Driftwood

Anyone got any suggestions or problems with drift wood

i have drift wood in my tank and the axie loves it. sits on it most the day and sleeps under it too. the other thing she loves is the live plant in there

Apparently driftwood can stuff up your pH a bit in the tank so make sure you monitor the pH levels if you're going to use it.

the Ph problem stems from the wood releasing tanins into the water. Depending on where you are getting your wood, this may not be an issue. Do a little test first: put the wood in a bucket of water for a few days before adding it to the tank. if the water turns brownish, it still has tanins in it, and t will raise your pH over time. Regular water changes usually offset this. If the water is a really dark brown, continue to soak the wood, changing the water in the bucket every few days, until the water stays clear (or nearly so) for a few days. One note of caution: some stores sell grapevine wood for use with reptiles. This stuff is not suitable for any aquatic environment. It leeches an oily substance into the water which never seems to go away. It's still great for reptiles though.

Adding Driftwood to your tank can cause problems unless you take measures to avoid them.

I have put driftwood in many of my tanks over the years and have found that it brings the PH down without exception.

If you don't want brown water that will take forever to clear, you must soak and clean it properly first. Every piece of driftwood I use gets soaked for a couple of days, scrubbed with a scrubbing brush, and soaked again in clean water. This scrubbing and soaking is repeated until the water remains clear, then it is ready to introduce to the tank.

I offset the drop in PH by adding Calcium carbonate to the tank in the form of crushed coral, pieces of coral, or limestone. I just add a little C.C at a time until the PH stabilises. By the way C.C will also increase the hardness of the water if you have soft water.

My 4 foot x 2 foot tank is a perfect example. It has 2 huge pieces of driftwood root systems and numerous smaller pieces. I put a limestone gravel substrate in the tank and have never had a problem with the PH moving at all. It's actually the healthiest tank I own and the one that requires the least work. I have also used this method in my axie tank and had no problems at all.

I'd like to see some pics of that tank, Debbie. Sounds nice! Could you post them?

Sorry Brian I've tried to get a photo of it but they turn out too dark.
None of our tanks have lights on them,(got too many), we just light the rooms. This particular tank has a pair of lge Black Ghost Knifefish and 3 lge pleco's in it, so it's been placed where the light is minimal.
I tried using the flash but that wouldn't work, so I started looking for a fluro light I could put on it just to take the photo. My hubby sold them all when we moved at the beginning of the year.
I haven't given up yet though, it's just taking longer than I expected to get the pics.

I have a PH of 8 straight from the tap, would the driftwood be enough to bring it down slightly. so far axie has just lived with the 8.

8's fine. I wouldn't lower it.