Resuscitating an old thread...
I was just looking through my bookmarks and came upon this article. It looks like the message above was the last time Luke (dorris) ever posted here
What a shame that this lovely person, who obviously had created a beautiful tank, was run off by this troll who couldn't even seem to find the spacebar on their keyboard!
There is a whole lot of debate as to whether to collect items from the wild or get items from the LFS. If you look at the oldest books, practically 100% of the decor was collected. Saltwater aquariums were made using salt and sand collected from the sea. This was all that was practical and available (and it still is in many countries), and now we are blessed with more convenient options...I would say this has had a huge impact on making aquarium keeping a more mainstream hobby. I'm reminded of a thread on here where someone in Africa has a lush, planted blackwater tank using plants and leaves from the wild, no filtration, and only one measly fluorescent bulb. "No filtration" ?? we gasp! And then the explanation...
because power is not reliable in their country. Yet their aquarium flourishes!
I don't know exactly what magical process people think wood and rocks from the LFS go through to become safe for aquariums, that cannot be replicated at home. You can boil, scrub and rinse with saline almost anything to make it safe. If the water is clean (as was mentioned several times in the article) and you know the water is not polluted, then the only real danger is that the wood will rot...which, guess what? Happens ALL THE TIME with wood from the LFS, unless it is distinctively mopani, manzanita, or some such wood that is known to hold up. Most of the driftwood from the LFS is just ordinary, good looking driftwood, collected from lakes and streams just like Luke suggests. It is sterilized using a method you can easily duplicate at home. If you choose not to sterilize it, so as to allow the beneficial bacteria to live on it, that is entirely your choice...no need to be burned at the stake for taking what amounts to a very small risk!
I'm no expert on what kind of place Tanzania is, but I'm willing to be it's not like a big city where you can just go in and buy whatever decor you want to set up a beautiful planted tank like the one pictured. International shipping is very expensive and you can easily pay more for shipping than the cost of the actual decor. Rocks, of course, are incredibly impractical to ship and if you can find them locally from a trusted source, all you need to do is a little preparation and they are as safe as anything you can buy.
Even if you fear that articles from the wild are contaminated with "all sorts of parasites" (yeah, like the fish from the pet stores with the shared water systems are guaranteed to be parasite free? like the submerged plants and the driftwood are guaranteed not to have snails and hydra? or guaranteed to be even actual AQUATIC plants?) it is easy enough to set up the tank as you like with what you have collected, add a capful of bleach, let it run, and then double dose with dechlorinator and perform subsequent water changes. Rocks and driftwood can easily be aired out in the sun. Gravel, soil etc. not so much.
Luke, I know you're probably not coming back, but in case you see this...please know that I (and I'm sure many others) thought your article was brilliant! You obviously have plenty of experience and knowledge
Much,more,than,can,be,said,for,certain,nincompoops...
