A Bogwood ??! to Carol, April and others

[EIHAB83]

Hi all,,
sorry in my last post I missed the spelling of the word I meant a bogwood not a buckwood .....
is it true that the Bogwood makes the water soft??
many thanks

[April]

hi. i honestly have no idea. i do know peat moss lowers the ph.
how do they sell this bogwood?
there are alot of products in lfs which make the lfs rich.and the hobbyist poor. if you stick to the basics..you will have less problems. right now you just need to keep their water clean and stable and get them happy and settled and you both used to each other.
theres products like blackwater extract from the amazon for instance. ive heard youd do just as well with a tea bag .... or peat,as its just tannins. and you have to remember...if your changing half the water everyday..your throwing out the product you spent all that money on daily.
as someone suggested..after you find out your general hardness and your carbonate hardness..with a test kit we can all tell you if your water will be too hard for eggs to hatch. harder water is great for grow outs and fry will grow far faster. but you may well need ro water or half ro water to get the eggs to hatch. then gradually add less and less so you go back to your regular tap water for growing out.
how about you test your hardness.then let us know the results and someone can tell you how far off you are?

[yogi]

Neither bogwood or driftwood will make your water soft. If they have tannins left in them they might make your water slightly brown or yellow. This will eventually stop. They might also slightly lower your ph, but this will also eventually stop.

[Carol_Roberts]

Bogwood is just submersible roots or like driftwood. Jerry (Yogi) is correct it does not soften the water, only releases tanins for a short time.

[Mr.Trips]

I have very hard water over 300, and high PH out of my tap of 8.4. I have been using Peat in my filters to help keep my PH down to 6.8 to 7.0. The peat will leave a tea type color in your tank, but that can be removed with a little bit of carbon. You may want to get rid of the wood, because it may contain bacteria, etc, not unless its been boiled first!

[EIHAB83]

I am really thankfull guys for your replies
many thanks ;)