I Have Found Bogwood! ...update, New Pieces

[Puffer punk]

if your gonna use the mopani then get a productd called bio-chem sorb removes all tanines from the water

 

[craynerd]

HURRA!!

I think i have found my wood, at long bloody last! Its a bog wood, it wasn`t too cheap but worth it i think! Now i have this wood i am back to my original plan which i have always had my heart set on! WOOT

Pictures, may follow, may save them for the journal now tho ! haha

BTW ---- I have a question. What is Vine Root Wood and is it suitable for the aquarium? It was being sold at my local PET shop near the reptile stuff and the guy put me off it, said it May not be suitable ?? I decided not to get it, but if i could use it, i`d go back for that tomorrow, its super? Anyone know anything about it?

Chris

 

[Bloo]

I think I might have found something else you'd be interested in
I forgot I had this link, but have never used it. I can't remember who recommended it to me here on TFF, but it was ages ago.

Scroll down and enjoy

Ps: I have to add some "disclaimer" - how suited they are for the planted aquaria, I don't know - but perhaps you can be the guinea pig !

Pps: I suspect the vine root is likely to be the Liana on that link I gave you.

 

[oldwhitewood]

pictures!!!!!

 

[craynerd]

here is a picture of the bogwood, it is certainly the best i have seen. I have found similar pieces before but never so long and as thin, it has always been much thicker. The tallest bit on the left is around 40cm including base, so it will show about 34cm above a substrate.

As you can see with it being bog wood they are connected at the bottom to large clumps. I will cut these of vertically, so i dont lose any hight but remove some of the bulk so they can be positioned better.

The only real criticism is that they are a little clean looking, like oldwhite said when i showed them him, they could do with looking a little big more narrled and maybe a tiny bit more curved (the piece far right is relatively straight). I have to say though, that most of the pieces will not be in full sight and the smaller piece is really an excellent piece of wood, nice shape and texture, and that is the one that will be in the front on show most!!

You all know i`ve been looking for ages, and i really think its the best i am going to do without paying £90 for ADA.

Chris

 

[zig]

I think these are good pieces i would be more than happy picking these up, you will have no problem doing something with these pieces, the hard bit (and enjoyable bit) will be pinning down exactly the best combination or configuration............good find

 

[Luke_e]

Some nice pieces there Chris, do you mind if i ask how much you paid for them? How would you go about setting them up in an aquascape? Would you connect the pieces out of the water and place them in, or would you place each piece individually on the substrate and 'lean' them on one another?

 

[craynerd]

lol, thanks zig. Well whatever i do with them is down to my skill now, like you say they are good pieces and therefore i can`t at all blame anything on their quality....lets see what i can come up with!

Some nice pieces there Chris, do you mind if i ask how much you paid for them?

Lots of good questions luke!

i feel SOOO bad! Only the smaller pieces had a price tag on it as you can see in the picture £2.95. Cheap, since thats the nicest piece but at the end of the day its "only" bog wood, and they sell it per kg rather than on looks. Which in my opinion is daft, but thats how it is. The other bigger pieces were not labelled but pieces of worse quality but similar size and weight were labelled at £5/6 . When i took them to the counter, she just charged me £2.95 for each piece = ~£9 Maybe I should have corrected her.

How would you go about setting them up in an aquascape? Would you connect the pieces out of the water and place them in, or would you place each piece individually on the substrate and 'lean' them on one another?

As i have said recently in a few posts, i have a strong plan of the hardscape in my head so i know roughly the "style" i want. I am also taking strong inspiration from 3 tanks i have found on the net by the "pro`s".

I will not be joining them out of the tank or leaning them against each other. I will actually be cutting the base thinner, so the bases are less bulky and therefore less weight. This way i am hoping to literally jam them in a deep substrate.

haha, i fine myself talking the talk, but will i be able to walk the walk!

---------------------------------------------------------------

Question.

Whats the best way of treating the bogwood in the next few weeks before i actually use it in the tank?

 

[Luke_e]

Quite a bargain then! Looking forward to seeing it in the tank..
As for treating the bogwood, if you have a large enough container to fit them in.. fill it with hot water and put the bogwood in, and keep changing the water every day or 2. This will release the tannins. The reason hot is better than cold, as you probably know is it opens the 'pours' of the wood and aids in speeding up the process of releasing the tannins. Other than that, dont think there is any other treating method.

 

[craynerd]

Just been talking to someone on msn a while ago and we were discussing boiling water and hot water, with regards to which is best.

I presumed that boiling would be better, but i was told that this could effect the quality and structure of the wood?

 

[Luke_e]

With my first piece of bogwood, i used boiling water to fill up a 40l container. The bogwood was left in this water for a day, the water was warm when i took it out (had a lid which helped insulate the temp), and it did seem to be softened in areas, so being in boiling water imo can effect the woods finish and slightly effect its structure (more so if its in boiling water for long periods of time).
Where as my second piece was purely hot, reason being i couldnt be bothered boiling the kettle several times, and this piece didnt seem to be effected at all.

 

[Bloo]

That's precisely what I've found with the many different pieces of bogwood I've had over the years - and the different methods I've tried out on them.
First of all - not all wood reacts in the same way even if you treat two similar looking pieces of wood. I guess it very much depends of the actual age of the wood, density etc. etc.

But I've found the best method to retain as much of the wood's character is to do as little as possible to it.
Some of my latest pieces I've only rinsed under a very strong shower and put straight in to the tank. Or if there is some visible bits of debris, I use a soft bristle brush to lightly scrub it off under strong warm to hot water.

Or if you find a piece that really leaches a lot of tannins, soak it in hot water daily. But I've also found, the hotter the water, the more tannins leach. This isn't necessarily a good thing as the hot water allows the wood to open up more - hence more tannins. So by boiling it can actually make matters worse.

Good luck with your lovely wood

 

[Qays]

I also heard someone say they rot quicker when boiled!

I let mine sit in water until they stop leeching tannins. My last bit took about 2-3 weeks!

EDIT: Really nice pieces of wood!!! Will like nice when poking out of the substrate, likezig has done. Try that!

 

[craynerd]

Yes, thats my plan athough i have not seen any pics of zigs tanks, i would love to. links?

 

[Bloo]

That profile post/topic search is quite amazing