Re: Petrified wood and a trick (was tank designs)

[Thomas Barr <tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

I wrote:
 
> Some ideas I'm kicking around.
> http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=1544070&uid=855345&m
> emb

Greg wrote:
 
> [GW>] Out of curiosity ... What kind of impact will petrified wood have
> on GH?  I would have assumed it would be harsh on GH ... of course,
> assumptions are not worth much <G>!!!

Not much. It depends on what's been deposited in the the wood.
This can vary from quartz to CaCO3 and maybe MgCO3 etc.......
If you have real soft water, more, but you need more in that case anyway. GH
is a good thing, eg, SO4 and Ca and Mg all of which are macro
nutrients............
Most plants respond positively to increases in GH. My tanks were GH of 25
for example for a few years, now they are 5.
 
Most folks do water changes, if so, then these CaCO3 pieces will not effect
the GH much. Lots of fine ground particles lower pH's, more CO2 etc will
help dissolve it faster. A big old piece is tough to dissolve away, eg try
adding a piece of coral(all CaCO3) and see how long it takes to effect the
tank or dissolve away etc.


A "trick" to bring out the relief and detail of petrified wood is to add
HCL, you can get it as pool acid pretty cheaply, and dump some on there to
eat away some nice cracks into the wood, clean off the wood of tough dirt
etc. This will also indicate if there's a large amount of CaCO3 on there
also if it foams a great deal etc. Careful of the fumes, they are very
sharp.

Regards, 
Tom Barr