Redmoor Wood

[mark4785]

I have some redmoor wood which I recently decorated with little strands of moss. I was very pleased at how it looked and was hopeful that the moss would grow and carpet it.

When attempting to install it in my aquarium, that's where the positivity ended! The redmoor wood just kept wanting to float; as a result I used specialist aquatic glue to glue it to a heavy piece of slate. Sadly, the glue would not hold it down so I had to rip the glue of the base of the redmoor, nearly ripping my nails out in the process and decided to smash a piece of sodalite up and strap the fragments to each leg of the redmoor. This, whilst making the tank look absolutely stupid, did the job and the redmoor no longer is attempting to float.

The obvious question now is, will the redmoor eventually possess the ability to sink after being submerged for some time? Also, what happens when I do my water changes and it slightly dries out? Will it want to float again if it dries out?

 

[coldcazzie]

My redmoor took about a month of soaking before it started to become waterlogged, and even then it only stayed because it had another piece of wood on top of it, weighing it down.

Once it has become waterlogged then even if it dries out a bit during a water change it will still stay submerged, but it may take some time to get to that point...

It may look unattractive for a while but it'll be worth it when it's done

How come you didn't soak it before adding to the aquarium? I put mine in a spare tank for a month before I had to use it... I take it no-one mentioned this to you?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Yeah always a good idea, I threw mine in the bath with very hot water for a few hours and it was ok after that.

 

[Primous]

I love redmoor root wood and have three pieces in my aquarium.

The trick here is to take out the root wood and boil it. Yes, boil it. This will remove the air from the wood and it will stay submerged after a few days as opposed to weeks. On another note, personally I would go to great pains to remove the aquatic glue asap. Despite the manufactures reassurances on the bottle adding chemicals other than plant liquids etc is a huge no no. Just my tuppence.

 

[coldcazzie]

Boiling wood is not really a good idea... it breaks down the bonds between the wood fibres which means the wood breaks down quicker. Hot water is great, and pouring boiling water over it works, but actually boiling the wood is a bad idea.

 

[Primous]

Really?

I boiled the first ever piece of redmoor root wood I got for several days until it sank (not continuously lol) and today it looks no different to the day I first introduced it to the tank and that was a few years ago?

 

[mark4785]

No, nobody told me or hinted that it would float. It turned what I thought was going to be a simple tank decoration change into a trial and error process. I'll take eveyones advice and try to keep it submerged as much has possible and see what happens.

 

[coldcazzie]

Do you have any really large rocks you can put on top of it to help weigh it down?

Like this:

 

[CezzaXV]

I have redmoor wood in my tank and it sank after a week or two. Having said that's, it's a very rooty piece so there's a high surface area to volume ratio.

It will sink eventually, but it will take time. Mine is still leeching tannins about two months later, although not as bad as it was originally.

 

[Erza]

Hi there, I know this subject is quite old but I have a problem, hope you could help me. I bought lately I believe Redmoor root to add to my fish tank - I;ve forced it under water to prevent it floating but after 3 days in fish tank I've noticed something like fungus coming out of part of the wood where it was cut. Is it something to worry about? Is it actually Redmoor wood?

 

[fishprotector]

It is just the wood starting to decompose slightly and get use to the waterlogged environment. Nothing to worry about. You can wipe it off, or the fish may eat it.

 

[CezzaXV]

I had quite a bit of this while I was cycling, and it seemed to be in places where the wood had been cut off, rather than naturally occurring surfaces. Once I added fish however, I never saw it again.