Fake wood vs. Real wood?

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asincero

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Jan 16, 2006
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Are there any pros and cons to using fake (plastic) driftwood that you can find in stores like Pets Mart as opposed to using real driftwood that you can usually find in dedicated pet fish stores?
 

YuccaPatrol

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Oct 17, 2004
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Real wood looks much better since it is a natural material. It can help keep pH lower, and some of my pleco species need real wood to munch on.

There is some likelihood that real wood can also harbor actual de-nitrifying bacteria in an anaerobic zone deep inside the wood. These would be bacteria that actually convert nitrates into atmospheric nitrogen, actually removing nitrogenous wastes from the tank.

It is also fun to go hunting for driftwood out in nature too.

But wood does require more work since we often collect it ourselves and have to boil it to kill any weird stuff that might be living on it. It can also take some time to fully sink, and it can stain the water yellow due to leaching of tannins.

I also use the wood as a substrate for growing Java Fern and Anubias. I don't know if the roots would cling onto plastic quite so well.

Fake wood just looks too fake to me. I work hard to create a natural environment for my fish, so I just can't see ruining that by adding fake stuff. However, it would be guaranteed clean, easy to sink, and easy to clean. It would never rot. So I guess there are good things about it.
 

TDWagner

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Jan 11, 2006
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YuccaPatrol said:
It is also fun to go hunting for driftwood out in nature too.
But wood does require more work since we often collect it ourselves and have to boil it to kill any weird stuff that might be living on it.
This is an important point. Be super careful when collecting something from nature and putting it in your tank.

I bought real Malaysian Driftwood off the internet since I have no way to boil a piece that was as big as I wanted.

This is where I shopped, but there are other places as well:
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/11370/cid/2928
 

JoeRags3

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Jan 11, 2006
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TDWagner said:
This is an important point. Be super careful when collecting something from nature and putting it in your tank.

I bought real Malaysian Driftwood off the internet since I have no way to boil a piece that was as big as I wanted.

This is where I shopped, but there are other places as well:
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/11370/cid/2928
I remember when I had Iguanas I used my bathtub to sterilize natural wood, 1:10 part bleach to water, let it dry out in the sun, then stuck it in the oven to bake I forget for how long tho... I would be careful when putting any heat around wood though.
 

Rosemary

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Mar 21, 2005
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I have found that some of my resin ornaments had their paint chip off when I scrubbed them (with an algae scrubber that was supposed to be safe for acrylic aquariums).

In future I will be sticking to natural materials which I expect would age more gracefully.
 
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