Decorations?

[Acrus]

Hello all!
I want to aquascape my tank, so it looks nice and cozy for my little buddies. I was in to the LFS yesterday, and looked at a bunch of dense heavy wood. I know it's ok for tanks, (otherwise they wouldn't sell it) but my question is, does it affect the tank. I.E. PH wise, coloration of water, does it rot in the water???

I've only ever used those fabric plant decorations and a bunch of Petrified Wood (from a very nicely located rock pit in my area, free is always the best price ) any help would be great!

~ thanks

 

[tstenback]

Some wood does tint the water with tannins. It gives the water a yellowish/brown look which can make the right type of tank look really good but most people dont like it. You can remove most/some of the tannins by soaking the wood in water until the tannins are removed or by boiling the wood this can take weeks of soaking and waiting. Other wood does not tint the water at all. I believe mopani does not tint the water. HTH

 

[Acrus]

So other then Tannins in the water, there aren't any other side effects? I was just worried that some fish couldn't handle having it in the water.

~ thanks for the info!

 

[clutterydrawer]

i think it does lower the pH a little...

 

[impur]

The few times i've had driftwood in my tank, it started growing some wierd fungus under it and it grew into the gravel as well. Took me a month to get the gravel completely clean.

 

[ger87410]

I think drift wood decreases the buffering level. Not sure.

 

[Aquascaper]

I picked all my wood from a lakeside and boiled it. It's been in water for just over two weeks and is still a little boyant
My wood did tint the water with tannin but nobody in the tank seemed to mind and with regular water changes it doesn't make much difference to the look of the tank.
I too have white mucus on my gravel but my plecs seem to like it and hoover it up as soon as it develops.
If you have trouble getting the wood to sink a little tip (picked up off this forum ) is to attach the wood to a stone with silicone sealant. Make sure to let the sealant go 'off' before putting it into the water and choose a stone that is big enough to weigh the wood down but small enough to hide under your substrate.
Have a look at my tank below and you'll notice a lump in the left-hand corner, that hides a rather big stone which the wood 'tower' is attached (i'm sure it's brown polystyrene )

Hope this helps

 

[Bol]

re: water chemistry,

"Tannins" contain tannic acid. As you might guess, the addition of these acids will lower the pH of your water, possibly significantly.

 

[ladynaoko]

wood will lower the pH - before adding wood my pH was 7, after adding its dropped (and stayed at) 6.8

 

[Aquascaper]

My tank is pH 7 and always has been. I think most of the tannin leached out when I was boiling the wood and soaking it as my water has been pretty clear since the first water change.

 

[nmarc3627]

i added a piece of manzanita wood to my tank, and it turned it all murky and brown. it did not effect the ph but it didnt do any good either

 

[Acrus]

Great info, thanks!

So basically the wood may or may not develope some fungus, which shouldn't affect my little buddies. And there may be a PH drop, but not a significant amount, and the best way to avoid this is to boil the tannins out.

 

[CFC]

I have around 60 kilos of bogwood spread between my tanks and have never had it affect the pH of the water or cause any other problems, unless your water is already quite soft and has a low pH then it is almost impossible to alter the water permamently without using chemicals to break the natural buffers. The white fuzz that sometimes appears on new wood is actually a bacteria which is harmless and will disapear after a couple of weeks at most. Large pieces can release a lot of tannins which will turn the water tea coloured which causes no ill affects but many people find the look unappealing, personally i preffer it and add new pieces regularly and use peat filtration to keep the water coloured but if you dont like it then pre soaking the wood for a few days will remove a lot of them.

 

[Aquascaper]

........and just a quick note: Plecs seem to like eating the white fuzz

 

[impur]

The white fuzz that sometimes appears on new wood is actually a bacteria which is harmless and will disapear after a couple of weeks at most.

It started growing on my wood after about a year. It wasn't really fuzz though, it was more like roots leading to the fuzz. It started growing in my substrate also, was a major pain to get out. Had to deep gravel vacuum twice a week for a month to get it mostly out. I donno what it was, nasty looking stuff though. I got my wood from a local creek and boiled it for over an hour. It soaked for a month in a bucket then scrubed it, boiled again. You just never know