Decorative Wood For 1st Tank

[mrmcdean]

Hi there

Finally got round to fitting all the lights, filter etc to my first tank (in a hole in the wall between kitchen & dining room).

As its visible from both sides im fairly restricted for scenery so am looking for a few nice peices of wood as well as hopefully getting a fair selection of live plants in place to give plenty of shelter before I add the fish.

Ive come accross someone on Ebay selling wood that they claim is OK for an aquarium but I dont want to get anything thats going to be useless, my first question is do you think this stuff would be suitable ??

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...me=STRK:MEWA:IT

I plan to go for the fishless cycling but want to get the wood in the tank and then add the plants a little at a time so its all pretty well established before my little visitors come to stay, ive read about clay under gravel to help plants grow but ive decided to go for the option of manually adding nutrients to the tank to aid growth, I presume these are safe for fish ?? are any of them better than others ??

Also, how do I find out about the hardness of my water ?? (im getting a full water testing kit tomorrow - will this do the trick for hardness as well?)

Cheers

 

[fishing4exotics]

Ive come accross someone on Ebay selling wood that they claim is OK for an aquarium but I dont want to get anything thats going to be useless, my first question is do you think this stuff would be suitable ??

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...me=STRK:MEWA:IT

It will be fine in your tank. Try boiling the driftwood for about 30 minutes to steralize it and also to remove some of the tannins that will leach into your tank.

I plan to go for the fishless cycling but want to get the wood in the tank and then add the plants a little at a time so its all pretty well established before my little visitors come to stay, ive read about clay under gravel to help plants grow but ive decided to go for the option of manually adding nutrients to the tank to aid growth, I presume these are safe for fish ?? are any of them better than others ??

I would post this question in the planted tank forum. But, I wouldn't add plants before your tank has cycled. Plants will consume the nutrients that is needed to cycle your tank.

Also, how do I find out about the hardness of my water ?? (im getting a full water testing kit tomorrow - will this do the trick for hardness as well?)

The GH or KH test will tell you about your water hardness.

 

[mrmcdean]

Thanks for your help.

 

[big mick]

I bought loads of wood from that guy about a month ago, some pieces were pretty small (but he does say what size they are so I cant fault him there) but there were some very interesting shapes, I can recomend using that wood and also that seller.

I WILL colour you water for a while mind....thats been a month and even having boiled it for almost 2 hours my water is still coloured, more regular water changes should help aswell once its fully cycled and you have fish.

 

[Ivan Sloshed]

I Found Andy at Greenline a great help for plants heres the link http/www.aquaticplants.eu.com/index.html send him a email hes not a bad chap Best of Luck Ivor