Did you have any trouble with tannins or anything coloring the water? I'm not that into yellow water.
Prepping cork bark for aquarium
- Thread starter BioHazard
- Start date
Did you have any trouble with tannins or anything coloring the water? I'm not that into yellow water.
Not after boiling, there was less than I expected in the pot. Mellow did not boil his cork, I had asked.
I used slate floor tile from Lowe's
I used slate floor tile from Lowe's
mellowvision
Seafood Lover
I really enjoy working with cork. It's soft and forgiving, and has the best texture, both for looks, and for mounting plants and mosses. In my most recent tank, which used about 2 feet of 10" round cork, I only needed to use dowels in 2 places to attach plants, the rest are pressed into crevices, and have all rooted well. The color is really dramatic and nice at first, and still looks great when it ages, but it does change over time.
I've probably read the same info you guys have, that it's inert, that it doesn't breakdown or mold, that it's going to leech tannins... a lot of contradictory stuff. I've found that it does leach tannins, but not nearly as much as some driftwood I've used. It is not inert, it has an affect on the water, but I can not be sure what that effect is yet. In the short time I've been using it, I've noticed that there is a bit more particulate in the water my larger tank, than I am used to in previous tanks. It's not a problem, but anything loose on the bark will come off over time. I suspect this will eventually stop. It's not super noticable, but I have a fairly high flowing water column, so it doesn't settle. I am also not running any fine filtration in my canister, so that could be the cause as well.
I've had no problems what so ever, with my amanos or fish. I keep cherry barbs, harlequin rasbora, microrasbora kubotai, and translucent danios in cork environments, and I actually think they're the happiest I've seen them. The only potential problem I've seen so far is with crs shrimp. I've seen an almost complete die-off of CRS in both tanks, have lost a total of 35 over the last 3 months. Now, there are absolutely other factors that could be the culprit here, but my initial guess was that it was softening the water beyond their liking. Again, my 20 gallon is currently a disaster, water wise. I have the temp raised, with salt and meds, attempting to nip a possible ich outbreak in the bud. There is praactically no algae anywhere on anything in the tank... So my shrimp problems could be from any of those issues, all of which they are sensitive to. In my first cork tank, which is a 5.5, I also witnessed a slow drop off in shrimp population. This could be the bark, or could be the limited space and food supply, or the temperature, or ammonia. I have read that cork will produce an initial ammonia spike at first introduction, which I would agree is due to organics on the surface and in crevices breaking down. This seems to also be a great food source, for shrimp (amano and crs) and my cherry barbs, all who eat anything they can get their hands on. I have no witnessed an ammonia spike myself, but have started both tanks with plants from my other tanks, cycled media, and old gravel.
I should have a better idea in about 6 months, whether cork is suitable for CRS and other shrimp, as I see things level out, but for now, I'd say cork should be fine for a typical community tank, or se asian biotope. I doubt ciclids would do well.
Oh, and as far as fabrication goes... I siliconed the cork, dry, into my tanks. I don't think a small slate tile would be enough to hold down a large piece of cork, but smaller pieces should stay down. I'd highly recommend glueing it down if you can, you'll appreciate being able to work on/with it, it's pretty solid even when wet. I have seen no signs of it pulling apart or ungluing. Although I did not boil my cork, I simply used it dry after a rough brushing. I did though, run hot water through the tank at 90 degrees, for about 3 days, along with HEAVY doses of flocculant (the first day) and Prime for the next two, with about 4 water changes during that time. Then I planted it. I think this initial few days really helped clean the cork, even if it wasn't the most scientific approach.
another note, the smaller pieces I've seen seem to have more of a husky, shredded interior lining that is blackish, where the larger pieces are smooth and cork brown. I think the husk is wood that did not seperate or a layer that is between the bark and wood... I don't think it's ideal to leave it, if removal is possible... it seems like it would break down and cause problems.
hope this long winded post helps. Go for it, it's fun.
I've probably read the same info you guys have, that it's inert, that it doesn't breakdown or mold, that it's going to leech tannins... a lot of contradictory stuff. I've found that it does leach tannins, but not nearly as much as some driftwood I've used. It is not inert, it has an affect on the water, but I can not be sure what that effect is yet. In the short time I've been using it, I've noticed that there is a bit more particulate in the water my larger tank, than I am used to in previous tanks. It's not a problem, but anything loose on the bark will come off over time. I suspect this will eventually stop. It's not super noticable, but I have a fairly high flowing water column, so it doesn't settle. I am also not running any fine filtration in my canister, so that could be the cause as well.
I've had no problems what so ever, with my amanos or fish. I keep cherry barbs, harlequin rasbora, microrasbora kubotai, and translucent danios in cork environments, and I actually think they're the happiest I've seen them. The only potential problem I've seen so far is with crs shrimp. I've seen an almost complete die-off of CRS in both tanks, have lost a total of 35 over the last 3 months. Now, there are absolutely other factors that could be the culprit here, but my initial guess was that it was softening the water beyond their liking. Again, my 20 gallon is currently a disaster, water wise. I have the temp raised, with salt and meds, attempting to nip a possible ich outbreak in the bud. There is praactically no algae anywhere on anything in the tank... So my shrimp problems could be from any of those issues, all of which they are sensitive to. In my first cork tank, which is a 5.5, I also witnessed a slow drop off in shrimp population. This could be the bark, or could be the limited space and food supply, or the temperature, or ammonia. I have read that cork will produce an initial ammonia spike at first introduction, which I would agree is due to organics on the surface and in crevices breaking down. This seems to also be a great food source, for shrimp (amano and crs) and my cherry barbs, all who eat anything they can get their hands on. I have no witnessed an ammonia spike myself, but have started both tanks with plants from my other tanks, cycled media, and old gravel.
I should have a better idea in about 6 months, whether cork is suitable for CRS and other shrimp, as I see things level out, but for now, I'd say cork should be fine for a typical community tank, or se asian biotope. I doubt ciclids would do well.
Oh, and as far as fabrication goes... I siliconed the cork, dry, into my tanks. I don't think a small slate tile would be enough to hold down a large piece of cork, but smaller pieces should stay down. I'd highly recommend glueing it down if you can, you'll appreciate being able to work on/with it, it's pretty solid even when wet. I have seen no signs of it pulling apart or ungluing. Although I did not boil my cork, I simply used it dry after a rough brushing. I did though, run hot water through the tank at 90 degrees, for about 3 days, along with HEAVY doses of flocculant (the first day) and Prime for the next two, with about 4 water changes during that time. Then I planted it. I think this initial few days really helped clean the cork, even if it wasn't the most scientific approach.
another note, the smaller pieces I've seen seem to have more of a husky, shredded interior lining that is blackish, where the larger pieces are smooth and cork brown. I think the husk is wood that did not seperate or a layer that is between the bark and wood... I don't think it's ideal to leave it, if removal is possible... it seems like it would break down and cause problems.
hope this long winded post helps. Go for it, it's fun.
