A Few Quick Questions...

[ICEEGRL]

I have sand ( crushed shells) in the 10g. I had aquarium salt in it. I changing it to marine salt. I didn't know there was a difference. I am trying to get brackish for mollies. should I add some gravel to the sand to cut down on gasses? will plants do better in sand or sand/gravel mix?

I bought some malaysian driftwood. I have been boiling it for about an hour now. How long do I boil? Do I keep on till water stops turning brown? After boiling how long do I need to soak it before putting it in the tank? I am putting java ferns on it.

When you have pure laterite as first layer... When you add more plants or move plants how do you do it with the least amount of mess? I have this in the 29g under small gravel. I will have to move the plants when I add the wood. I hope to have more plants to add by then too. I need to know how to do this so I don't make a huge red mess of the water.

Thanks alot

 

[ICEEGRL]

Anyone?

 

[khenghock]

Hi,

I'm going to try to answer as best as I can.

How thick is your layer of sand? I understand that anearobic(spelling >.<) gases only develop in deep sand beds. Say, more than an inch? I am not sure about this though.

As for the driftwood, I've read in this forum that some people, even after much boiling and soaking, their driftwood still tan the water for months after introduction; even up to a year. As for myself, I only soaked mine for a day (it's too huge to boil lol), and it's still constantly tanning the water today. It has been a few months already. I guess how long you soak is up to you, as you've already boiled it - kill off unwanted stuff.

Sorry for those are the stuff I only know lol.

 

[dogfood]

I bought some malaysian driftwood. I have been boiling it for about an hour now. How long do I boil? Do I keep on till water stops turning brown? After boiling how long do I need to soak it before putting it in the tank? I am putting java ferns on it.

I'll answer this one because I have firsthand experience with it. You don't really need to boil Malaysian DW for very long. I boiled mine twice and each time it's only for about 10 minutes at boiling point. After that I soak in cold dechlorinated water for about 10 minutes then put straight into the tank. The DW will continue to leach tannins into the aquarium over the months but it's does not harm. It may make the water slightly more acidic though which really isn't a problem for fish that can live in a wide range of pH levels which includes most tropical aquarium fish.

 

[erk628]

From what I have read on this forum about wood is soak it until it gets water log (sinks). This can take up to a month. When you first put it in it will float but should sink sooner or later. With the boiling an hour i splenty, your just killing anything that was on it. Not sure about the whole plant thing. I changed from gravel to sand about a month ago. The way that I did it was I left a small thin layer of gravel then about 2 inchs of sand. The reason for the gravel is to have something for the plants to root on. With the wood if you don't want t wait that long just tie it down or something.

 

[ICEEGRL]

I ended up boiling for 3 hours waiting for a response. Then I put it in to soak. It sank. It was very heavy when I got it. My question now is it is chipping around the edges. Did I mess it up by cooking too long? It is still putting out alot of dark brown. I can change the water and 2 hours later it looks like strong coffee. Is that normal?
Thank you for the responses.

 

[dogfood]

Malaysian DW usually sinks without the need to soak or boil.