Driftwood question

[ciaobella7122]

Hi all. I have a heavily planted tank and today I took out my fake driftwood and put in three really nice pieces of real that I got from Petco. My question is how long does real driftwood take to break down as I am assuming it does? Just wondering though sure it will take some time seeing as I just put it in there today. Does it depend on the type of wood? I'll take pics tomorrow I have no idea what I bought lol

 

[spunjin]

I'm not sure how long it takes to deteriorate but if you have plecos they will sand it down since they like to "chew" on wood. If the wood you bought is light on the surface and has dark knots and an underside it is most likely Mopani. If it is skinny and has round knots and bumps and slight twists it is probably grapevine wood.

 

[DAVIDFBT]

If you can sink your fingernail in it, it will rot in under a year. If you cannot sink your nail in it, it will last you 10+ years.

 

[ciaobella7122]

I'm not sure what kind it is but it's pretty dark and doesn't have any lightness to it. It's very hard and I think my fingernail would break before it does lol. I'll have to update after I rescape I am so excited with how ncie and big it is!

 

[NickD]

The stuff I've seen at my Petco, in their tanks, looks like Malaysian driftwood. But I haven't seen a sign that actually says that. I have Malaysian and it looks like the stuff at Petco.

If yours is Malaysian it should last years. You could post a picture here of your wood for identification.

 

[Dan06]

My local Petco only carries Mopani for aquariums.

 

[ciaobella7122]

They had two I got the ultra dark one and it looks really nice now that I scaped today though I did buy too much but for that price I couldn't help myself. Tomorrow I'll take some pics and put em up!

 

[Mindcrime121]

Looking forward to the pics, and please let us know the price they sold it for as well. I'm going to be getting some new wood for my tank shortly I think and am looking for the best price. I have to drive 45 minutes to Chico to find a pet store and am hoping to find one that sells mopani at a decent price. My past experience has been that it's pretty pricey in locally owned fish stores so a chain store might be a better place to look for it. Make sure you avoid grape wood for future knowlege as it will develop a white fungus much like what fish get and rot very fast in your tank.