Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Tannic Acid


My Malaysian driftwood is releasing tannins as expected, but not as much as I thought it might. As you can see the water is only a little brown. Aesthetically, it looks natural. What about water conditions? The pH I inherited from the previous setup was over 7.0. The eco-complete substrate may raise the pH a bit, whereas the driftwood tannins may lower it. My goal is an acidic environment for Blue Rams (pH below 7). I'll be patient as see how the water stabilizes over time and I'll continue to do small water changes every day or two. I won an auction for a Co2 generation system day before yesterday. I'll report on this when it arrives. Injecting Co2 should keep my pH where I want it. I have more to learn about water chemistry for sure. Wow, check out this heated discourse on water chemistry. Total alkalinity/buffering capacity 120ppm. Total hardness 120ppm. Nitrite at or near zero. Nitrate 80ppm. I found this article on driftwood. There's lots of good info out there in various forums as well.

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