Bogwood

[scotty]

i'm thinking of putting some bogwood and mopani wood,not too sure if thats the right spelling,what is the best way to treat it before putting it into my tank?

thanks
scott

 

[anwhyte]

i'm thinking of putting some bogwood and mopani wood,not too sure if thats the right spelling,what is the best way to treat it before putting it into my tank?

thanks
scott

assuming you're buying it from a garden centre/fish shop it should be ready to put in the tank, just rinse it off first.

 

[angelfishguy]

mopani wood releases lots of tannins which turn the water brown(doesnt bother fish)
if you can fit it into a pot boil it for a few hours cause this will get alot of the tannins out
J&D

 

[raptorrex]

i'm thinking of putting some bogwood and mopani wood,not too sure if thats the right spelling,what is the best way to treat it before putting it into my tank?

thanks
scott

how you treat it depends, largely, on how you view the aesthetics of your tank.

I follow the route anwhyte suggests. and have never had problems, of any sort.
but, often, tannins leach into the water. this causes the water to go brown. now this has no ill effects on your fish, indeed it may well be beneficial, but it does worry some.

 

[scotty]

so i don't need to boil the bogwood,just the mopani?

 

[angelfishguy]

so i don't need to boil the bogwood,just the mopani?

mopani has a lot of tannins in it, but as someone says you dont have to boil it

if you want brown water(doesnt harm fish)----- dont boil it

if you dont want as much brown water --------boil it

 

[raptorrex]

so i don't need to boil the bogwood,just the mopani?

you don't "need" to no. and its far from sure, boiling, will remove all your tannins. however, if you are unsure of the LFS, or source of the wood. pouring boiling water over the wood and giving it a scrub, will never hurt.
remember boiling/cooking anything, breaks down the fibre mass.

 

[scotty]

thanks for that,i'm getting it from my local pets at home store

 

[MewMew42]

you can always use carbon in the filter to help remove the tannins

 

[raptorrex]

you can always use carbon in the filter to help remove the tannins

quite right personally i have never bothered. they do "soften" the water a bit. but, with a mature tank, the buffering will soon bring it back to normal.

and no, to me, i wouldn't boil either type of wood.

 

[waterdrop]

I'm working up a good piece of dark bogwood right now myself. I didn't have any round buckets big enough for it so I picked up a cheap clearish plastic storage box from one of those big hardware stores. I submerged the wood in tap water and left it on the patio. On weekends when I have time I pour off some of the water and heat up a kettle of boiling water and pour it over the wood. Sometimes I do this several times. The hot water "brews the tea" out of it quite a bit faster. You can see that the water gets much darker immediately with the hot water, not so much with the colder water. I've been at it for several months with this piece and its about there - it now takes about a full week to turn the water light yellow, whereas in the first month it made it into black water you could not see through. Around here it doesn't freeze too often but I bring it inside if that's going to happen.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[scotty]

wellgot my lovely piece of mopani wood last night,boiled for 20mins,and soaked it overnight,would it be ok to put in my tank now,or wait until my fishless cycle is over,don't want it upsetting the cycle,as i don't want to start again

 

[Deleted member 55926]

I had mine in while cycling. Didn't do any harm.

 

[scotty]

maybe add it tonight after work