about-water-polishers

[AdamTill]

Purigen. Scott has written a bunch on “Clearwater botanicals” in his blog, like so https://tanninaquatics.com/blogs/the-tint-1/on-the-tint

Carbon doesn’t remove a meaningful amount of fertilizer btw, though the number is non zero. Otherwise we’d all just run carbon rather than removing nitrate with water changes 

Edited February 11, 2021 by AdamTill