Driftwood what kind of wood

Make sure you take your measurements on your aquarium before purchasing. This is the some best quality driftwood you can buy online. It has a high price tag as a result and expect slower shipping times due to their size. Bonsai driftwood offers a unique looking background in your tank.

With the proper plants attached to it you can truly get a forest like look in your tank. These Bonsai Driftwood pieces offered for size are amazing looking in your aquarium. They have the added benefit of lowing your pH and softening your water, making them ideal for the vast majority of planted tank setups.

Bonsai trees cans be different to aquascape. They require a high amount of touch not only to get the moss down correctly, but also to keep them well groomed. If you are up for the challenge and want something stunning, this could be the wood piece for you! Backed by a quality brand name, this Mopani wood are high quality specimens that will show off in your display tank. The Fluval name brand enters our list with their Mopani Wood product.

This is the same Mopani Wood you saw me explain earlier, but backed by the Fluval name. The result is you get high quality specimens that are well picked by Fluval. They offer both small and large sizes so you can find the right size for your aquarium in their selection. The only thing I do not like is the Mopani wood itself. Mopani is notorious for its tannin leeching. Take your time to prep this wood and have your carbon ready if you want to use this driftwood. They are great looking pieces if you can handle the tannin leeching.

A throwback to the old bogwood setups. Koyal is a name brand and offers driftwood at competitive prices. However, these pieces are also great for aquariums.

This product from Koyal reminds me a lot of the old bogwood pieces that used to be offered at fish stores. There is also a Grapewood Branch variant that is offer that looks more like the the other driftwood pieces on this list. Given the popularity and supply of the product, they are offered at a competitive price. The major complaint with these have been the wood takes a long time to water log and there have been shipping mishaps. If you are looking for budget driftwood these pieces from Hamiledyi are what you are looking for.

They are ideal for smaller tanks and the pieces have good variation. The price is very reasonable and wood is lightweight.

Hamiledyi does not state the origin of this driftwood. From what we know from the review this is a high tannin count wood.

It is likely this wood is a variation of Malaysian Driftwood, which is a common wood found at local fish store. Expect to sand down edges to make it smooth to the touch. If you are looking for wood for a shrimp tank, this is the product to buy.

This Cholla Wood by NiloG is a great buy. It is cheap and your shrimp will love you for it as they feed off it all day. Cholla is not for every fish tank. It decays fast and needs an inhabitant that will happily eat it while it decomposes. This is why they are ideal for shrimp like Cherry and Amano Shrimp as they will scavenge off the remains.

There are two things we want to do to prep our driftwood for aquarium usage:. There are two options two achieve both. One would be soaking the driftwood. This takes a long time, usually weeks. Boiling would be our next option and the preferred way of prepping our aquarium driftwood. The video below by Long Island Fish Guy illustrates the process.

When boiling, you want to boil until you the water in the boil pot is clear. You will also want to utilize carbon media to mitigate any residual leeching of tannins afterwords. If you have a large piece of driftwood, you can boil it in sections boil. Put what you can fit in your pot as you go. If the wood is very large, you may have to consider the soaking method. One thing to note is Tannins do have benefits in an aquarium. My preference is to purchase driftwood with low tannin count like Manzanita or Spiderwood.

This helps with ease of prep and keeps your aquarium clear of that tea color. Attaching live plants to your driftwood really makes your aquascape come alive.

There are two type of live plants that are ideal for attaching to driftwood. For moss, you can use super glue to attach the base of the moss to your driftwood.

Below is a great video by Roma Aquatics that shows how to do this. What I love about attaching plants on wood is you can do this outside of your aquarium and take your time with it.

The next video by Fishaholic shows how to attach a column feeding live plant to driftwood. This example is Java Fern. You can do this with any other column feeding live plant. I prefer this method over fishing line or tiebacks since glue is invisible and easier to work with in my experience. Driftwood adds a lot of beauty to your aquarium. I hope through this post I was able to help you make an informed decision on what the driftwood you want to purchase for your aquarium.

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below. Thank you for reading and see you next time! This type of driftwood is not suitable for the aquarium. It has not been documented whether the toxins have effect on fish and exactly what concentration is toxic. Ensure you are purchasing from a trusted supplier that is selling an aquatic variety suitable for aquarium fish. Rhododendron Driftwood should only be purchased under these confirmed circumstances. It is not worth risking toxic pieces that may harm your fish.

Aside from this, Water Azalea is a beautiful addition to any aquarium, small or large. Similar to Rohdodendron it has many branches. It is also a type of driftwood suitable for an aquarium centrepiece. Azalea Driftwood can have very fine branches which will not last as long as the thicker ones.

Thicker branched varieties are always recommended, thin intricate pieces look beautiful but are far less likely to last over time. Crepe Myrtle. Western Hemlock Roots. Western Hemlock Roots Driftwood is often found in very large pieces such as that below. Another excellent choice for very large aquariums. Pieces of that size are extremely rare so be prepared to pay a high price for a large or intricate piece.

It is less ideal for small aquariums. Corkscrew willow has very thin and stringy branches. These can make a wonderful effect, but will not last as long in the aquarium as other varieties of driftwood. This wood is an excellent addition to minimalist aquariums. It works well with darker substrates and bright green plants.

It is suitable for both large and small aquariums. Linden trees- Tilla sp. Linden trees is an unusual and seemingly rare driftwood. This is most likely due to the unlikely possibility of natural Linden Driftwood. However, from time to time, professional driftwood curers have cured such wood and the results can be stunning. Always keep on the lookout for unusual or intricate pieces of driftwood.

Aquarium Driftwood should be placed in a secure and open spot in the aquarium. Like any hardscape good water flow is important to avoid the collection of detritus around the base and branches.

Plants can be and should be attatched to the driftwood before it is placed in the aquarium. This can be done with elastic bands, fishing line or metal no copper! Once the plant has grown a root system onto the wood, the line or bands can be removed. Driftwood should be placed one third from either side, especially if it is a focal point. Centre focal points and generally uncomfortable for the eye, try to weight the wood to one side or the other.

Firmly push the wood into the gravel and secure with stones and rocks around its base. If the branches are too long they can either be left open top tank or sawn off usually above the surface to keep the illusion that the wood is branching out of the water.

Enjoy the placement of your new aquarium driftwood! I am concerned about some of the woods you promote. For example, Rhododendrons contain Grayanotoxin which is deadly in doses of as little as.

I wonder how safe it is for plecos and other fish who rasp on wood, or even swim and swallow amounts leaching from the wood.

Comments welcome. As you correctly point out, Rhododendrons do contain Grayantoxin which is toxic to most organisms. Simply taking weathered Rhododendron and handling or using in the aquarium is both stupid and dangerous. For that matter, anything placed in the aquarium should be heavily researched before doing so. I appreciate the comment and have updated the post. I am looking for information about red moor wood.

Where do they come from? Also would like to note, I found your post to be very informative so thank you very much. I want to use it. How can I do it exactly? Hi, thankyou for a great website and informative post. The shape thaht we find is not aesthetically the best, it is composed of large pieces, so it can be used for the structural parts of the tank or you can make holes for the attachment of epiphytic plants such as Anubias and others.

Mopani wood has a high density and weight, so there will be no floating problems, but it is accompanied by a large presence of humic acids and tannins inside it that will tend to dilute for a long time in the aquarium water altering the PH values. Therefore it will be essential to perform the mentioned treatment very well.

This wood can be used for the structural part because is very solid or even just as a decoration, and will offer large surfaces for the attachment of epiphytic plants. They are usually not used for the structural part but for the aesthetic part and are suitable for any aquarium. Among the roots woods are the cheapest ones and have the good feature of not releasing many humic acids that will affect the water values like PH, unfortunately because of their low density, will tend to float then the explaned treatment is very important.

They are not used for the structural part but for the aesthetic part and are suitable for any aquarium. Among the roots woods are the most expensive ones and because of their low density they will float, therefore the explaned treatment is very important.