Driftwood

greenwolf52

greenwolf52

Member
I picked up some pieces of wood i found on the beach at Matanzas Inlet just south of St. Augustine. Nothing too big, Just some flat pieces. Put them in my tank about 6 months ago and have seen some kind of worms or pods eating right through it like termites. Is this a good thing or does it really matter? I feel like everyhting is fine in the tank but recently was thinking about my problem with brown algae, and have taken many precautions against solving this problem but it won't go away. It's not anything of epic proportions or anything but it's still there. Think it could have anything to do with the pieces of wood?
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
Its one huge piece of rotting organic matter. even if its only a couple inches its a huge bioload just rotting in there, rotting wood also lowers ph, not to mention if its oak it leaches acids as it rots (further lowering ph), IMO you want to remove it.
 
hot883

hot883

Active Member
I agree. Keep asking I am sure someone will tell you what you want to hear. You need to remove asap. I say that with a smile not being mean or nasty. Barry
 
greenwolf52

greenwolf52

Member
Originally Posted by hot883
I agree. Keep asking I am sure someone will tell you what you want to hear. You need to remove asap. I say that with a smile not being mean or nasty. Barry

I want to hear as many opinions as possible. I'm certainly not going to take the advice of teo people to the bank. I know there are some people on here with some really solid experience. Just trying to get as many replies as possible.
Do you mind?
As a matter of fact, I took it out less than 5 minutes ago. But my wife liked the way it looked and doesn't understand why so just trying to give her some justification as well
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
It will start to decay and cause water quality issues. I had a piece in my brackish tank and it started to grow with bacteria when it did this the wood started to turn to mush and discolor the water to a dirty brown color. There are a few fakes out there that look like the real thing but in saltwater tanks it will only serve for eye candy and serve no useful purpose.. Live rock is the way to go a much more natural look to it.
HTH
Mike
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
I use drift wood in my angel tank to help drop my ph, (malaysian driftwood) its extremly dense and decays slowly in fresh water dropping the ph as it does so, I also use oak leaves to drop the ph of water before adding it to my tank. I also intend to use it in my discus tank when I get it going. but in marine aquaria it becomes a huge bioload for the tank to break down one of the keys in marine aquaria is to have a system that can handle and break down the amount of organic waste or remove them before they break down, having the driftwood in there makes your entire biotope work harder and will generate tons of problems.
I dont blame you for wanting more opinions, I wouldnt take my word at a glance either.
 
hot883

hot883

Active Member
Originally Posted by greenwolf52
I want to hear as many opinions as possible. I'm certainly not going to take the advice of teo people to the bank. I know there are some people on here with some really solid experience. Just trying to get as many replies as possible.
Do you mind?
As a matter of fact, I took it out less than 5 minutes ago. But my wife liked the way it looked and doesn't understand why so just trying to give her some justification as well

No I don't mind at all. Usually someone asks a question and gets answers then keeps wanting the answers until they hear what "they want to hear" because some joker said he did it. No harm, no foul. I think you did the right thing by taking it out. Barry
 
greenwolf52

greenwolf52

Member
Originally Posted by hot883
No I don't mind at all. Usually someone asks a question and gets answers then keeps wanting the answers until they hear what "they want to hear" because some joker said he did it. No harm, no foul. I think you did the right thing by taking it out. Barry
Thanks Buddy.
Yeah I've been having problems with nuisance algaes and it is really killing me that there is a strong possibility that it was from the wood. It didn't even look that good but my wife liked it and really wanted to have something in there that we actually got from the wild on our own and not at the lfs, but it's gone now and hopefully things turn around for the tank.
Can't believe I didn't consider this sooner.
Thanks again for all replies
 
cjml

cjml

Member
Originally Posted by hot883
No I don't mind at all. Usually someone asks a question and gets answers then keeps wanting the answers until they hear what "they want to hear" because some joker said he did it. No harm, no foul. I think you did the right thing by taking it out. Barry
Greatly agree with you on this one... :happyfish :happyfish
 
daddyjama

daddyjama

Member
My 2 cts
Hmm..I have drift wood in my SW tank. It's only a piece about 4 inches acorss and 6/7 inches long in the shape of a bowl...Now the new hiding spot for my lion.
I've had it in my tank since decemeber when i set it up. I have not had a problem with PH or excess "critters/algage." I got the wood from a store so I wonder if it is somthing on the wood as apposed to the wood itself that is making everything out of whack. I forget what kind of wood it is, it's all black if that helps at all. I also have about 40 lbs of live rock, and a healthy cleaning crew in my 55g.
So maybe like someone said before if the system can handle it it will be okay. There IS wood in the ocean and the ocean seems to do okay.. ;)
 
daddyjama

daddyjama

Member
i know..but it show relationships.. if the system adapts to it wheres the problem..
i do check my water every week or so and so far so good.. 3.5mths so far. ;)
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
we dump thousands of gallons of grease/oil into the ocean every year too and they are still alive, but that doesnt mean I'm going to use oil to grease up an impeller in my tank.
I just think its unwise to put something into a tank that degrades water quality, I have no doubt you parameters are fine if you say they are, but its an added load on the system and eventually could either lead to problems or make it harder to recover from a problem, especially once the wood hits peak decomposition, once a higher percentage of the wood becomes saturated or infested with woodborers the decomposition rate is going to accelerate, this could take a month or a year, I really dont know, but once it does I think you will see serious water quality issues.
but good luck with that.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
Originally Posted by michael_t
I wouldn't listen to anyone with over a thousand posts.

why's that? or a bad attempt at sarcasm?
 
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