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[APD] Driftwood in the aquarium
Hello Everyone,
I just returned from a 4 day canoe trip on the Saco river in Maine. I'd like to thank you for all the advice given about the pros and cons of acrylic vs. glass. I still haven't decided which tank I will get as now I am thinking more like a plant keeper and less like someone trying to see how big they can grow a red snakehead. I am leaning towards a lower tank, say around 24 inches. I figure with 3 inches of substrate, I ought to be able to reach the bottom easily enough in the front and middle of tank. If need be, I will get some type of small step ladder to give me the reach for the back of tank. James' question about driftwood intrigued me because I have always had driftwood in my tanks with no problems. I was given my first tank by my father at around age 10. At this time, he ingrained in me his preference for natural looking settings in tanks. I wish he had discovered live plants before he let me take over the fish tank keeping in the family. I know I still have a few tanks in the basement of his house, and he is approaching retirement now so maybe I will reintroduce him to fishkeeping. Back to the subject, I have purchased numerous pieces in various LFS at various times in my travels. One must always check the driftwood selection in the LFS at every visit. Those perfect pieces are so hard to find that if I see a piece I like but have no room in any tank currently, I buy it anyway and sometimes setup a whole tank just to use the piece. I have also done a HUGE amount of shore dragging. ( I used to keep snakeheads, and anyone who has knows they are quite capable of eating you out of house and home. That is why I used to make my own nets out of various materials and drag them along the shores of a few local ponds and lakes. If it moves, they will eat it. I would drag those nets with a few friends nearly everyday and put everything that moved in buckets. ) In the course of all this dragging, I came up with all manner of things. I found quite a few pieces of wood as well. I know some of you are cringing right now thinking "Please tell me he didn't put wood from some pond into his tank and thus subject the inhabitants to all manner of parasites and disease!" I did. The snakeheads were consuming vast quantities ( no exaggeration ) of native fauna with no apparent ill effects, so I decided to risk it. So even wild caught driftwood has never bothered any inhabitants of any tank I have ever kept. I always soak a new piece of wood for awhile in the same 55 gallon drum I have been using for years. ( plastic drum ) This will help leech some of the tannin from the wood. Otherwise, you are liable to have a tank that looks like a giant cup of tea. Are you sure that the base was made of marble? I have never seen marble used this way with driftwood. Slate has always been on the bottom of the pieces I have seen. I have no experience with marble in the fish tank but I would imagine that it would break down over time and may be a bufferer. ( disclaimer ) If you are turned off by natural wood now, Penn Plax is making some very realistic wood replicas. You must pull off all the fake plastic and silk plants that they attach to it however. ( I am in no way employed by Penn Plax or any of its subsidiaries or parent companies. I am simply amazed that they have finally made a decent looking product that doesn't require an airline, skull or treasure chest and isn't some horrible fluorescent color/s that have no business in a fish tank! ) I hope this helps your understanding of driftwood and I wish you luck finding the real killer in your tank.
Thanks, Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: aquatic-plants-request at actwin_com<mailto:aquatic-plants-request at actwin_com>
To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com<mailto:aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2004 12:04 PM
Subject: Aquatic-Plants Digest, Vol 11, Issue 36
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Today's Topics:
1. Eheim Aqua Fluid Liquidoser (Rushui Guan)
2. re: re: amonium chloride and CO2 (Gwmangen at cs_com<mailto:Gwmangen at cs_com>)
3. Re: Eheim Aqua Fluid Liquidoser (David Aiken)
4. Driftwood and chili loaches (James E Newville)
5. Fw: Driftwood and kuhlie loaches (James E Newville)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 12:12:14 -0400
From: Rushui Guan <bosemani at gmail_com<mailto:bosemani at gmail_com>>
Subject: [APD] Eheim Aqua Fluid Liquidoser
To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com<mailto:aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
hi there
I am a very lazy fish keeper. I have always failed to dose
consistently. So I have decided to get a doser.
Has anybody use Eheim Aqua Fluid doser? There is not much description
about it on this product. I don't even know how much liquid it can
hold.
Eheim is the only electronic doser fits into my budget ($50). Does
anyone know any other brand that's under $100?
Thanks a bunch
Rushui
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 15:35:38 EDT
From: Gwmangen at cs_com<mailto:Gwmangen at cs_com>
Subject: [APD] re: re: amonium chloride and CO2
To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com<mailto:aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
"George, I have run my CO2 levels very high in my high light tank - well
above the 35 that seemed to stress your fish. Maybe something else is going on?
What was your pH when the CO2 was that high? Is your KH high enough (>3 dGH) to
keep your pH from crashing? If you're wanting to add N, you might want to try
KNO3 rather than ammonium chloride. -Rachel"
Rachel, with regards to the plants, I think you can run your CO2 higher in a
brightly lit tank than you should in a dimmer tank. It's a supposition based
on a hypothesis that plants consume more nutrients when exposed to more light.
My pH was 6.6 and my KH was 5 dH. Respecting the fish, it's true that CO2
is an anesthetic. You can even use it to euthanize fish. My animal was
looking doped and drowsy so I thought the gas might be too high. I'm relieved to
hear you haven't had a problem with it being that high.
I do add KNO3 and it seems to be working well. I dilute it to about 2
mg/drop and dose judiciously to avoid algea growth. Plants prefer amonia to nitrate
because it takes them less effort to absorb it or use it. So, I was
commenting that it would be interesting to see, given more CO2, how much better the
plants might respond to amonia than nitrate. I don't now mean to suggest that
you don't know any of this. In fact, I suspect you have had more experience
with plants and know more about them than I do. I'm sorry if my post left out
too many facts or was unclear.
You asked, "What does amonium chloride have to do with CO2?" Well, I suppose
that with enough light and CO2 a plant would better be able to utilize the
amonium in amonium chloride. However, there might be too much chloride in it.
For the benefit of those of you that don't know these things, our fish
conveniently provide the tank with amonia. It's just sometimes not enough to
adequately fertilize the plants which is why we dose potassium nitrate KNO3. We
don't add amonium because it can convert to amonia which is toxic to fish.
Sincerely, George Mangen
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 07:28:59 +1000
From: David Aiken <daiken at iprimus_com.au<mailto:daiken at iprimus_com.au>>
Subject: Re: [APD] Eheim Aqua Fluid Liquidoser
To: aquatic plants digest <aquatic-plants at actwin_com<mailto:aquatic-plants at actwin_com>>
I got one soon after they came out. It seemed to work well for the few
days I used it, then I bumped it into the tank while doing my regular
maintenance and water change. It did not respond well to total
immersion - in fact it responded quite negatively to total immersion. I
did not replace it.
I can't remember how much it holds - probably a bit over 100 ml. The
dose delivered is a fixed amount and I think I measured it as around
1.7 ml but memory could fail me now after several years. You'll have to
measure that yourself since the manual did not state the volume of the
dose. You can set it to deliver several doses in order to build to
larger volumes per dose, and have it dose several times a day as well.
Because of the dosing system, you may have to dilute your fertiliser
mix in order to have it deliver the dose you want.
David Aiken
On 24/07/2004, at 2:12 AM, Rushui Guan wrote:
> hi there
>
> I am a very lazy fish keeper. I have always failed to dose
> consistently. So I have decided to get a doser.
>
> Has anybody use Eheim Aqua Fluid doser? There is not much description
> about it on this product. I don't even know how much liquid it can
> hold.
>
> Eheim is the only electronic doser fits into my budget ($50). Does
> anyone know any other brand that's under $100?
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 23:31:19 -0400
From: James E Newville <jenewville at juno_com<mailto:jenewville at juno_com>>
Subject: [APD] Driftwood and chili loaches
To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com<mailto:aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
Can anyone tell me if they have had khuli loaches or other fish die off
after adding driftwood? About 3 years ago, I added a piece of driftwood
to a 20 gal. planted tank. I had 3 or 4 khuli loaches, and some tetras
in the tank. I had the loaches for about 2 years when I added the wood.
It had some cavities that the loaches could swim through, so I thought
they would "love" it. But within a couple of weeks, they were all dead.
The tetras, however, were fine. Did the driftwood kill the loaches? It
was the kind that is attached to a piece of marble, and I bought it in a
local pet store. I soaked it for months in a bucket of (well) water
before adding it to the tank. I am thinking of adding khuli loaches
again, and would like to know if I should remove the driftwood first. I
believe it has decayed some. (There are no plants growing on the wood,
and I will be replanting the tank as well.) Thanks for any replies.
James Newville
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------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 00:36:51 -0400
From: James E Newville <jenewville at juno_com<mailto:jenewville at juno_com>>
Subject: [APD] Fw: Driftwood and kuhlie loaches
To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com<mailto:aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
Opps! I meant Kuhlie loaches, not chili loaches or khuli loaches.
--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James E Newville <jenewville at juno_com<mailto:jenewville at juno_com>>
To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com<mailto:aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 23:31:19 -0400
Subject: Driftwood and chili loaches
Can anyone tell me if they have had khuli loaches or other fish die off
after adding driftwood? About 3 years ago, I added a piece of driftwood
to a 20 gal. planted tank. I had 3 or 4 khuli loaches, and some tetras
in the tank. I had the loaches for about 2 years when I added the wood.
It had some cavities that the loaches could swim through, so I thought
they would "love" it. But within a couple of weeks, they were all dead.
The tetras, however, were fine. Did the driftwood kill the loaches? It
was the kind that is attached to a piece of marble, and I bought it in a
local pet store. I soaked it for months in a bucket of (well) water
before adding it to the tank. I am thinking of adding khuli loaches
again, and would like to know if I should remove the driftwood first. I
believe it has decayed some. (There are no plants growing on the wood,
and I will be replanting the tank as well.) Thanks for any replies.
James Newville
________________________________________________________________
The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com<http://www.juno.com/> to sign up today!
------------------------------
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