Mangrove roots / wood

[Bloo]

I love the look of Mangrove roots / wood and would like to use some in my tropical setup. However from what I've seen, this is mostly used in brackish tanks ? Would pre-soaked Mangrove root be OK to use ?

 

[Paul_MTS]

yep it's fine to use. same as normal wood really, soak if you like, i think it floats for a while

 

[dulcie]

If you buy driftwood from an lfs you need to sterilise and soak or the water turns yellow/brown and its SOOOO hard to get it clear again i ended up enptying and recycling ! I soaked it for about a week and changed the water each day so i could monitor whether it was still discolouring the water !

 

[Bloo]

Thanks Paul.
Dulcie, I know that new Mopani wood leaches for weeks on end which is rather a pain but I've found that boiling it lightly (if you have a cauldron large enough!) and then soak for 2-3 weeks (with daily water luke warm water changes) it tends to help. Though from what I've read, Mangrove is quite a bit different....

 

[The-Wolf]

I'll point you to my pinned topic wich should help
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=54177

 

[Bloo]

Thanks Wolf - I actually saw that pinned topic of yours but I just still wasn't sure really as I never seem to see Mangrove availabe as much as Mopani (or in fact hardly at all !) and thought there might be another (unknown to me) reason behind it.....

 

[The-Wolf]

I have only ever seen it once since starting this addictive hobby and that is in my brothers tank. The only trouble he had was it grew a lot of algea and was very near impossible to kill it.
my solution was...
removed wood from tank and air dried for 1 week then I microwaved it for 2 mins. placed back in tank (after cooling) and he has never had algea on it since.

 

[Bloo]

Ahhh very hand tip ! Exactly the kind of info I needed to be armed with, should I decide to buy this lovely looking piece of wood

 

[The-Wolf]

just be carefull microwaving any wood, there can't be any moisture in the wood or it could explode.

 

[Paul_MTS]

i think algae looks great on wood so will deffo have to get some of that stuff.

after 6 months a descent ammount has just started to grow on 1 of the mature bits in my tank that came with it.

my LFS have it labelled as liana root in 3ft and 5ft lengths, it's not as interesting in some pieces i'ved seen pictures of but it could look good.

 

[Bloo]

I must admit I'm really not a great algae fan in fact I'm very greatful that I have no algea at all on my pieces of Mopani wood that's been maturing in my one tank for about 2 years now. However I did have a short bout of nasty hair algae about a year ago - but after some thorough scrubbing (touch wood!) I've banished it...

The-Wolf Posted on May 17 2005, 04:50 PM
just be carefull microwaving any wood, there can't be any moisture in the wood or it could explode.

Nope, I'm unlikely to microwave that piece of mangrove as it would be way too big - but thanks for the tip.