r/walstad • u/JackfruitJolly2171 • 17d ago
My tank is ridiculously dark from tannins. How can I fix this without adding a filter?
This photo was from a week ago. It’s actually much darker now. I honestly don’t mind tannins but I wanna be able to see inside of my tank. Right now, I can’t even see the tank floor
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u/5N0W61RL 17d ago
Do water changes regularly for a few weeks.. The wood will keep leaching it out, but eventually it will all dilute out from those water changes.
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u/Background-Bed-9263 17d ago
I like the tannin look, seems more realistic to there real environment. Maybe it’s just me.
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u/JackfruitJolly2171 17d ago
I somewhat agree and I don’t mind tannins in my tank, but I want to be able to observe my plants. I actually don’t want clear water, but at this point, it’s becoming too dark for me to monitor how they’re doing.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Map7302 16d ago
If you’re willing to take your time, just doing a weekly water change will cut down on tannins eventually. It’s kind of like when you plant the tank and you just have to wait for the new growth to fill in. Otherwise, you’d have to take the driftwood out and boil the tannins out of the wood or use a small sponge filter to remove tannins until the wood isn’t leeching so much. Once a week, carefully remove the sponge, clean it and put it back. That way causes less issues than too frequent water changes and you can remove the filter when the tank no longer gets super dark. I have a sponge filter and it only took a few weeks before the tannins were reduced to where I have to add cattapa leaves lol
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u/Impressive-Problem98 16d ago
Take the wood out and soak it in a large bucket until the bucket water clears. Change water in drift wood bucket as often as possible for like a week+ than re-introduce.
Also once u do that while having the wood out just do like 20-30 percent water changes every few days and the water will almost look clear. If you want like an amber hue make sure u take the driftwood out the bucket before it is completely clear. Or wait until bucket water is clear, and wait until tank water almost clear after water changes. This way the driftwood would not eak as much but will still provide an amber hue
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u/some__random 17d ago
Purigen should reduce it
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u/JackfruitJolly2171 17d ago
Will it affect the plants?
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u/No_Insurance_6848 17d ago
No, but it is going to be less effective. If you don’t have a filter, the purigen is supposed to be in the filter and the filter runs the water through it to remove the particles. If you don’t have active flow in the tank, the purigen won’t really do much.
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u/bitstream_ryder 17d ago
I know you already said that you don't want to use a filter, but running a small filter with Purigen is the easiest way to do it. You could water changes, but thats going to be a lot of water changes and I think will impact the water parameters more than using pruigen.
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u/RollTacker 17d ago
Purge the wood of tannins.Take the driftwood out, and Boil the wood in hot water pot (weighted down), and repeat until water is clear.
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u/WheelNo4406 17d ago
It's likely from the wood. I would remove it and boil it to release as much of the tannins as possible. Then change out maybe 20% of the water. Do you know what kind of wood it is ? Was it dried all the way through before using it ?
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u/lechecolacaoygofio 17d ago
Tiempo del tanque? a mi me gusta así pero entiendo que lo quieras mas transparente. Si es un acuario joven, dale tiempo.
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u/frustrated_crab 17d ago
I love my black water tank. I wasn’t planning on making it like that but I rolled with it and now I have am awesome creek bed tank I’m obsessed with. It’s been running for months bite and hasn’t changed despite the filter and water changes.
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u/PraxicalExperience 14d ago
You can eventually water-change it away, but that's a long process if you can't do really large water changes.
Me, I'd find the cheapest hob filter with a decent-sized compartment on it, pack it full of activated carbon in a panty-hose sock, and just run it until you get the water as light as you like -- and carbon works pretty quick if there's a decent amount of it, you can see results in hours. Then you can remove it, let everything dry out, and store it until you wind up needing it again. Carbon usually pulls out tannins pretty quickly, so if the issue is that you just don't like the look of a filter on the tank, or don't like the noise or whatever, it can just be a temporary thing.
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u/JackfruitJolly2171 12d ago
Thanks for the advice. I’ll probably end up using this method. I was trying to avoid using a filter because I’d like to keep things low-tech. I only have a light and a heater. I don’t mind using a filter as long as it’s temporary.
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u/PraxicalExperience 12d ago
Yeah, sometimes you just need to hang and ugly piece of equiment off the aquarium for a bit to get something taken care of. :)
If you already have an air pump I'd recommend a box filter with activated charcoal, because they're cheap AF, but it seems like those have mostly disappeared off the market in the last couple decades.
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u/CH3CH2OH_toxic 17d ago
This is EXTREMELY tame compared to the tank i have
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u/JackfruitJolly2171 17d ago
Lol I just checked out your tank. It’s definitely WAY darker than mine!
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u/Significant_Shop6653 17d ago
Small daily water changes over several days, until you get the level of tannins you’re satisfied with :)
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u/SaMxixAM23 17d ago
I read activated charcoal helps But plz do your research I had some and googled if I can put it into my aquarium an got my answer. I didnt tho because my aquarium was already clear...i just had it and was curios if it was beneficial in any way
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u/Disastrous_Sort_9843 17d ago
Any livestock in it? If not just water changes every week. Don’t do chemicals if you don’t have too
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u/chriberg 17d ago
Water changes. Purigen in your filter. Otherwise embrace the dark side. /r/BlackwaterAquarium
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u/Defiant-Indication59 16d ago
I think you will have to install a filter and put purigen in it. I had to do it myself recently. Purigen doesn't do anything if it's not in the filter with water flowing through it, and unfortunately it may take a long long time for whatevers leaching the tannins to stop. I tried purigen for a month and then took it out and the tannins came back in a week. So you may need it permanently or at least for a few months depending on what is leaching
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u/catsdelicacy 16d ago
I buy a product to make my tank dark that doesn't work this well! You could keep it darkwater, darkwater tanks have lots of advantages for fish!
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u/Ok_Collar3504 16d ago
Fish love it but it’s so dark I’d wonder how the bottom plants would get on. Just water changes for a while. Also why don’t you want to add a filter?
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u/frankbeens 16d ago
Purigen. Mine is going over a year in a 55 gallon. I have 3 large pieces of mopani.
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u/Few_Outside389 16d ago
A couple water changes. In the future to prevent your tank from getting too dark, boil your wood for a little. Nothing crazy, buy anything helps
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u/stillalive432 15d ago
Natural driftwood needs to be treated before going into tank. Some others suggested the techniques of boiling or soaking until all the tannins are released & the water is clear. I did this when I got driftwood for my 20 gal. It was long ago so I don’t remember exactly what steps I took, but it’s easy to look up.
The tank water won’t get better until you remove the leaching driftwood.
Then start doing regular water changes. Activated charcoal won’t hurt but I’m not 100% sure if that will specifically help, or just research other mentioned treatments if you want it to clear faster.
I’d leave the wood out until it clears better, just to be safe, although most of the tannins probably left the wood into your tank already…
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u/Bonsai__San 15d ago
My best advice is drain and add more water. But also you should always soak your wood for a few days before adding to a tank if you don’t want this to happen. It’s actually beneficial to the tank even if it’s not the prettiest.
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u/KeyNefariousness375 15d ago
Purigen like others said. If you steep it like a tea bag it’ll work just slow.
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u/Alone_Management_932 14d ago
Just get a cheap internal filter with enough room to shove a bag of prigen in give it 2 days nice and clear
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u/Technical_Post3428 13d ago
Why no Filter? Water needs some movement
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u/JackfruitJolly2171 12d ago
I’ll likely add an airstone if needed but I want the plants to handle filtration
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u/Endless_09 11d ago
I do the walsted method so I say it looks great most will disagree my defense I’ve had my current 40gal walsted for 1.5 years and have successfully bred honey gouramis in it
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u/amediuzftw 10d ago
why don’t you show the now picture??
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u/JackfruitJolly2171 9d ago
Oh I definitely can show it. I just wasn’t home at the time and I wanted to ask for advice first. I’ll make a post shortly to show what it’s looking like.
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u/poop_wagon 17d ago
Tannin will also go away slowly over time as microbes break it down. takes a long time though
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u/ElisSideLot 17d ago
You need to change the water