Educate this dummy about driftwood please!

[daisymac]

So many questions! I want to get a BN pleco, and know I need some driftwood. Now here are the ?'s

What kind do I get - I know someone told me, but I don't remember - was it soft or hard?

Name the type of wood specifically, please.

In a 48" 55g tank how large does it need to be?

Where can I get it? Or where should I get it?

Do I need moss or something to put on it?

I treat it by soaking, or can I buy it pre-treated?

I looked at ebay and got even more confused, so please give me a clue.

Daisy

[jtfields]

Re: Educate this dummy about driftwood please!

The biggest problems you will have with driftwood will be that it leaches tannins into the water that tint it brown and lower the PH.  The amount of tannins, hence how brown the water will get and how much the PH might be affected, will depend on the wood.  Eventually it will stop leaching tannins and with regular water changes your water will become clear again.  Some people like the tint that driftwood gives the water (I'm sure you've seen some display tanks with driftwood at a LFS.)

I've heard that if you boil the wood it will get rid of the tannins.  I've never tried it though.  

Also, most driftwood I've seen floats until it is completely waterlogged so you will either need to soak it ahead of time or weigh it down.

I have a piece of driftwood that I placed in a trash bucket full of water.  I did very regular (every couple of days) full water changes for quite awhile and now I do not-so-regular water changes (in dire need of a one right now.)  It took months before it stopped trying to float and a year before it stopped tinting the water.  It's a large piece though.

[Smokin_Cache]

Re: Educate this dummy about driftwood please!

Boiling works, but I read that this breaks the wood down and causes it to start decomposing sooner/faster and might/has caused nitrate problems.

I have never started with a fresh piece so I can't be allot of help. Just thought I would share that research with you.

[szidlon]

Re: Educate this dummy about driftwood please!

Daisy, you can buy, I think it's African Root, and one or two other varieties of driftwood that are self sinking and don't need to be soaked.  They will leach tannins as previously stated but eventually stop.  Except for the change in PH tannins aren't harmful to the fish, at least it's never hurt any of mine.  You can also find some nice pieces that are not self sinking that are mounted onto pieces of slate that will stay down on their own also, these may or may not leach tannins.  I've tried the boiling and soaking techniques but eventually gave up and weighted them down with a rock until they stayed down by themselves.  Now I stick to the self sinking as the slight tanning discoloration doesn't bother me near as much as a piece of wood that won't stay down or that's mounted to a light colored piece of slate that keeps getting exposed by the fishies (I have black sand and that looks just plain tacky)  BN's do appreciate soft wood to nibble on but you see them all over the place in bare bottom tanks as well.  I like to spoil my fish, so they have wood.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Educate this dummy about driftwood please!

i usually just buy malaysian driftwood as it sinks when you first put it in, another option i think is mopani african rootwood which has the light colored top and darker underneath. i got my malaysian driftwood from village tropical and last i saw the fish r us in conroe had some nice pieces.

every single piece of driftwood i had i boiled in a giant crab boiling pot for the majority of a day and afterwards had no problems with tannins or very little that it wasnt noticeable. if you look up my zebra pleco thread it will show that i had two giant pieces of malaysian driftwood that would probably would have  turned my water super brown due to the size compared to the tank but i boiled them and never noticed the tint. also boiling imo, gets rid of whatever hitchhiker you might pick up with the wood.

i think size is a personal choice or might depend on how many bn you plan to have. i had four abn in my planted tank and they were never seen anywhere near the dw and mostly out in the open waiting for algae wafers.

something to take into consideration about having driftwood for you plecos though, sometimes there will be a display of dominance and one will claim the dw as his/hers so having one piece for say 10 might not work too well. with my zebras they dont really eat the wood but one of them likes to chill underneath it and has claimed it as his/hers.

putting moss on it is up to you if you want moss on it. i got rid of most of my java moss cause it wasnt as appealing and grew all over the place. i have replaced it with fisseden and hopefully some flame moss soon.


oh, eta...the two giant pieces of mdw i had in my pleco tank i sold to ramius for a good deal but i didnt see them in his tank in the updated pictures so you might check with him and see if he is selling them.

[Mzungu]

Re: Educate this dummy about driftwood please!

Well, I hope I don't repeat anything that was said, all of you pretty much covered everything! But I like the fact that all of us are local and can share experiences, so I'll just add mine here.  :)  

My favorite is the African root driftwood, I really like the color combinations, and the twists and turns of the wood. You can get a great variety of shapes, and being a root, a lot of the pieces can be placed in such a way to provide a little hidey hole or cave-like place for fish, very similar to the artificial piece you have that the clown loaches love so much! Also, it always sinks. The only wood I have ever soaked before putting it in a tank is some I found in Florida, and that was because it wouldn't sink! I've just never had a problem with the tannins and such in the wood, and a lot of the fish I keep would prefer a lower pH and softer water.

Malaysian driftwood is indespensible, IMO. It's a great all around dw, and like szidlon said, a lot that don't initially sink have slate attached to the bottom for a base.

As far as I know, pretty much every LFS around here has some dirftwood. Off the top of my head, I know that Village usually has a huge selection.

Like eklikewhoa said, the size and whether or not you have moss or anything else attached is a matter of personal preference.  And as for your question about what kind to get (soft or hard), I'm not sure. African Root seems to be pretty dense, so it may not be the softest choice, but I really don't know.

Keep asking questions if you have any! I realize the last post on this thread was Friday, so did you do any shopping over the weekend?

[PhishPhreek]

Re: Educate this dummy about driftwood please!

One thing I would like to add.

The softer local driftwood gets smaller ever year.  
The fish nibble on it, the snails chew on it and
it slowly decays.

The hard woods cost a little more, but they seem to last forever.

[daisymac]

Re: Educate this dummy about driftwood please!

Thanks for all the info. I haven't been able to go scouting for any DW this weekend - I stubbed my toe really bad and couldn't walk! DUH!

Now PhishPhreek, or anyone else, which are the soft woods and which are not?

I'm thinking that I should go with the Malaysian, but I just want to be armed with info before I go to a LFS and place my trust in someone that may or may not know anything.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Educate this dummy about driftwood please!

malaysian or african root wood stay pretty stiff after being in the water. the soft stuff is probably ordinary wood you find laying around these parts.

[Ramius]

Re: Educate this dummy about driftwood please!

Actually that driftwood is working its way back into the tank, when I got it there was just a sliight bit of brown coming out of it, and I had 0 experience with driftwood before so I didn't know what the heck it was and assumed it was something bad... I took the pieces to work and boiled them for a week in a vat up at work.

Of course.. now that I have learned it doesn't hurt anything  I kinda wish I hadn't =)

I don't know if I will have a spot for the smaller piece just yet though.. if I can't find a place for it in the tank then I'd be willing to part with it. If I can possibly help it though I'd like to see it back in there.. they are extremely nice pieces I'm not going to lie I really love them both.

[daisymac]

Re: Educate this dummy about driftwood please!

Ramius - I still haven't gotten a piece of driftwood, so if you decide to part with it let me know. Can you estimate the size of it?

Thanks
Daisy

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Educate this dummy about driftwood please!

if its the same pieces i sold to ramius then those were the pieces that were in my zebra pleco tank. i have pictures of it in a 20long in my zebra thread.