# brownish, brackish looking water



## gr8nguyen1 (May 18, 2009)

good morning all, hope everybody had a happy 4th. its been a few days since i finished up my second attempt at a NPT. the first day was great. i mean the water was crystal clear. then that night i turned on my HOB filter. the next morning the water turned this light brownish, biege looking color. at first i thought it was cloudy water. but its not bc i was so careful that there was no soil turbidity. i dont know what caused this. my friend says that it might be the tanin from the new driftwood i placed it the tank. but i did soak the driftwood for several hours prior to placing them in the tank. so i need everybody's expertise. what is the cause of the discoloration in my tank and more importantly how do i get the water to be crystal clear like it was that first day that i set up the tank


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## dmastin (Jun 27, 2009)

OMG driftwood can turn the water brown for a looooong time (http://fwaquarium.blogspot.com/)! There are various methods, boiling for example, to extract the color causing agents, but if it's not too dark it seems kinda okay to me. I placed my "presoaked" driftwood June 15 and I perform 20% water changes every 2-3 days and my water is brown and I expect it will be for weeks/months. You'll have to access the blog archives to see the piece I'm talking about being placed.



gr8nguyen1 said:


> good morning all, hope everybody had a happy 4th. its been a few days since i finished up my second attempt at a NPT. the first day was great. i mean the water was crystal clear. then that night i turned on my HOB filter. the next morning the water turned this light brownish, biege looking color. at first i thought it was cloudy water. but its not bc i was so careful that there was no soil turbidity. i dont know what caused this. my friend says that it might be the tanin from the new driftwood i placed it the tank. but i did soak the driftwood for several hours prior to placing them in the tank. so i need everybody's expertise. what is the cause of the discoloration in my tank and more importantly how do i get the water to be crystal clear like it was that first day that i set up the tank


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## gr8nguyen1 (May 18, 2009)

oh and one more thing. i just noticed that there seems to be a milky slime covering both driftwood. its similar to the slime covering thats on fish. what is it and is that normal. the driftwood is a mopani driftwood that i got at petsmart. should i try to remove the slime covering by hand or what?


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## dmastin (Jun 27, 2009)

Google "mopani driftwood" lots out there. For example:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149046
Sorry, if you've already done this. My driftwood is Malaysian. I have no experience with mopani. 
There's no slime on the Malaysian driftwood I have for sure.
There are lots of links when you Google "slime on driftwood" I see. Sorry I can't be of more help. Good luck!


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## dmastin (Jun 27, 2009)

Here are two threads suggesting it's nothing to worry about. Both even describe the slime as milky:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=196218&sid=db9f0689e30eea4db6ab3374d3b216e8
and 
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/driftwood/45426-white-slime-new-piece-wood.html


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## gr8nguyen1 (May 18, 2009)

thanks dmastin, i appreciate you answering my post and giving me all those links. its such a relief to know that my problem is not unique. as long as its harmless then im ok with it. now i just wished my tank would be clear again


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

A lot of times a new tank will experience a bacterial bloom just a couple days after set up. It goes away after a while. I'm having this same thing in my 20 gallon NPT that I just reworked (complete overhaul). The 125 I just finished hasn't done this yet, but I won't be surprised if it does. I'm not using any filtration, so not sure if it will last longer than usual. On the driftwood, if the goo looks a little on the nasty side you might take it to a pressure washer and blow the soft stuff off. I did this to a few pieces I picked up out of a creek and they are doing fine. The only one that looks gooey is the one I didn't pressure wash.

Main thing is make sure you've got a solid stand of plants. I thought I was good to go in the new 125 setup and my brother (davemonkey on this site) just laughed. I planted some more and have more on the way to finish the job (including filling gaps in the 20). So far so good. Pics to come after a couple months of time lapse.


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## gr8nguyen1 (May 18, 2009)

i've heard many different opinions concerning the brackish water. some say to to frequent water changes...others say not to. some suggest using a filter with carbon..while others say to use a filter. i must say i'm a bit confused. can someone tell me a sure fire way to get rid of the discoloration. all i want to do is get my water back to being pristine clear like it was that first night. also how often should i change the water. is about 4 gallons a day enough? ( i have a 60 gallon tank )


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## Wire Fox Terror (Apr 7, 2006)

The quickest and easiest way to get rid of tannin stained water is to add Seachem Purigen to your filter. That should clear it up for you!


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## gr8nguyen1 (May 18, 2009)

thank you wire fox terror. gonna stop by petsmart after work and check it out


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

gr8nguyen1 said:


> oh and one more thing. i just noticed that there seems to be a milky slime covering both driftwood. its similar to the slime covering thats on fish. what is it and is that normal. the driftwood is a mopani driftwood that i got at petsmart. should i try to remove the slime covering by hand or what?


The bacterial growth on your driftwood means it is leaching fresh organic matter that the bacteria are growing on. All that slime is heavy bacterial growth feeding on the wood organic matter.

The tea-stained water is probably also various tannins released from the driftwood.

I would definitely remove the slime from the driftwood. The worst part is where the driftwood contacts the soil. When you remove the driftwood, check for for smelly anaerobic pockets on the bottom. These can endanger the fish. If you see these pockets developing, I would temporarily remove the driftwood from the tank.


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## gr8nguyen1 (May 18, 2009)

ok i took out the mopani wood that was covered in slime. i put them in a bucket and am waiting for the bacteria to run it course before i put it back in the tank. its been about 2 weeks since my second attemp at a NPT. and already i can see that i've learned a lot this time around. and the tank seems to be doing better. no signs of algae yet and the fish seem to be thriving. the plants seem to be doing ok. but my swords are turning yellowish. the leaves are starting to turn translucent. and the wendtii has holes in the leaves. the banana plants is also behaving weird. the plant is sprouting new leaves but the bulbs at the base of the plant seem to be rotting or has some fungus growth on it. please help.
i've been doing 10% water changes daily to clear the tank water of the brownish color caused when the driftwood leaked tanins into the water column. could that be the problem. i don't know how. i mean i replace the water with dechlorinated tap water. i mean dosen't tap water have all the essential minerals and stuffl. and the new potting soil i used for the tank should contain enough iron...right? 
the only thing i can think of is the HOB i'm using to clear the water and ammonia. maybe its taking up too much organic compounds. but i need that HOB to clear the brown water. i'm clueless as to why some plants thrive and others struggle


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I'm not sure what to say about the Swordplant turning translucent. That's not good. Are any of your other plants growing, sprouting new leaves, etc?

If not, the driftwood or the soil may have been leaching something that is hurting the plants. If you can, I would do a 50% water change to quickly get rid of whatever is causing the problem. This should take care of the tannings as well. 

As to what's in the filter, I can't tell from your letter. Charcoal or activated carbon will remove tannins but not ammonia. Charcoal should be okay. 

I would say that your water might be too soft, but if you are using Los Angeles water tapwater, it should be quite hard, and thus, perfect for a swordplant. I'm looking now at water report for East LA tapwater (my, my over 200 ppm CaCO3 hardness). No problem there. 

So I'm not sure what is going on. Good to hear that your fish are okay.


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## gr8nguyen1 (May 18, 2009)

mrs. walstad, thanks for answering my post. i'm actually at work right now ( one of the few benefits of being in front of a computer all day....i get to check for your replies ) so heres a list of the problem plants.
the banana plant's root base looks like its rotting or fungusing
the florida sunset wendtii's leaves has hole in them...but does have new growth at the base
the ludwigia palustrus's leaves are dying and the stems are rotting away causing the plants to float to the surface...but some of them are sprouting roots. 
and of course the one of the swords is turning yellowish
the plants that are thriving
the red tiger lotus
a different sword (beleheri?)
water wisteria
bacopa australius
anubius and java fern.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Well, I would be very encouraged that some of your plants are doing well. Wonderful, that you planted so many different species! Take heart: I never could get a banana plant to stay alive in my tanks.

As to the swordplant, I was refering to _E. bleheri_, the Amazon Swordplant. It loves hardwater. Some of the other swordplants can be difficult, and you may have gotten one of them. Make sure that the plant's crown is above the gravel. If you bury the crown, that can kill them.

Attached is photo of my 55 gal. The Amazon Swordplant is on the right. If an Amazon Swordplant is doing well for you, you are already on the road to success!


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## Johnriggs (Jun 26, 2009)

My first (6 gallon microtank) had brownish water for a while. My second ( 5 gallon), using the same soil, had reddish water.  The only difference I could see was that on my second tank, I picked out the larger bark pieces. I used Miracle-gro Organic Mix.

Mopari, even when you boil it, will stain your water as dark as tea for a long time in my experience. A piece I had also developed a brownish slime which I had to scrape off several times before it went away forever. Maybe diatom? Don't know, but it smelled a little rank so I scraped it off. After a while it never came back.

I wanted it because I created an African bioscape for my African Dwarf frogs and wanted to give then a piece of their hometown.

John R


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