A Few Questions

[Knox213]

Where does Bogwood actuly come from and why is it SO pricey?


If i was to put rocks in my tank (from my garden) would i have to boil them in warm water and then wait for them to cool down before applying them to my tank?

What is the best way to get rid of pest snails?

How does a test Kit Keep your fish alive




A few of these questions are from me and a few from some friends.


Some of this infomation can help me very well in the near-by future

 

[fatheadminnow]

Not sure where bog wood comes from, but I am sure that it is treated somehow before it goes on sale at your LFS, so that may be why it is so expensive.

If you want to put rocks in your tank that you find out side, first clean them very well with a scrubber of some sort. Then put them in a bucket and pour boiling water over them. NEVER put rocks in boiling water on a stove and leave them in there! There are small amounts of water/moisture inside the rocks, and when the rock heats up the water inside will begin to raise in temp and give off a gas, and then, BOOOOOM! People have gotten really hurt from boiling rocks. So, just put the rocks in a bucket and POUR boiling/really hot water over them. This will kill off any parasite on the outside of the rock, with the core temp of the rock barely rising at all.

Pest snails? you can remove them by hand/gravel vac, but that would take a long time. DP (Dwarf Puffers) will eat the snails. Other than that, I am sure other members will have some info on removing them. I also read something about putting a piece of lettuce in the tank. The snails will begin to group up on the piece of lettuce, then you can just remove the lettuce, thus, removing the snails.

A test kit is one of the key components in a healthy tank. A basic test kit will test for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH. Different levels of these within a tank can harm and even kill your fish. Most fish die from ammonia poisoning. Why? Because the fish keeper did not have a test kit, so he/she did not know there was a high level of ammonia in the tank. A high level of ammonia can be caused by many things, but it is most commonly caused by an un-cycled tank. Ammonia and/or nitrite present in a tank at or above .25 ppm will cause harm and even kill your fish. Some fish may not show any signs of this, so the only way to know about these dangerous levels is through a test kit.

There are different test kits available today, and the best ones are the LIQUID test kits, NOT the strip test kits. So, if you get a test kit, which every fish keeper should do, make sure it is a LIQUID test kit!

EDIT: Also for the rocks, after you have them cleaned you should perform the "vinegar" test. Put a couple drops of vinegar on the rock, if the vinegar fizzes, then the rocks are no good. This means that the rocks will raise the pH of your water. If the vinegar does not fizz, then the rocks are safe to put in the tank. Make sure they are around room temp when you put them in the tank.

-FHM

 

[Trollfest]

I think with rocks you have to be careful about just getting any old rock as they can alter the chemistry in the tank due to minerals in the rock leaching out into the water. Unless you know exactly what they are I wouldn't risk it.

 

[Knox213]

Thanks for the rocks Advice.

I Knew you had to pour hot water on them etc.


after i scrub some of my garden rocks down etc and put howt water etc on them i'll do the vingure test thing... but does'nt that mean i have to put clean them again after ?

 

[fatheadminnow]

Thanks for the rocks Advice.

I Knew you had to pour hot water on them etc.


after i scrub some of my garden rocks down etc and put howt water etc on them i'll do the vingure test thing... but does'nt that mean i have to put clean them again after ?

Just rinse them off with water and let them air dry.

-FHM

 

[Knox213]

Thanks for the rocks Advice.

I Knew you had to pour hot water on them etc.


after i scrub some of my garden rocks down etc and put howt water etc on them i'll do the vingure test thing... but does'nt that mean i have to put clean them again after ?

Just rinse them off with water and let them air dry.

-FHM

No hair dryer =[ LOL

I'll leave them to dry until my plants etc all come

then do a quick vinguer check

 

[fatheadminnow]

Air dry just means let the rocks sit at room temp and let them dry. lol

-FHM

 

[Knox213]

Air dry just means let the rocks sit at room temp and let them dry. lol

-FHM

lmao will do thanks.

 

[OldMan47]

Bog wood demands a high price because people are willing to pay it. I cut dead hardwoods that I like the look of and place them in my tank after removing any bark and weighting them with slate. My favorite is a piece of apple that I got from a tree in my back yard. When I prune trees, I stack the resulting scrap. If I find something in the pile that I like the next spring, it gets prepared for the tank. Rocks are much the same story. If I find one that I like and it is in a place that I know has not been exposed to pesticides, I bring it into my home and test it for any effect it may have on my water. The test is simple. Compare water that spends a couple of days with the rock to water that is drawn at the same time but spends the whole time in a plain glass container. If both samples have the same water characteristics after 2 or 3 days, the rock is safe enough for my tank. The fizz test will immediately eliminate some rocks but once they pass that test it is time to do the test that I just described.