Advice Needed: New Azalia Root Position in Tank

Hooray!!! Forgive my excitement but the root is already waterlogged!!! Only a few days to get the job done! Kept soaking it in joining hot baths or close on boiling at least. Waterlogged in 5 days.....

Lydia, can you trim some moss for me and maybe help me on Sun? Brian

Gonefishy wrote: Hooray!!! Forgive my excitement but the root is already waterlogged!!! Only a few days to get the job done! Kept soaking it in joining hot baths or close on boiling at least. Waterlogged in 5 days.....

Lydia, can you trim some moss for me and maybe help me on Sun? Brian

Mine was done in nothing but cold water. Maybe the hot water makes all the difference

LemonJelly wrote:

Gonefishy wrote: Hooray!!! Forgive my excitement but the root is already waterlogged!!! Only a few days to get the job done! Kept soaking it in joining hot baths or close on boiling at least. Waterlogged in 5 days.....

Lydia, can you trim some moss for me and maybe help me on Sun? Brian

Mine was done in nothing but cold water. Maybe the hot water makes all the difference

I think it does Lemon! Darren gave me the heads up on this. I believe the got water and temperature 'opens up' the wood and increases it's absorptive capacity- well it's no longer floating which is great, as now I don't need rocks, suckers or anything else.....happy days...

Ah, the joys of being a fishkeeper. No one outside the hobby will truly understand why a piece of wood not floating makes us so happy

Gonefishy wrote: Hooray!!! Forgive my excitement but the root is already waterlogged!!! Only a few days to get the job done! Kept soaking it in joining hot baths or close on boiling at least. Waterlogged in 5 days.....

Lydia, can you trim some moss for me and maybe help me on Sun? Brian

Ah nice tip, I should know this when mine!.
Yeah Sunday it's ok I'll trim the moss tomorrow, about what time more or less?

Brian looking at the first picture I would just flip the wood over (180 degree) and trim a couple of cm of the 2 small pieces so it stands on it's own.

LemonJelly wrote: Ah, the joys of being a fishkeeper. No one outside the hobby will truly understand why a piece of wood not floating makes us so happy

LOL hilarious!

hi Brian i won't be off until Thursday if you can wait or be able to take the wood out to add more moss to it, i can keep some Xmass moss for you ! May even have some flame moss and 2 or 3 other kind... Can even bring it to you if you want. Don't forget to get some mesh to tied it to the wood !!!

Let me know ! Philippe.

LemonJelly wrote: Ah, the joys of being a fishkeeper. No one outside the hobby will truly understand why a piece of wood not floating makes us so happy

I soaked mine in a bin outdoors over winter, took 3 months to sink.

Brian I think we should wait for Philippe's moss because once the wood is in there and plant around and between it will be a mess taking it out.

Besides he is the fraking mastah so his help will be great!

I'm looking forward to seeing how it all turns out! I have some java moss it's not in best condition as its been out the back garden but if you want you can have it. It's a handful. Maybe your co2 spring it back to life.

Aroshni wrote: Brian I think we should wait for Philippe's moss because once the wood is in there and plant around and between it will be a mess taking it out.

Besides he is the fraking mastah so his help will be great!

Sounds good Lydia....if this is ok with you Philippe maybe we could aim for Thursday evening? Tx to you both!! B

LemonJelly wrote: Ah, the joys of being a fishkeeper. No one outside the hobby will truly understand why a piece of wood not floating makes us so happy

Just hilarious.....but so true!!!

Nothing is ever straightforward.....I just noticed the root is leaching a lot of tannins which are colouring the bath water quite a bit. How long will this leaching last? I don't want my tank water really 'yellow'. I know it looks natural and all that but I'd prefer it clear....any advice? Thanks.

Activated carbon is the first thing that springs to mind, though you may have to use it continually until the tannins stop leaching.

LemonJelly wrote: Activated carbon is the first thing that springs to mind, though you may have to use it continually until the tannins stop leaching.

Thanks Lemon. Won't Carbon also remove the nutrients I'm adding for my plants too though? Not sure what effect this would have on my plants?

Ok for me! Carbon will remove the plants nutriments and you will have to change it every 2-3 weeks. The only way I know would be to boil it for a couple hours, this is what I did with mine.

Inza wrote: Ok for me! Carbon will remove the plants nutriments and you will have to change it every 2-3 weeks. The only way I know would be to boil it for a couple hours, this is what I did with mine.

Yeah, I've just been reading some stuff online about this hotly debated topic. Some say activated carbon doesn't and others say it does...I'm going to read some more....

Thanks got your offer of moss Philippe and maybe you can come by on Thurs. Btw, your new discus are the business....I saw them last week and wanted them immediately....the checkerboard pigeons are outstanding. Pics please when they've settled.......

Brian,

You are most likely to get a serious growt of slime mould on the Wood, no matter how many times it is scrubbed or boiled, totally harmless and easily sorted using one or two Ancistrus , they love it.

Another tip on speeding up the water logging process is to put it in a water but or large Bin and place something heavy on it, making it sink causes pressure on it via the weight of water around it and helped force the Oxygen from it.

Kev.

The only other option I can think of is small regular water changes until the tannins stop staining the water, which might take some time.

Brian, Charcoal will work initially but most wood will release tannin until it is totally decayed so there will always be Tannin to some degree and it will help keep your ph down so not a bad thing if you are keeping Softwater species.

Kev.

Homer wrote: Brian, Charcoal will work initially but most wood will release tannin until it is totally decayed so there will always be Tannin to some degree and it will help keep your ph down so not a bad thing if you are keeping Softwater species.

Kev.

Thanks Kev. What is your opinion on whether or not activated carbon will remove essential nutrients from the aquarium which might plants need to grow and thrive? Lot of conflicting info online about this - some people say it doesn't make a blind bit of difference if carbon is present and apt hat there is no scientific data to prove that it affects plant health and growth - in other words it's another fish keeping myth. Other people say it does so I don't know what to believe!!!

Carbon has a finite capacity before it will start leaching nasties back into the Water, I doubt the efficiency of Carbon to remove important nutrients, when we grew orchids and other sensitive plants, we always put Charcoal in the compost or baskets to keep the soil/substrate , "sweet" if it absorbed nutrients, I doubt we would have been as successful growing terrestrial plants, water changes are as good at removing Tannins if not better, I only ever use Charcoal to remove meds etc.

Kev.

Thanks Kev. I asked Darren about it today. He says that it's used in all Amanno ADA tanks and there's no arguing with the quality of those aquascapes...if it works for them I'll give it a go. I'll leave the root for a few more days and then add it to the tank. Will only use carbon for a few weeks initially.....thanks to everyone for input...

Quick Update: I have to say this site and hobby have some great people involved. Lydia (Aroshni) and Philippe (Inza) gave up hours of their time this evening to help me with my tank. Both brought over mosses, plants, twines, scissors and all that's needed to wrap the new piece of wood, position in the tank and replant around it. Lydia didn't leave here until 9.30pm after me picking her up at 4.45pm!! Really big, big thanks to you both and hats off to you! Owe you big time.....

Here's the finished result....have to trim back the large plant on the right in line with top branch of root but just too tired....tomorrow...

Hope you like!

glad i could help ! wait a couple of weeks for the plants and moss to grow properly and you should end up with a nice perspective ! Beautiful discus too !

Looks very natural. Will look great when the plants behind the wood grow over!

We had a nice time there Brian and Philippe, glad for being of help.
Lovely fishes and patience they had there. The tanks looks really fantastic!

Aroshni wrote: We had a nice time there Brian and Philippe, glad for being of help.
Lovely fishes and patience they had there. The tanks looks really fantastic!

Philippe/Lydia, thanks again and I'm delighted with the tank. Also delighted you like my discus - these guys and girls have got a lot of my time over the last 18 months and I'm glad they are healthy and thriving! Fingers crossed they'll stay that way.....

Chat soon. Brian

Hi Guys. Quick update on my tank. Put pics in chronological order:
16th May:



One month later: 15th June: incredible growth!



15th June: Gave tank a good trimming....









What do you think guys? I hope you like it.....