Stealthily sinking driftwood.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
BushFishRox;1046787; said:
metals dont get to build up to toxic levels in lakes and such since they are in a huge volume of water but the home aquarium doesnt even compare to a lake and aquariums just cycle the same water allowing toxins to build up which is why we need to do water changes to lower nitrates and heavy metals are more toxic then nitrates.
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Actually it doesn't take much lead to contaminate a large volume... however, lead in ingot form like pellets doesn't generate the tiny free floating particles needed to infiltrate biological systems.

You can't really say "heavy metals are more toxic than nitrates" either... what heavy metals? how much? by what method of exposure? gold is a heavy metal that's not toxic to most organisms... thallium will kill people in tiny doses though. Lots of wild fish eat fishing weights and continue to live just fine.

Anyway, I probably wouldn't keep exposed lead in my aquarium just because there are other ways I'd rather use, but I don't think you'll have a problem. Lots of people use lead to weigh down plants.
 
i dont know if it makes much difference but the lead weights used for fishing over hear are not actually made of lead any more . due to them possibly being ingested by wildlife - ie swans mainly .

along time ago they were lead but now they are mostly something else that is aparently not harmfull to the enviroment.

same for lead shot . instead of using leadd shot you could using the same fising shot thats not made of lead . even if lead is available where you are im sure you could get the alternative.

most peaople still call the alternative weights , lead weights .
 
Lead is perfectly safe for aquariums because its not soluble at higher PH levels, due to most north American water (Tap water) being alkaline based..


There is safer ways to do it, especially if your waters PH is lower then 6.0 (Discus/Amazon tank setups) which can slowly break it down. Although the fact that Driftwood buffers the water and lowers the PH is kinda lol.




In all honesty... Its more of an old technology... Think of like, VHS... (lol) it used to be good because, thats what there was... now this method is obsolete and it CAN be problematic (Tho if you have a high PH and or fish wont be nipping at it, there are little problems)


That being said, id use it with no worry as long as it werent accessible to fish, and the PH were higher (Think african tanks)

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/...gCK7pKgSdKGEqsxOGUqV2&yargs=www.Shopzilla.com
 
I have lots of lead in my tank to weigh down plants because of low gravel heights. I have my pH at 6.8 and it doesnt disolve in any way. Just builds up a white scum on it. Doesnt change anything about the water chemistry.
 
Oh, you probably dont even have a catfish in there, just said that to make us squint and look real hard. But you probably do have a catfish, just not visible in the pictures shown.
 
Newer fishing weights are no longer made from lead to help prevent lead buildup in the environment.You guys who say it doesnt affect anything,are you testing for lead?
Wire or screw it to a piece of slate or better yet just boil it
 
the easiest way to sink driftwood that's too large to boil is to just drill or cut (depending on size) a hole in the wood fill it with rocks or pieces of cinder blocks or bricks if large enough and watch it sink. you aren't able to see the rocks and it looks good all the same with no lead or metal or anyting like that. now granted it probably won't work on a piece that size because of the smaller thinner nature of the piece.
 
eh....... get rid of the staples and use waterproof deck screws to secure it. I love how we exchange the lead weights for corroding steel screws. Or a vet says you can keep a certain amount of fish in a certain size tank, but we know better. Or we beat the crap out of a dying fish by slapping it on the ground until it's dead because THAT is humane?
:ROFL:
Oh, but that's ok. We are all hypocrites in one way or another.
 
mdo135;1068229; said:
I give up, where it the catfish??? Nice setup
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It looks like there may be a catfish in the back left of the pic, behind the plants, i see what look like the whiskers.
 
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