Bare bottom, with one big exception...

[adapted]

I've been steadily buying stuff for about three weeks now in preparation for my first discus tank in ten years.. This driftwood arrived Saturday in a huge box via UPS. My question is: Is this going to be more trouble than it's worth in an otherwise bare 75 gallon tank for 6-8 adult wilds or pseudo-wilds (e.g. Stendker's Alenquers or Santarems?)

My assumption is that the fish will "enjoy" it, and I like the aesthetics of wood in discus tanks generally. But what I mainly see right now in this pre-fish dithering phase I'm in is a thousand nooks and crannies for organic material to collect. I don't mind brushing it thoroughly every other day, but the thing is huge (close to four feet and thirty pounds) so getting it out of the tank for real going over would be pretty tedious. (I don't mind moving water... currently set-up for daily 50% changes, with the attendant wipe downs and rinses.)

Any opinions from those who have ditched a nice piece of wood for the sake of water quality, or who made it work with one strategy or another would be appreciated.

Thanks...

[joanstone]

I think it's a great piece and I would use it. I think it will "make" your tank. Looks like mopani wood which is very hard and will hold up well, IMO. When you're cleaning your tank, you can just pick it up to clean under it and give it a shake to remove any crud on it.

[adapted]

You know your wood, Joan... it is indeed Mopani. Dense as an anvil. I would upload a photo of it in the tank but it has released so much tannin that it looks to be sitting in 75 gallons of tea.

[Second Hand Pat]

You could also turn the wood upside down so the contact points with the bottom are far fewer. Nice piece of wood BTW.

[farebox]

Have two large pcs of this type of wood for well over 20 yrs in 55g tank. No problem, just hung from the tank center brace.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cichlidcraze]

Lovely piece of wood.

I have 4 medium size pieces of Mopani wood in my tank. I have them like Pat suggests. No problems with debris collecting under them.

[musicmarn1]

Just aging it and the slime coat was a pain for me takes a lot of o2 out of the water

[adapted]

81797

Problem solved... turns out this piece of wood is easy to suspend parallel to the bottom of the tank; should be easy enough to keep both the tank bottom and the wood itself clean.

Thanks for the encouragement.. (Please the poor photography and toiklet water tank conditions...)

[kevin.whisler]

I'm glad it worked for you and it looks great. I tried a large piece of wood about a year ago and I ended up ditching it. It must depend on the type of wood. I got mine from the LFS and was told it was "Malaysian driftwood". The story was that it would initially stain the water, but a few water changes and/or some carbon in the filter would clear it right up. Well, dozens of water changes later, and a few loads of carbon later I still had yellow/brown water as well as bits of wood debris everywhere. I took it out for a good cleaning with a scrub brush and a hose. After about 15 minutes I decided that I could scrub for a week and the shedding of debris and tannin would never stop. My pricey piece of decoration became firewood. I want to try again; maybe I should try mopani like yours, or maybe manzanita.

[OC Discus]

I have just gone bare bottom a few weeks ago after treating multiple cases of parasites. I removed 2 pieces of artificial driftwood in the tank sterilization process. Once the tank was spotless clean, I decided not to put the décor back in. Started using purigen and the tank cleared up even more. Then I added a piece of Mopani and my crystal clear water turned yellow. I removed it the next day preferring the crystal clear water instead. A few of my fish are still juvies. Who knows, in a few months when they are all grown and I'm feeding less I may change things up. For now, it is clear water and simple maintenance.

[adapted]

Mopani is great wood for tank decoration unless you can't abide serious (allegedly temporary) tannin discoloration. Of the three pieces I've acquired, one got the well-known cloudy white slime growth within a day or two; I'm assuming it was newer wood, not technically driftwood at all. I have scalded and soaked this stuff a half dozen times but the force is strong with it...

I'm justifying the addition based on providing a place for the fish to avoid the light. Surely wilds, at least, would prefer that option...

[OC Discus]

They will like it, and the tannins may actually be good for them.