I went to the marina that I used to work for to find some drift wood so I wouldn't have to pay crazy store prices for some. Is there anything special I should do to this wood before I start this tank? I am going to have it as a planted aquarium. They are quite large, the tank size 125gal.
I found some larger ones that I knew there were too big for my tank. Lots of good stuff I missed I think cause of the rains. Nothing if better then free stuff!!! Except when you use a dull saw!! ugg
The common advice against using self-collected items is: 1) Propogated to “sell” more stuff, and 2) Real because you do not know the “History” behind your collected items. There is the very real potential for “problems” hitchhiking along with the collected material. Organic/chemical contaminants to pollute your tank, parasites to affect your plants and fish, and non-beneficial organisms (algae, snails, bacteria). In this particular case, possibly oil/gasoline/diesel residues -from a marina-.
That said, I use self-collected items in my tanks routinely (wood, rocks, and substrate), and I have a lot of wild fish. I collect only from areas I am confident are “clean”, and rarely introduce the stuff into an established tank. I river sand for substrate toping, but only in September after it has baked at 120°F for a couple of months by the sun– no parasites. Heck, all the wood in stores was collected from somewhere.
Great layout. Looks exceptional. AND, if I had found those pieces, I surely would use them.
Repost in 6 months and let us know how your experiment worked.
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