driftwood and cichlids
- Thread starter Gretchen
- Start date
Gretchen said:
It depends on your water now. I have pretty hard water so the driftwood help soften the water a bit and lower my ph to where it needed to be.
IMO boiling the driftwood would be the way to go instead of bleach. Especialy if you didn't dilute the bleach quite a bit.
A PH from 7.0-7.5 will do fine for your severums. Plus it depends on the water conditions they come from.
Collecting driftwood from a local stream/brook is more trouble than it's worth, IMO. The chance of bringing in pathogens, molds, pests, etc.... is very high. Even after boiling, bleaching (I personally wouldn't do that), it's likely that there is still fungus, mold, left over bleach, etc.... still inside the wood.
I would just spring the $10-25 for a quality piece of malaysian driftwood from the LFS. It sinks right away, softens water, lowers ph, and will even tan your water if you want it to (just add carbon to your filter if you don't want it to, and it will also come out with water changes).
HTH,
Serg
I would just spring the $10-25 for a quality piece of malaysian driftwood from the LFS. It sinks right away, softens water, lowers ph, and will even tan your water if you want it to (just add carbon to your filter if you don't want it to, and it will also come out with water changes).
HTH,
Serg
I read about bleaching it in other post on here. After you bleach it you let it sit in water with a dechlorinator. I would just buy some, but I have not found any pieces that I like enough to spend $25-50 (these are small and I am looking for larger pieces-store here is over priced) I don't want to risk my fish's life. Is there anyway I can use the driftwood I found that would cut down on risk? Here is what I had planned to do:
1.) Wash off the wood to remove any dirt.
2.) Mix up water bleach solution--and let the wood soak in it for a day or so.
3.) Let the wood dry for a couple of days in the sun.
4.) Soak the wood in freshwater with a dechlorinator.
To get it to sink I was going to attach it to something like slate.
If you see any problems with my plan please let me know.
Thanks
1.) Wash off the wood to remove any dirt.
2.) Mix up water bleach solution--and let the wood soak in it for a day or so.
3.) Let the wood dry for a couple of days in the sun.
4.) Soak the wood in freshwater with a dechlorinator.
To get it to sink I was going to attach it to something like slate.
If you see any problems with my plan please let me know.
Thanks
I feel your pain. LFS driftwood is soooooo overpriced. I think your plan sounds like a good one. I had a microbiology prof that told my 10% bleach would kill anything (spores, fungus, bacteria). Did the wood get bleached (turn white) when you put it in the bleach water?
Check out these articles (first 3 on aquascaping page)
bogwood articles
Check out these articles (first 3 on aquascaping page)
bogwood articles
The worst thing i've gotten from river/beach wood is hydra, and thats cus i didnt boil/bleach it enough. And even then, hydra is not that bad. 
Ok I wasn't going to do this but I'm going to go out ont he limb one more time,.
please have a look at this first
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...turn N Extreme Makeover/ChangedAgain168kb.jpg
Every Piece of that Wood " All 14/15 pieces of it I went and found, Not one of them is a bought piece.
If I was you, i would take that out of the bleach right now and toss that bleach back int he laundry room, I NEVER, and will NEVER touch a piece of my wood with bleach, it;s way to risky getting that in your tank.
Ok, Now, I know I shouldn;t do this but, Only a few pieces of wood in the pics was soaked and/or boiled.
You will get what they call I tube worm on it "looks like fish poop" but allot of fish that will pick the gravle, algie ect, will just eat um without trouble.
Sometime you will get a white mold looking stuff on it, red tail sharks for one go crazy for that stuff I heard.
Now, if you have picked up wood like this as Long As I have, You can tell what you can get away with and not.
Allot of my wood I just leave in the back of my truck untell i am ready to do what ever with it and then bring them pieces int he house and leave set untell they get boiled "which is onces for me" or kepts in hot water ina bucket for a while, changing the water after it;s cold a few times a day.
Yes some of this wood does turn your tank color, This don;t bother me as w/cs ever week will take care of it unless it;s really bad, then up the water changes to a couple times a week.
Ive never lost a fish doing this, never got any bugs on the fish from this, and never had any fish problems at all because of this.
Unless you are 100% sure and know what you can get away with, don;t just go pick up any old wood and tos it in there, if I don't boil or soak it I rinse it really well with hot water "out of our tap it's Hot"
The last thing I do is figure where I want it to go and put suction cups on it to hold it in place.
Nothing to it.
This is what it looks like now, And I have 40 some fish in it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v... Return N Extreme Makeover/75Redone5-3-05.jpg
