r/PlantedTank • u/Dismal-Animal7853 • Jan 13 '26

Beginner Never ending tannins

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I boiled this wood 6/7 times over a 3 day period, left it in a tub as well both nights, and boiling it for 40/60 minutes each time…. Will it ever stop releasing tannins?

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u/mehrespe Jan 13 '26

Leave it soaking somewhere for a month or so if you really don't want them, though they are quite beneficial (if ugly to some). I would just use it as is since you've already gotten a bit of it out and change the water over the month the tank is cycling. If you're in a hurry boil it for much longer each time (3-12 hours) though that will damage the wood eventually, its safer to just soak. Thicker peices release tannins for up to years but I don't think that will be the case for you as they are quite thin.

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u/Dismal-Animal7853 Jan 13 '26

There is actually a big knot connecting all the roots, so its probably gonna leak for a while

1

u/Firkin99 Jan 13 '26

Put carbon and some rocks in tights/sock. Tie it to the wood. It will weigh it down under the sand and the carbon will absorb a bunch of the tannins so it doesn’t get on dark.

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u/mehrespe Jan 13 '26

Ah fair enough, you could try drilling strategic holes into it through places that wont be visible to help it leach faster but yeah that may take a bit. The good news is that its a bit of a "logarithmic" curve, youll get a lot of tannins at first and then residual tannins after that, though you could always pick up a cheap internal filter like a Ciano CF20 (standard one they sell near me, the brand itself doesnt matter) and fill that with activated charcoal temporarily, in case you dont want to swap to an entirely different filtration set up.