Varnishing Bogwood

[hoarp001]

Hi,

Im getting fedup of all this boiling and soaking of my bogwood to stop it turning my tank p!$$ colour, and I read on the net that you can paint it in Polyurethane varnish which locks in the tannins.

Will this do? Or do I need aquatic grade varnish?

Thanks,

Pete.

 

[Chri$]

Don't know whether that would be safe to use or not - i'm guessing not.

You would need a special one suitable for use in fish tanks - if one exists.

 

[hoarp001]

thats what i thought but i read on some american site about it and it told me to 'go to you local hardware store and get some Polyurethane varnish paint' but im not sure i would trust it...

 

[Scotty87]

I'd rather boil/soak a piece of bogwood than risk using any varnish solutions.

 

[hoarp001]

Yeah ive boiled themfor about 20mins and they have been soaking for a good 48hours . every 10 hours or so I change the water and every time the water is less yellow than it was before so it seems to be working, i was just trying to see if there was an alternative...

 

[Scotty87]

Yeah ive boiled themfor about 20mins and they have been soaking for a good 48hours . every 10 hours or so I change the water and every time the water is less yellow than it was before so it seems to be working, i was just trying to see if there was an alternative...

Yea I suppose it could get quite tedious Though i'm sure you'd rather be safe than sorry!

 

[hoarp001]

Yeah i suppose. I have just poured lots of hot water into the bucket and after about ten mins the wood leeched out enough to make it go faint yellow, but every time I do it it release less and less colouring. When i get back from work I will put it in cold water and see how it does.

 

[big mick]

Boiling it makes it worse as it softens the wood, why not find a website that sells pre soaked bogwood?

 

[rob newland]

Thing is I have heard that if you keep fish that would eat or rasp at wood, varnish can kill them. I would take that in mind.

 

[Phoenixfish]

Thing is I have heard that if you keep fish that would eat or rasp at wood, varnish can kill them. I would take that in mind.

ive heard of this treatment for things like bogwood and bamboo, and i think itss too hard for plecs to rasp but then again that would defeat the object as plecos need to rasp at bogwood

 

[cdelly]

i don't bother soaking or boiling, i give the bogwood a really good wash and scrub

the wood is then added to tank and using carbon seems to keep the yellowing to a minimum

 

[MHunt]

I didn't soak boil or scrub my bogwood for my tank. Yes the water has a slightly yellow tinge when viewed from some angles, but my fish really seem to be thriving in these conditions.

I can't put their good health down to just the bogwood, but if not beneficial, it isn't detrimental to their health either.

If you want sealed bogwood, get a fake one!!!!!

 

[hoarp001]

ive got two of the large bags of carbon in one of the filters, and i can only assume it was working. I did have 6 smallish chunks in the tank and it was only abit yellow. I ahve boiled soaked and scrubed for days now and must have produced about 10 8gallon bucket loads of pee coloured water.

One question: Does the wood reproduce this acid, or once it runs out, is that it?

 

[MHunt]

I would think it would just run out. It gets it's acidity and colour by years soaked in peat so soaking in fresh water just washes all that out.

 

[hoarp001]

i hope that dosnt mean il have to do years of soaking then!

The lumps have been soaking in hot water for about three hours now (this is about their 5th hot water soaking and its been boiled for 20mins twice) and the bucket water looks fairly dark and murky. Not yellow but sort of blackish greyish. I sucked some up in a syringe to look at and it looks pretty clear... maybe Il risk putting it back in the tank in abit hten.. .