Manzanita!!!

[Chuncan]

If you are like me, you usually want to spice up your tank with various stuffs that make it look nice, natural, attractive, etc (if your not like me then thats fine). Me, I wanted to make my tank look more natural AND attractive, but without having to spend a bunch of money for cool pieces of driftwood. Turns out, an alternative is manzanita. All you have to do is cut off a piece of live manzanita and bake it at 200 degrees for 4 hours. However, once you put it in the tank, it can do one of three things: nothing, grow white feathery odd looking algae, or turn your water brown. So far, none have negatively affected the tanks that I've seen these things happen in. Things to do if it turns you water brown: frequent water changes and soak the wood in seperate containers until the brown water is gone. Things to do if there is weird looking algae on it: leave it be, your fish will eat it. Removing it by hand only makes it worse for some reason.
This has been a message from a Frugal Fish Keeper. Hope it helped.


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[rokit_armor]

Good info, especially on the baking (I'd probably just throw it in there raw lol). I would have loved to get some manz for my tank... too bad it doesn't grow around here, have to get some shipped from Tom Barr, who is fairly well priced, or go with local driftwood. I found a decent piece of drift with an amazing root structure, but most of the junk around here is just a log.

 

[the animal guy]

Alternative is Manzanita? i thought they were the best woods.

Anyways, where do i go to cut a Manzanita?

 

[Chuncan]

Any kind of natural decoration like wood looks good in someones tank, but its hard to beat the beautiful red color that manzanita provides.


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[Chuncan]

Alternative is Manzanita? i thought they were the best woods.

Anyways, where do i go to cut a Manzanita?

Manzanita is an alternative to the expensive driftwoods in stores. Manzanita is very common in the Western areas. I live in California and it is very common there


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[the animal guy]

Im in Cali too. So i can get them for free? I prefer Manz the best. Screw the other woods

 

[Chuncan]

It depends on what part of Cali you live in. The Santa Cruz/Watsonville/Aptos area has them everywhere. Recently I was up in Sonora and I saw them everywhere as well. They might be in every part of Cali. Ask someone who would know about the flora and fauna of your area. And of course they are free. It doesn't cost money to saw off a branch from a tree. If its not on your property though you might want to try and be sneaky. And watch out for the enviromentalists. They'll probably kill you if they saw that happening.


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[the animal guy]

i've never seen one. Do i go to the mountain or where? I live in the city. LA county

 

[Steveo McNello]

Whats the difference? In a few months it'll be a solid colored ugly brown with no character.

 

[cgodfrey1]

Ill enjoy watching you try and saw Manzanita! Ironwood is the only harder wood ive seen.

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