How to Make a Manzanita Driftwood Centerpiece

[Complexity]

Thanks, Bee! The plants are a real mess in there right now, but at least they're planted so I won't lose them during this transition. I had thought I would have been further along in this process by now, but everything's taking me longer than I expected. So I had to plant all the plants in this tank when half of them are supposed to go in my 75g. Some of the plants in there aren't even planted. They're still bunched up and held down with weights.

[tbui1178]

Nice, im going to try to use this on my new tank setup.

[Totenkampf]

cool thread! i have been looking for a particular branchy piece and this motivates me to just make it. i was originally thinking of hot gluing wood straight to the eggcrate so that i dont have an anaerobic zone underneath but i guess that would only work if the wood wasnt too bouyant or i placed some smaller rocks on top. good idea to use hot glue as more of shim to get your final angles than an adhesive. +1 to hot glue being far superior to silicon, i have used it for years in terrariums.

is all wood filler aquarium safe? i have never looked into using that. i have found another trick for supporting screws into the ends of damaged or soft woods. first thread the screw into the hole and then carefully remove. then use a thin type superglue to coat the threads, it will absorb down into the wood threads and make them super strong. after it is fully cured it should be aquarium safe. at least i have used it in paludariums around frogs with no issues and they are pretty sensitive, so I would love to know if I am incorrect about this.

lol, even your "just to keep them alive" planted arrangements are very pleasing.

[Complexity]

You could drill through the base of the wood sideways and then use zipties to secure it to eggcrate. You'd probably have to punch two holes perpendicular to each other in order to stabilize the branch. This would require some pretty fat branches or you'd end up drilling the base so much that it just breaks off.

But, in all honesty, how often do you dredge up a slate based centerpiece? For me, it's not very often. So on those rare occasions, I'll just add iron to my tank before and do a water change after (which will be needed anyway given the amount of crud that gets thrown into the water column when pulling these things back up).

Good point on the wood filler comment. I hadn't meant wood filler per se. My mind was thinking of anything people like to use for these purposes. My personal favorite is JB Weld. It would fill in anything you need, is completely aquarium safe (once cured), extremely strong, glues just about anything to anything (even PVC), readily fills in gaps, but can be drilled. I'm using it right now to mend a split piece of wood on my second centerpiece (it was split before I used it).

The main reason I would not want to use superglue on the screw threads is because I want to be able to take the centerpiece apart and reuse the pieces. That's what I did with my original centerpiece. I reused the slate base, and I'm going to break up the wood into smaller pieces since it's decayed too much for long branches. Then I can put anubias on them or use them in my nano tanks.

[Totenkampf]

i have used jb weld for rocks, it is great stuff. i had forgotten that it is drillable / tapable.

when i superglue wood screw threads, the idea is too let the glue cure first then reinstall the screw. all this does is harden the threads, you can still take it apart later. its an old woodworking trick for times when you are forced to put fasteners into end grain or for when you strip out threads on something that you need to reassemble. also used on guitar fretboards.

i will probably end up using tile, the eggcrate idea doesnt seem as stable

[Complexity]

I like your super glue trick. I can see how that would come in handy, especially with some of the thinner branches. I'll give it a try next time.

Something else to keep in mind with the slate. One of the reasons I think I got anaerobic bacteria is because I did not have an egg crate at the bottom of my tank so I had to do something to protect the tank bottom from the slate and screws. My idea at the time was to use zipties to fasten a couple filter floss pads underneath the slate. That's where I think the anaerobic bacteria settled in.

However, if all you're using is the slate (like I'm doing now), you can put it at the very bottom, below your substrate. Then the plants can grow roots into the substrate over the slate just as it does everywhere else in the tank. The roots should help prevent anaerobic bacteria from forming.

[Totenkampf]

However, if all you're using is the slate (like I'm doing now), you can put it at the very bottom, below your substrate. Then the plants can grow roots into the substrate over the slate just as it does everywhere else in the tank. The roots should help prevent anaerobic bacteria from forming.

I fastened some cypress knees to a large piece of slate slab once, since that stuff is super bouyant. i cut small rings out of 1" PVC pipe that were maybe a half inch thick and glued them to the glass and then put the slate on top. i was thinking the very same thing that you suggest about plant roots. im not sure how many plants actually root that deeply, but you could see roots along the bottom glass when you looked from underneath. i think that they were from crypts. i checked for signs of anaerobic activity (blackening of the gravel) but it stayed pretty clear. if the tile is sitting on eggcrate which has a square pattern and evenly thick horizantal and vertical slats, wouldnt there still be pockets formed in the grate and places where roots are effectively boxed out or do you use a type or eggcrate that has different sized slats going in one direction?

[Complexity]

if the tile is sitting on eggcrate which has a square pattern and evenly thick horizantal and vertical slats, wouldnt there still be pockets formed in the grate and places where roots are effectively boxed out or do you use a type or eggcrate that has different sized slats going in one direction?

Nope, I have the regular eggcrate so it would indeed create pockets of anaerobic bacteria like you said. That's why I would dose iron in the tank before pulling it out.

[Totenkampf]

i didnt know that about the iron, what level did you find was safe? very good thread indeed...

[Complexity]

I dosed what I used to dose for my plants. My chart had 1 tsp for 12 oz water to equal twelve 1oz doses. So that means that 1/12 tsp of iron was basically one dose. I didn't have a 1/12 tsp measuring spoon so I just grabbed a 1/8 tsp. I dissolved the iron in water and put it in the tank. Fish, inverts, and snails are all doing fine (with no plants in the tank to use the iron) so that was clearly a safe amount.

So 1/8 tsp chelated iron for 75g appears to be safe. That would be a 50% or .5x overdose.

I knew I could overdose the iron because I did it once before by accident. I had screwed up the dosing so bad that the iron overdose actually turned the water brownish colored. It was the color that made me realize I had messed up. I can't remember now how much I put in, but it was a massive overdose. It didn't harm anything. I just did a water change.

I wouldn't suggest overdosing iron all the time, but doing it once every few years for a special purpose, followed with a large water change, doesn't appear to be harmful.

[RonR.]

Great write-up with pics! Looks really great in your tank.