Adding Bogwood?

[pcam86]

Hi, I just bought some bogwood because i have a clown pleco so it needs to eat wood. I was just wondering if i NEED to leave the bogwood to soak for days before i add it to my community tank or if it doesn't matter?

 

[Bloo]

No it doesn't Just give it a good rinse and a scrub (with a brush that's NOT used to clean the dishes ) and away you go!
Just be prepared for discoloured water. This however does not affect your fish and will go away over time.

 

[BzztYeow]

Boiling the wood can help with the color problem. Boil it for about ten minutes- remove the water- rinse and repeat about 4 times.

It will ruin the pot you use unless you are prepared to scrub the HELL out of it. No teflon coatings is my advice here- use a straight metal pot.

 

[Bloo]

Yeah, I've used plain stainless steel pots in the past though it's never stained any of them. Boiling or long term soaking does somewhat help to reduce discolouration in the main tank, but sometimes the wood is just way too large to fit into any normal pot (unless I'd go industrial size )

 

[pcam86]

ok well i rinsed it in warm water for like 15 mins and added it to my tank but it still hasn't made ANY colour change at all yet. Should the water change colour very quickly or what?

 

[Bloo]

Almost certainly by tomorrow you'll see a change - and over a week your water will turn light brown (that's of you do not do any water changes in the week). 15 minutes is far too soon to notice a difference.

 

[FishLuvr]

This procedure has never failed me, what i do instead of boiling i have a 5 gallon bucket that i use

1 run the hot water in your tub till it gets the hottest that it can get and fill the bucket, drop in the bogwood and let it soak over night, in the morning when you wake up, pour out the cooled off water and do the same thing over again, go to work or school or whatever, when you come home scrub the bogwood in the water you have it in, pour it out and rinse the bogwood off.

Takes me one day, from start to finish and i have never had any tannen released, no discoloration at all.

 

[Jo and Gra]

my new bogwood is currently soaking in a bucket......

water turned brown over night......

i changed water.......

it turned lighter brown over that night......

so how long it take to stop discolouring the water??

anything else i need to do?

keep on water changing in the bucket?

 

[Bloo]

Sometimes weeks. Sometimes months. Just depends on the wood. If you're bothered by the discolouration, try boiling it or if you don't have a pot big enough, soak it in hot water.

 

[Jo and Gra]

just wait and see then......

so the only reason to soak...........is to stp the colouring??

no reason for fish welfare etc?

 

[CFC]

Most fish actually enjoy the slightly brown tinted water as it mimics their natural habitat more closely, its only vain humans that dont like dirty looking water.

 

[Jo and Gra]

so soak until water is clear then i guess!

 

[Bloo]

that really might take forever and a day ! If you're really fussed about the brown colouring, just soak it for 2 weeks in hot water and put it in the tank. With water changes it will dissipate.
Otherwise, buy a "used" piece on eBay.

 

[TonyGill_home]

Ive had nothing but problems when it comes to putting bogwood in the water and colour staining. I literaly have had the wood in warm water for about 2 months now, both in and out of the tank. Ive got it in a bucket at the moment outside, and noticed after 1 day in hot water, that there was a few transparent, worm shaped skins, but im thinking that it might be a fungus of some sort. I have also lost a few fish recently, due to unexplained deaths.

 

[Fiori]

I soaked by big pieces of bogwood in the bath - they were in....out...in....out etc. but it worked a treat