Adding driftwood

[dmolavi]

I have a 56gallon FW tank that is lightly planted, and has some artificial coral decor (at the request of my wife and kids...it's colorful, not tacky, but also not realistic for freshwater).

I'm looking to possibly replace the inserts with driftwood. Would it be best to use the real deal (what effect on pH, etc would that have), or get cast resin inserts?

 

[phin]

Best? I think if you are just going for looks, then a cast resin insert that looks realistic would be the way to go. Eventually (after years) driftwood will disintegrate. Real wood will also release tannins, lowering the pH if you don't have adequate buffering capacity, and tinting the water for a period of time. It most likely will develop a white fungus that will persist for weeks to months. However these are not necessarily negatives for real wood. I would rather have real driftwood than a molded resin piece, but thats just personal preference.

 

[Aqualady40]

Imo...I say go with real wood, more natural....although some have had fungus and so on ...I personally have never experienced it at all...I hand picked my dw and cleaned it myself (bleach and salt soaks and boiled for days till I felt comfortable) I never had a tannin issue mainly because I boiled till I hardly seen tannins in the pot/tub and if tannins are slowly leaching I wouldn't see them since I do 50% Weekly water changes on all 4 tanks which I did all the dw pieces the same way...good luck