Driftwood tannins ammonia spike !

B3ET said:

I recently purchased an 'Orca - special treated driftwood' from my LFS. I boiled and cleaned it for an hour since it was relatively new and read that tannins which leak from driftwood is beneficial for my betta. I placed the drift wood inside my cycled 80litre (21 gallon) tank and the next day I had an ammonia spike according to API liquid test kit from 0 to approximately 1.0. What is happening ?

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Four questions. Did you test your PH both before and after you placed the driftwood in the aquarium? What type of wood is it? How big is the driftwood in relation to the rest of the tank? Did your water tint any after you placed the driftwood in the tank?

I have a theory that may explain what you are seeing. Tanins, if they are leaching into the water, may be lowering the PH. If that is the case, the more acidic the water becomes, the less efficient BB are at processing ammonia in the water. If that is the case, an ammonia spike would be what you would expect to see. It will balance itself out; however, until it does, you'll need to do water changes to keep the ammonia at .25ppm or below.

With this ammonia, you may seeing a small nitrite spike as well. Keep an eye out for that, and do your water changes to keep it at .25ppm or below.

This should resolve itself.

Now I have been told tannins from driftwood don't really affect PH. I have not tested that for myself so I can't speak to whether that is accurate or not. It is the only explanation I can see given the circumstances of your set up.

I think I solved it. I added a bit of AQ salt to the tank, the pH dropped to 6.7 and my bettas started pooping like crazy. Ammonia shot up to about 2.0ppm so I did a 50% water and cleaned out my filter in tank water it was filthy and clogged vacuumed and let it it settle for 2 days. Readings now pH: 6.7, Ammo: 0, Nites: 0, Nates: 10, Temp: 26c(78f) Salt: 5 teaspoons for 25 gallons.

Thanks for your help.