[Tomoko]

Hi,

I recently bought three large driftwood branches from a local aquarium shop. It's been a nightmare with huge algae outbreaks ever since that time.
I have done near 100% water change every week ore more frequently for nearly a month or more now, but the phosphate level is consistently up near 10 ppm. I did not boil the wood.

I have treated the tank with H2OH/Excel a couple of times, but algae always come back in two or so days. I also treated the tank with Algaefix a couple of times, but the algae (primarily BBA, green spot algae, and a fluffy green soft algae) keep coming back with vengeance.

Should I take out the wood and boil it to accelerate the leaching outside of the water or should I just get rid of them?

 

[victorusaconte]

Hi,



I recently bought three large driftwood branches from a local aquarium shop. It's been a nightmare with huge algae outbreaks ever since that time.

I have done near 100% water change every week ore more frequently for nearly a month or more now, but the phosphate level is consistently up near 10 ppm. I did not boil the wood.



I have treated the tank with H2OH/Excel a couple of times, but algae always come back in two or so days. I also treated the tank with Algaefix a couple of times, but the algae (primarily BBA, green spot algae, and a fluffy green soft algae) keep coming back with vengeance.



Should I take out the wood and boil it to accelerate the leaching outside of the water or should I just get rid of them?

Boil if you like it, sell it to me if you dont like it. But dude, dont spend money like that , resources and time trying to fix something that you could be only enjoying.

My plan for your tank:
1- take the driftwood out and treat it right. Give it a nice shower with your garden hose or anything strong. Boil it all side till water gets colored dark, change the water and keep doing it till the water comes out cleaner. Wait it to dry.
2- prepare a water change of 35% if good water quality. 45% if medium water quality and 65% if really bad quality. Clean it well, the glass, the floor, the plants, the filter.
3-introduce the drift wood back again and start filling up the cleaned tank with the treated water u already had prepared before.
4- dont use any medicine, SPECIALLY liquid CO2.
5- make your lights on during 8h a day

Hope it works for you. Dont give up, keep asking stuff to the forum.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[Tomoko]

I wonder if the driftwood was cleaned with TSP.
I am not sure if boiling would remove it, but I can try.
The driftwood has not stained the water at all.
I wonder if vinegar could remove something like TSP.
I don't know if TSP can penetrate the wood surface and go deep into the wood.

I could use something like Seachem Phosguard to keep binding phosphate.

My tank has been established for many years with lots of stem plants, Cryptocoryne, and foreground plants in Nature Aquarium style. I have high light and pressurized CO2 system.

The use of pressurized CO2 causes Manzanita to gradually decay to skinny little twigs. So I bought this three hefty driftwood from a local shop this time instead of getting Manzanita online. I wanted to support local aquarium shops, and seeing driftwood right in front of me makes it easier to figure out how I can arrange them in my tank. Unfortunately it did not work out in the way I hoped.

 

[Asteroid]

The use of pressurized CO2 causes Manzanita to gradually decay to skinny little twigs. So I bought this three hefty driftwood from a local shop this time instead of getting Manzanita online. I wanted to support local aquarium shops, and seeing driftwood right in front of me makes it easier to figure out how I can arrange them in my tank. Unfortunately it did not work out in the way I hoped.

I've never had an issue with manzanita decaying to twigs and I've used it for years and years in my co2-enriched tanks. What kind of wood did you buy from the LFS?

 

[Tomoko]

I do not know what kind of wood is the so-called driftwood I bought. It's reddish brown in color, but it's not Malaysian type. I mentioned the problem to the shop owner, but he simply told me to use GFO.

As for the manzanita I've had, I bought them from Manzanita.com years ago. The current batch (7 to 8 years in the tank) was slender branches about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter. They are very thin now. Some of them are almost paper thin at the tips. The bases of the sturdy ones are still hefty. The batch of manzanita I had before that also got thin eventually.