I love your spotted royal... the LFS had a monster one who was 12 to 14in... the mouth on him was amazing... do you have an issue with tannin's from the driftwood? or do you not care?
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I really don't care. I run a UV light on my 125 and have one for my 180, but haven't installed it yet. Was waiting to get my Sump. I have to keep Driftwood in all of my tanks, because I have such a large variety of Plecos. They love it. I'm lucky I don't have to buy it much. I normally get really large pieces from local riverbeds.
UV light doesn't effect tannins. You can get wood from local rivers or streams, just make sure you treat it. Hit it with a pressure washer, soak it, boil it, and some people even put the wood in their oven to bake it to kill any possible bacteria. I've gathered some from the local rivers and pressure washed it and it's been great. But I didn't leave it in there for too long as it's cedar and sequoia which is a lighter wood, so the panaques SHRED it and the particulates in the water column reflect a lot of light.UV light affects tannin's? Or am i just confused? As for driftwood I am going to need to some large pieces driftwood for the 240. You don't have any issues with bacteria or chemicals from the local rivers? my current pieces cost me about 80 bucks, id love to cut the cost down for the big tank. How do you treat yours?
UV light affects tannin's? Or am i just confused? As for driftwood I am going to need to some large pieces driftwood for the 240. You don't have any issues with bacteria or chemicals from the local rivers? my current pieces cost me about 80 bucks, id love to cut the cost down for the big tank. How do you treat yours?
I'm not 100% about if it affects taminin's or not, but when I added a Turbo Twist 12x to my tank, it got the water crystal clear. I haven't had any problems with the water tinting at all. Here in VA, I mostly come across Oak. I'll just soak it in a large sterile garbage can. I leave it in there for a couple weeks and perform normal water changes (like I would in a tank). If the pieces are small enough, I'll boil them before soaking them. I have some really big pieces and haven't had any problems. The larger plecos will destroy wood, regardless of how hard it is. My spotted royal is doing a number on a huge root ball I have in my 180.
Hmm that's a great idea... Ill have to go hunting around here and see if i cant find some nice pieces... the LFS has a great selection but its so expensive... my little guys haven't made much of a dent in the wood but most of my guys in that tank like meatier foods... you will have to let me know how your sump setup goes... I am really looking forward to my big tank, and the possibility of more plecos!


Yeah, all my plecos love to eat, but I haven't found anything to pull my Royal away from the driftwood. Normally the Massivore pellets do the trick, but he could careless about them. I will admit, the piece in there looks really nice with the holes he's making, but it took me a while to find a piece that nice.