D.I.Y. project

[mainuh]

o.k. here to pick the collective mind of a.c. lol in my tank i have used rocks and gravel straight from the river bottom and It looks great except for one thing the pickup tube and the two air bubble lines stick out like sore thmbs , so i was thinking if I got some ceder fence post ,split them in half length ways then cut them into segments the exact hight of my tank . router a groove in the flat side . then standing them up inside the tank to hide them could attach down through the plastic hood Now my ? is how would this affect my water parametersif at all and i would make sure the pickup tube wasnt obstructed but hidden any help would be greatly app.

[FindingBlemo]

As long as the wood isn't stained, you might wanna dip them in a bucket and leave them in there for a few days and test the water before and after for pH.

[mainuh]

makes good sense to bucket test first thanks

[Rbishop]

I personally wouldn't use cedar....

[SubRosa]

A better choice might be cork. You can buy it by weight at places that specialize in reptiles. It's easy to find pieces that are curled into a tube-like shape. Conifers like cedar and pine contain lots of terpenes which I wouldn't put in my tank. Or you could get a piece of suitably shaped oak from a lumberyard or a woodworking supply house.

[mainuh]

i have access to oak you think its a better choice , makes sense though lots of pitch in soft wood

[SubRosa]

Oak will do no more than slightly discolor your water and drop your pH.

[mainuh]

Well now that you bring up water clarity and ph . I just recently went to the local wet pet store and could find no crushed coral,? they told me to use a half teaspoon of baking soda to bring up ph from 6.5 to about 7.0 fish didnt seem to mind but suddenly my water got cloudy and even after a waterchange and vacuuming stll looks somewhat cloudy my ph is holding steady at 7.0 any advice ive added some water clarifier with limited success what should i do next ?????? any help would be awesome