Wow!! It took me 20 minutes to find this thread on my app! I know a lot of you were very interested in this but at the time it was very cold here n I never got around to collecting the bamboo.
Tomorrow evening after work I plan to go collecting. I know before I said I was going to cut the stalks in half and make a mat out of it the entire length n height of the tank, but I also had another idea. Would it be possible, since bamboo is hollow and all, to cut out places in the bottom of the bamboo to fit bubble curtains? Or drill a hole thru the bottom I could slide the bubble rods in and make the bubble come out at the top of the bamboo stalks? Kind of set it up like how an organ ( instrument) looks, start in the corner with say a 4" piece n make it like a ladder to the middle of the tank then like your going back down the ladder ... The bubble curtains would be hidden inside the bamboo so all you would see is the bubbles coming out the top. My tank is 30" high so maybe take it to 25-26" in height? I really would like your input if you all think this is a cool idea and I could make it work!!! Thanks, will update tomorrow! ( promise this time!!!)
New idea. Instead of using bubble curtains, what if I used T junctions and put an individual air stone in each piece of bamboo, or like every other piece. I'd need a pretty powerful air stone but I think it could work. And it would probably look better.