# Aquarium wood



## Simon25 (5 Oct 2021)

Hi all, I’ve been trying to hunt down some manzanita wood but no where has anything in stock… is there a substitute wood that wouldn’t put any tannings into the water?


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## MichaelJ (5 Oct 2021)

Simon25 said:


> Hi all, I’ve been trying to hunt down some manzanita wood but no where has anything in stock… is there a substitute wood that wouldn’t put any tannings into the water?


Hi @Simon25  Would Marsh root be an option?

Welcome to UKAPS 

Cheers,
Michael


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## Simon25 (5 Oct 2021)

MichaelJ said:


> Hi @Simon25  Would Marsh root be an option?
> 
> Welcome to UKAPS
> 
> ...


Thanks 😁. 

I’ll have a look at it, does it put a lot of tannings in the water? I’ve had driftwood before and soaked it for ages but still after a few days made my tank have a yellowish tinge 

Many thanks
Simon


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## MichaelJ (5 Oct 2021)

Simon25 said:


> Thanks 😁.
> 
> I’ll have a look at it, does it put a lot of tannings in the water? I’ve had driftwood before and soaked it for ages but still after a few days made my tank have a yellowish tinge


@Simon25 All wood put out tannins to some extent... some more than others. Marsh root less so... (at least the one I used to have) Manzanita even less so... I used to be pretty hysterical about not getting my water stained... after learning about the benefits of tannins, such boosting the livestocks immune system, its acidifying properties etc.,  I have learned to embrace it - took me a while    ... and with weekly 40% WC's its really no big deal.

Cheers,
Michael


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## Simon25 (6 Oct 2021)

MichaelJ said:


> @Simon25 All wood put out tannins to some extent... some more than others. Marsh root less so... (at least the one I used to have) Manzanita even less so... I used to be pretty hysterical about not getting my water stained... after learning about the benefits of tannins, such boosting the livestocks immune system, its acidifying properties etc.,  I have learned to embrace it - took me a while    ... and with weekly 40% WC's its really no big deal.
> 
> Cheers,
> Michael


Yea I’ve read in a few places it has good benefits for the tank. I think I need to get over the aesthetics of a crystal clear tank… but it looks so good clear 😂. 

At the moment I just have plants and rocks but I want to do a proper aqua scape rather than plonking rocks in and placing plants around them
Lol. 

I’ll give the marsh root a go if I can find some stock of all aquatic stuff seems to be sparse at the moment 😩


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## Kevin Eades (6 Oct 2021)

Simon25 said:


> Hi all, I’ve been trying to hunt down some manzanita wood but no where has anything in stock… is there a substitute wood that wouldn’t put any tannings into the water?


Aquarium Gardens has manzanita wood in stock on website


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## shangman (7 Oct 2021)

Also you can add purigen to your filter for the first few weeks/months, which will suck up all the tannins any wood puts out and leave the water nice and clear.


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## Simon25 (7 Oct 2021)

shangman said:


> Also you can add purigen to your filter for the first few weeks/months, which will suck up all the tannins any wood puts out and leave the water nice and clear.


Never heard of this, what is it? Like a sponge thing or?


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## MichaelJ (7 Oct 2021)

Simon25 said:


> Never heard of this, what is it? Like a sponge thing or?


Hi @Simon25  Here is a link to Purigen  I am a long time user, solely for its water polishing properties as @shangman mentioned. It is quite good at removing tannins, but your also removing the beneficial properties of the tannins to some extent then. I recently started to add dried almond leaves to the tank where I keep shrimps, so I have stopped using it in that tank.  Worth noting is that you can recharge the Purigen 3-4 times (as opposed to say activated carbon that is only good for 2-4 weeks) before you need to replace it.

Cheers,
Michael


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## Simon25 (7 Oct 2021)

MichaelJ said:


> Hi @Simon25  Here is a link to Purigen  I am a long time user, solely for its water polishing properties as @shangman mentioned. It is quite good at removing tannins, but your also removing the beneficial properties of the tannins to some extent then. I recently started to add dried almond leaves to the tank where I keep shrimps, so I have stopped using it in that tank.  Worth noting is that you can recharge the Purigen 3-4 times (as opposed to say activated carbon that is only good for 2-4 weeks) before you need to replace it.
> 
> Cheers,
> Michael


That’s good to know thanks michael, will definitely look into purigen 👍🏻


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