2 Question's - Tea Water & "Spider" Plants.

I'm letting a few rarely used leopard gecko hides soak in hot water, changing the water every 2 days. Originally, I boiled them and let them soak in cold water for a few days before adding them to the 10gallon guppy tank and they turned my water brown so I had to do a 1/2 water change and started a new filter pouch. It's fine now, but I've been soaking the wood for about a week now and I'm not sure how long it should take or if I'm doing something wrong. Any tips?

I have "spider" plants that I got as clippings and left them to fully root out in water, instead of planting them, I put them in the pond outside to float around and stay unrooted. They're thriving so I'm wondering if anyone knows if they'll stay healthy if I decide to add them to the guppy tank, or if they'd kill the fish somehow by emitting some sort of toxin.. I can't find info anywhere. I'm not going to do it until I know all the details.

Help?

Thanks!

When I read the first part of your post I thought you meant "hides" as in skin/leather .........hehehe....

Soaking the wood to remove the tannin can take a few weeks, you're doing the right thing, its just a matter of patience.

As for the spider plants, chlorophytum (?), I'd also be interested to hear if they are safe, as they seem to thrive in most conditions.

Best of luck

Ken Worthington said:

When I read the first part of your post I thought you meant "hides" as in skin/leather .........hehehe....

Soaking the wood to remove the tannin can take a few weeks, you're doing the right thing, its just a matter of patience.

As for the spider plants, chlorophytum (?), I'd also be interested to hear if they are safe, as they seem to thrive in most conditions.

Best of luck

Click to expand...

Hahaha, no no no, the hides look like miniture logs that are fastened together with metal spokes going through. One is shaped like a bridge, the other is more of a platform. I intend on using them for barriers & a surface to grow moss on.

Is the water suppose to smell? I find that after even one day of soaking, it smells almost egg-like. Is it possible that's from it being in the old leopard gecko tank less than half a dozen times? Or is that the tannin that's stinky? lol.

It is chlorophytum, according to wikipedia, but it doesn't say whether it can thrive submerged or floating around in water. Mine have been thriving pretty well just floating around in my pond for awhile now so it's the possibility of it secreting something harmful that I'm worried about.

Thanks for the help though!

What are the hides made from ?

The water will smell if you dont have any carbon. Tannins arent exactly a bad thing for most aquatic life. They are a natural anti-fungal and some species of fish do better in water with tannins.

Now, I would use a small filter with some carbon in a nylon sack placed somewhere in the filter or in its flow. The carbon will significantly absorb the tannin but it will do so at such a rate that you will have to change the carbon faster than normal. If it becomes fully loaded it will leach everything back out if not changed in time. Frequent/daily water changes are a must as well.

However, I have used wood plenty of times without allowing the tannins to leach out first and all my animals do fine with no signs of any ill effects.

Im also pretty sure the spider plants would be fine as well.

The hides are made of wood.

The smell only occurs in the bucket I'm soaking them in.

I had them in the tank before, no ill effects except for the water turning brown. Although, I can remember a "mold" growing off the wood where it wasn't submerged.

Any idea's of what that is, or is it good?

I'm fairly new to aquascaping.

Its simply mold. Its gunna grow in a spot like that. Its damp and exposed to air. I am willing to bet it has a slimy film on it also where it is submerged. If so that will go away as well once its fully cured.

Im guessing its Mopanai wood or similar?

Like I said, dont worry about it. Your water is going to smell cause you dont have chemical filtration to get rid of the odor. And, if you dont have anything providing circulation or any kind of oxygenation its going to turn stagnant anyway.

If you cant filter the water in the bucket just place the wood in the aquarium.