with all the trees geting cut down and up-rooted since the storm Ive bee thinking about trying to do my own wood pieces. Any info on how to other than rinsing, soaking and placing a piece of slate if needed?
Wood
- Thread starter rasdbo
- Start date
Most "regular" types of wood will rot and produce fungus and other fun things in your tank. It also needs to be completely dried- not green wood. I found something a while ago that said that you could use beech wood(or maybe it was that beech was deadly...) In Peter Hiscock's (is that his real name???) books "Aquarium Designs Inspired by Nature" and "Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants" , he says that you can seal wood that you plan on using by painting "all visible areas with a clear polyurethane varnish and leave it to dry." he says to make sure it is clear b/c colored ones may have toxins in them. A few other books I have mention boiling it to help kill any bacteria, and to help it become more water logged. (you can also run it under hot hot water in the tub if they are too big to boil) One also mentions that tree roots may leech nitrites which would definately be bad . You also might wind up having the wood releaseing tannins in the water that lower the pH and give it that nice tea color. If that's not suitable for your fish, or your eye, you can always use carbon. And finally, for my 2 cents, I would definately setup up a "test tank". Put apiece of the wood in the tank and maybe a few danios or something and then test the water every few days for amonth or so. Check the pH and also the color of the water, and also see if the fish can live. In short- it's do-able, but you have to be careful, and I'd test it out on some cheaper fish instead of your beloved ones!!
wise yoda has spoken well.
the wood will leach tannins into the water. how much depends on the species.
dry the wood really well first, if not it will rot, then soak it for a couple weeks and it should be fine.
oak or any hardwood would be fine but not pine or any exotics
the wood will leach tannins into the water. how much depends on the species.
dry the wood really well first, if not it will rot, then soak it for a couple weeks and it should be fine.
oak or any hardwood would be fine but not pine or any exotics
I used 2 pieces I found, one has bark the other does not. I placed both in the oven at about 400 F for 2 hours. Made the whole house smell like a campfire. I let both of them sit for about 2 weeks in a 18g tank while being weighted down with slate. The piece without the bark looks really good and is already water logged. The piece with bark is almost water logged but. . . looks like there is something growing on it. A fungus maybe. So it might be a good idea to get them without bark. Fish seem to be ok for the time being though.
I used drift wood that I found from a fresh water lake in Michigan. Looks great. I believe you can see some of them in my photo gallery.
I did have a problem with a piece of drift wood that I bought. The wood was unknown and it leaked tannins into the water. It turned my 125g into the Boston tea party. It took a month of water changes to get it back to clear. But fish were fine with it.
I did have a problem with a piece of drift wood that I bought. The wood was unknown and it leaked tannins into the water. It turned my 125g into the Boston tea party. It took a month of water changes to get it back to clear. But fish were fine with it.
Rather than starting a new thread, i'm just going to hijack this one REAL QUICK..
I live on a lake, our other house is near a swamp. There are a TON of real unique pieces of wood in this swamp. I want to take some, tie them to a cinder block and toss the into the lake for the summer.
Why?? You may ask. First off, I want to create some artificial structure not too far off my dock so I can catch some lunkers when i'm in no condition to drive the boat. I also want to clean them up at the end of summer and toss em in my tank and give em to a buddy for his tank.
Any problems with doing this?
I live on a lake, our other house is near a swamp. There are a TON of real unique pieces of wood in this swamp. I want to take some, tie them to a cinder block and toss the into the lake for the summer.
Why?? You may ask. First off, I want to create some artificial structure not too far off my dock so I can catch some lunkers when i'm in no condition to drive the boat. I also want to clean them up at the end of summer and toss em in my tank and give em to a buddy for his tank.
Any problems with doing this?