colematthewmalaka
Aquarium Advice Freak
Hi, my friend just gave me a big piece of wood that was in his snake tank. He got it in the reptile section at petland and i was wondering if it'd be okay for my aquarium. It's really heavy like bogwood.
Is this wood okay for my tank?
- Thread starter colematthewmalaka
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MichaelsLilGray
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Boil it and leave it in a barrel.. or a rubbermaid container to see if leaches a color into the water... if it does.. continue boiling it.. and or let it sit in the water for about a month, while changing the water about every week..
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colematthewmalaka
Aquarium Advice Freak
I want black water though, if i get rid of all the tannins won't it do nothing to my waters PH i do have some indian almond leaves that i could use to lower PH
you could always put it in a tub/bucket with water, let it sit overnight and then do a water test the next day. even if you boil it to make sure it's not carrying cooties, if it's gonna leach, it's gonna leach for more than one boil.
As long as it isn't the grapevine stuff that I have seen in the reptile section it is fine. I boil my driftwood just to be on the safe side. Once it is cooled if you want to have the tannins in your tank just put it in. I like the tannins in my tanks that new driftwood gives off sure beats the bottled stuff I use every once in awhile, It may just sink right away I know of a couple of types that sink right away but neither give off much tannins in my experience.
HooKooDooKu
Aquarium Advice FINatic
My first source of drift wood was to purchase a piece of wood from the lfs out of its reptile room.
First of all, it took boiling it SEVERAL TIMES (like over a dozen times, each time being at least 1 hour) to get MOST of the wood to sink. The thickest section of the wood would still try to float so I finally attatched it to so slate to ensure it would hold under water.
I placed the wood in my fish tank over a month ago. Even though I tried to boil the heck out of it, it continues to leach tannins. It doesn't make the water black, but with PWC, I can easily see the color of the water when it gets emptied into a white bucket.
Other wise, the single biggest issue I've been having with it is alge eaters. I started with a group of alge eating shrimp. They were basically eating the drift wood. But what was so bad about that was that the tiny little wood pieces (at first I though it was little shrimp poop) litter the bottom of my white sand bottom tank making it look trashy. So I evicted the shrimp and replaced them with a nerite snail. The snail is just as bad as the shrimp.
So my advice if you are going to use this wood in your tank, either use a dark color substraite, or don't expect to have alge eaters.
On the other hand, for my other tank I recently aquired a piece of the mopani wood. The stuff is really cheap at the lfs that carry it. As an example, I know 'Pets America' carry the stuff (7-8" can be like $10, 12" around $12-14, and 18" around $20). By constrast, the drift wood I see offered at 'Pet Supplys Plus' is very expensive... but then again it's not the mopani, and it looks like it's been well treated.
The mopani just needs a single boil to ensure nothing is still alive on it, it sinks pretty much without boiling/treating it (part of the reason I think it's so cheap) and it does NOT quickly leach tanins into the tank.
So unless you don't mind the short commings I've listed for the type of wood you've got, I'd suggest throwing it away and get some of the cheaper wood.
First of all, it took boiling it SEVERAL TIMES (like over a dozen times, each time being at least 1 hour) to get MOST of the wood to sink. The thickest section of the wood would still try to float so I finally attatched it to so slate to ensure it would hold under water.
I placed the wood in my fish tank over a month ago. Even though I tried to boil the heck out of it, it continues to leach tannins. It doesn't make the water black, but with PWC, I can easily see the color of the water when it gets emptied into a white bucket.
Other wise, the single biggest issue I've been having with it is alge eaters. I started with a group of alge eating shrimp. They were basically eating the drift wood. But what was so bad about that was that the tiny little wood pieces (at first I though it was little shrimp poop) litter the bottom of my white sand bottom tank making it look trashy. So I evicted the shrimp and replaced them with a nerite snail. The snail is just as bad as the shrimp.
So my advice if you are going to use this wood in your tank, either use a dark color substraite, or don't expect to have alge eaters.
On the other hand, for my other tank I recently aquired a piece of the mopani wood. The stuff is really cheap at the lfs that carry it. As an example, I know 'Pets America' carry the stuff (7-8" can be like $10, 12" around $12-14, and 18" around $20). By constrast, the drift wood I see offered at 'Pet Supplys Plus' is very expensive... but then again it's not the mopani, and it looks like it's been well treated.
The mopani just needs a single boil to ensure nothing is still alive on it, it sinks pretty much without boiling/treating it (part of the reason I think it's so cheap) and it does NOT quickly leach tanins into the tank.
So unless you don't mind the short commings I've listed for the type of wood you've got, I'd suggest throwing it away and get some of the cheaper wood.
