[APD] Re: driftwood suppliers

["David Grim" <grim1214 at bellsouth_net>]

(snip)
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 15:45:49 -0500
From: revance at indiana_edu
Subject: Re: [APD] Re: driftwood suppliers
To: aquatic plants digest <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>

Quoting David Grim <grim1214 at bellsouth_net>:
> I tried those about three years ago and they didn't fare well in the
planted
> tank environment. These resin pieces are painted and after a week or so in
> my tank the paint started flaking off and it is snow white underneath.

Hmm... I will consider that. Maybe I will take your advise and try a small
inexpensive piece first.


> They don't look like they would allow for attachment of Java Fern or Moss
> either, being non porous surfaces.

Java moss probably won't attach very well, but Java Fern will attach to darn
near anything! I had a tank I left at my parents house and because it hadnt
been tended to it got completely overtaken by java fern... it was even
attached
to the filter intake/output tubes and parts of the heater (the parts that
don't
get hot).  It was actually kind of funny... you couldnt see anything, just
one
giant java fern plant. I almost expected to find fish caught by its roots
like
some scene out of Little Shop of Horrrors :-)

I am bummed to hear you say that they don't hold up well. I actually found
some
pieces made by penn plax that look much much more realistic than the top-fin
ones at petsmart (as I said, I didn't like the coloration of the petsmart
ones). They are also less expensive, which could be good or bad. Anybody
have
any experience with these?  Otherwise, does anybody know of someplace that
sells real pieces that have pictures of the actual pieces for sale?

------------------------------
(snip)

Let me include the usual your mileage may vary disclaimer. This was when
they just came out, and perhaps the quality has improved, but I think it
would be prudent to just put a cheapo piece in your tank without altering
your aquascape and see how the finish fares.

If you stay in the hobby, and I say this not knowing how long you've been
keeping planted tanks, you may find that artificial stuff becomes
unsatisfying when you put a lot of work into keeping a natural aquascape.
Real wood just seems aesthetically better in a planted tank. Real wood and
real  plants, I guess. That is my experience. Unfortunately, the right
pieces were really hard for me to find for my 240 gallon tank. Most of the
ones in the LFSs were just too massive. I like branchy wood that sinks dry
with lots of attachment points for plants. There is not much choice within
these two parameters except Mayaysian and African wood, and these tend to
not be too branchy.

Daphne and I found a guy on ebay that had some great branchy African pieces,
and we each got one. She just needs one nice piece for her 92 gallon, but I
need a couple.

I have a wooden canopy, and now actually have two pieces in my 240 hanging
with a small length of chain so the wood either just hangs over the
substrate or is in it just enough to stabilize the piece. This makes it
really easy to remove them for attaching moss, J. fern, or whatever else.

Dave


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