Malaysian Mahogany Driftwood

[jscurrier]

Picked up a small 1' log for my tank yesterday. Was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this type of wood, and if so, should this help with lowering Ph levels? Sure looks nice. Also, about how long does it take to notice a Ph change using driftwood?

[rich311k]

It may effect your PH it may not. It depends on the size of the wood versus the amount of gallons in the tank. The buffers already in your water will have an effect as well. If it has an effect you should start seeing it in a few days.

[Taurus]

I have some in my 29g and it did lower the ph, but not by much. I'm getting a consistant 6.8 where as water out of the tap is a consistant 7.0 The Angel, BN Pleco, and tetra all love it though. The BN rasps on it most every night and has cleaned all algea from it.

[Northernguy]

All the driftwood I found up here has lowered my ph by at least .6!
I know some of it is not hard wood but its not rotten or falling apart.I have no idea what the store bought woods will do.It should drop it down somewhat.Give it a few days and test again.

[Lady Hobbs]

My tanks are full of wood. My pH is 7.6 right from the tap and 7.6 in the tanks. I can't see where the wood does much of anything.

[MCHRKiller]

Depends mostly on if the wood has been pre-cured or not. Boiling the wood to make it release most of its tannins depleats its ability to lower pH and soften water. Its also important to remember that not all woods are created equal for this ability as well, generally speaking your more red tinted woods will release the most tannins and thus soften the water and lower the pH more, but again this only works until it dramatically stops releasing tannins. Manzanita, most bogwood, beachwood etc...IME release very little and dont have much affect on your water. Malaysian is the only wood I have ever used that will have any noticeable affect on the tank chemistry...even then you need a fair amount of wood for the tank for it do anything as well. If your purpose is to lower your pH and hardness, try some peat filtration its much more effective than driftwood alone.

[Crispy]

Depends mostly on if the wood has been pre-cured or not. Boiling the wood to make it release most of its tannins depleats its ability to lower pH and soften water. Its also important to remember that not all woods are created equal for this ability as well, generally speaking your more red tinted woods will release the most tannins and thus soften the water and lower the pH more, but again this only works until it dramatically stops releasing tannins. Manzanita, most bogwood, beachwood etc...IME release very little and dont have much affect on your water. Malaysian is the only wood I have ever used that will have any noticeable affect on the tank chemistry...even then you need a fair amount of wood for the tank for it do anything as well. If your purpose is to lower your pH and hardness, try some peat filtration its much more effective than driftwood alone.

I couldn't agree more... good post killer! thumbs2: I will never have a tank without some kind of driftwood.

[jscurrier]

Thank you very much. I only put about a 12" section in a 29g tank at the moment. I did, however, come with a "knot" that was excellent for putting Java Moss in it. The catfish seem to like it a lot. I will test again on Monday to see if it had any effect. Thanks for the suggestion about the peat too.

[Taurus]

Killer hits the nail squarely on the head, again! :22: