Driftwood?

[This Old Spouse]

I'm on a roll today, apparently. Here's my tank as it is right now. I'm hoping to get a fairly complicated piece of driftwood that will mostly go from one side to the other, so about four feet long and two feet tall. Too much?

I think my pleco would enjoy it, and the other fish would enjoy playing around in it.

 

[Kipperz]

Driftwood would make a great addition to your tank. Large pieces are expensive, but very pleasing compositions can be made using smaller pieces locked together. I have done this in my Amazon themed tanks and the smaller pieces of Sumatran driftwood are great for this, with nice variations in colour too. just a suggestion but good luck I'm sure the plec will like it whatever you do.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I'll be getting mine from Lake Superior or some other local lake. Free!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Good luck finding one like that, but if you do, I think it will be amazing looking.


I just got smaller pieces of mopani today. I plan to tie them together with some fishing line, but I expect that they will look good in my tank, even though it is quickly becoming rather busy in there, and I still don't even have any plants! (The wood will be on top of the large stone to the right, going almost straight up, and leaning back towards the back of the tank.)

 

[This Old Spouse]

I can't wait to see your tank set up!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Same here! This is taking far longer than I thought it was, and has far more intricacies than I ever thought! Heck, I've rearranged the slate about four times today alone. I just got finished moving it again - different from my sig now! I also just dumped the water from the mopani into my flower bed (hopefully my flowers won't be affected by the tannins in a negative way), and filled up the bucket 2/3rds of the way with boiling water and the rest of the way with hot tap water. I'll dump it out again in the morning and add new boiling water again. (I even put a lid on the bucket in an effort to keep the heat in the bucket for as long as possible to pull as many tannins out overnight as I possibly can.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Heck, I was just reading something a couple days ago about NOT boiling the wood! If I remember correctly, it stated that the wood will break down. Yikes. Wish I could remember where I saw it!

boiling the wood would be the last thing you would want to do if you dont want tannins in the water, boiling it will cause it to expand and the fibres will break down. A good scrub under hot water and then left to soak in a bucket in the garden for a few weeks will do the job. in all honesty, i would say that kind of wood wont leak very much at all, i'd just chuck it straight into my tank and see what happens.

Here it is!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That is the only reference I've seen stating not to boil it. On the other side, I've read a lot saying that you SHOULD boil it. I'm not actually "boiling" it though... just exposing it to water that was boiling and topping it up. The most reasonable thing I've read is to boil it and then soaking it at the same temp as you plan to keep it. The higher temp causes the wood pores to expand, then when placed in with the lower temps, the pores then close, and there won't be as much leaching. The person who posted this had the same piece of mopani in his tank for over 7 years.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Dropped the driftwood in this morning, just to see what it would look like in place... I'm pleased with it.

 

[StandbySetting]

If it were me I'd leave it to stain the water, tannins look great, the wood should be fantastic when in, be sure to tie or glue some M.pteropus and Anubias spp to it!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

My wife doesn't like the sound of yellowish water... Personally, I am not against it, but I think she is adamant against it. I might just do one more cold treatment and then put it in place...

SbS, if you wouldn't mind giving me a bit of planting advice in this thread, I'd really appreciate it.

 

[micko]

A piece of drift wood that size would look good I think. If I were you I'd drill some holes in it with a good sized wood spade so (depending on the size of your fish) they could swim through it too.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I thought she was looking for something that would be a bit more branching, etc. so there would be plenty of things to swim through, around, etc. But, if not, then I agree... a drilled hole would look great!

 

[This Old Spouse]

Yes, I am looking for something a bit more expansive. I really wish I could get my hands on a piece I saw yesterday at a client's house! It incorporates more of the root structure and has lots of places for fish to play and hide.

Picture this one (sort of) with a few more branches and you start to get the idea.