Driftwood advice - where/how to place it

J

JPA

AC Members
Dec 14, 2009
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I am just starting a 40g tank (got first fish today) and I am planning on use driftwood and live plants. I am going to take my time with the plants, so I wanted to start with driftwood and build around it. I found a cheap piece of Mopani driftwood in petco and am about to put it in my tank.

I'm not exactly in love with the shape of the wood (like I said, it was cheap). I can't seem to decide how it will look best in the tank - standing on its side, lying flat, light side vs black side etc.

I was hoping I could get some opinions from people on which position looks the most natural and would be the most interesting for the fish to swim around. I really want this tank to look natural, and since this is the first thing i'm putting in the tank I feel like some input would help

Pictures should be below (of front and back of piece + tank). The wood is about a foot long. Thanks for any ideas/opinions/comments!!

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I'd say stand it up, really though it is whatever you like

I'd play with it in the tank and figure out which you like best.

Just try to picture what plants and so you have a better idea as to where to place it

Good luck!
 
Post a few pics with it in different positions..might help us realize the size of it in relation to the tank.
 
Depends on type of plants and what fish you plan on having.

But I'd probably take the 2nd pic and turn it so the 2 points are sticking up and then put it to the left or right side about a 1/3 rd of the way over from the side.
 
get more wood
 
I agree with the "more wood" suggestion. I recently set up a 58 gallon planted tank with three pieces of nice, interesting mopani wood (plus two driftwood "limbs" that are attached to slate and stick up in the air). It definitely gives the tank a very realistic look and good variation. My initial mistake, though, was placing the driftwood too close to the front of the tank, which left too little open real estate in the front. The part of the tank behind the wood is extremely dense and heavily planted with swords and other big plants. I eventually pushed the driftwood back so that it's 1/3 in front and 2/3 of the tank in back of the driftwood. I also leaned the driftwood against each other and sort of ontop of each other to create spaces underneath the driftwood, which my cories and BN plecos greatly enjoy. And, finally, I used Crazy glue to attach anubias and java fern in places on the driftwood, which I also highly recommend.

good luck!
 
I agree with the more wood part. At first I bought only 1 piece and then decided to get 3 more. It took me a little bit of playing around but I got it to stack nicely to leave some little cave like tunnels :). The fish love it

Just mess with it a bit and get it to where you want it :)
 
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