tkfury

I know I've seen something like this done before but I couldn't remember if it was around here, another forum or perhaps in one of the books I've picked up. Didn't come up with anything in search.

I'm planning on redoing my betta's 10g to a more "natural" live plant tank. While over at Lowes looking at gardening supplies (working on a getting a garden set up for Mother's Day but shh..that's suppose to be a surprise) I saw some bamboo stakes - picked up one of the 1/4" ones. If I remember correctly, to prevent the wood from rotting...all I have to do is completely coat it in aquarium sealant, right? The plan is to have a decently sized piece of driftwood, a nice size rock and if possible a few pieces of bamboo amongst the java moss, java fern, anubias (and possible some other plants that I'm still looking into).

I was just wondering if that is in fact how I could go about safely adding some bamboo to the tank as a decoration. (From day one when I thought about a betta tank, I pictured having some bamboo stalks like so many other betta tanks I've seen.)

sirdarksol

Peter Hiscock's Today's Essential Guide to Growing Aquarium Plants says to coat them with clear polyurethaine varnish. Don't forget to do inside and out. For inside, you can pour some through the cane while turning it (to coat all of the surfaces). If there's a joint in the cane, you might have to do one end and then the other. If there's more than one joint, you'll have to drill a hole into the joint (trying to describe this. I don't mean from the side, but down into the middle of the cane, so you won't see the extra hole) to allow the varnish to get all the way into the cane.

On an entirely unrelated note, I just started watching 2nd Gig again today. Jeez I love GitS.

tkfury

Hm, I'm not so sure if I can get the inside. The stalk is only 1/4 inch in diameter but I'm sure I can talk with my father and see what we can do. The book title sounds familiar so its probablly one I picked up at the library... is there something about using a screw or something similiar to weigh the bamboo down to a piece of wood? (Or was it just using the sealant to attach it to a rock? Hm..) I think I get what you mean ^^

I'm assuming the varnish I can just pick up from a hardware store. Just clear polyurethane varnish will do? Thank you very much by the way.

Yays! On relation to your unrelated note gotta love GitS.. my next big "project" is to get started on the collection (has way too many projects *sigh*).

And on unrelated to your unrelated note, thank you for your signature. One of my manager's sister lost her fight shortly before Christmas last year, my aunt is now a six year survivor and unfortunately a lady at my church is in a fight for her life. I was just about to place an order for some driftwood but that can wait a few more months. Its not much, but thank you.

sirdarksol

Thank you much.
Hope things go well with the bamboo. Even if it's only 1/4" wide, you should be able to use a spoon or something to pour some of the varnish into the hollow.
What I'm reading in the book says yes, regular polyurethaine varnish (uncolored, clear) should work. Be sure to let the stuff dry completely. Once it's totally dry, it should just be plastic. Before it dries, it's probably got some horrible toxin in it.

frogster221

i would just boil the bamboo and put soomething in it to make it sink. the thing with bamboo is that it doesnt absorb water which means it cant rot. thats why they make wood floors out of it. sadly this also means that it wont sink easily. you would need lots of small gravel or gluing it to the tank to keep it from just popping back up at the surface. but you still might want to seal it if you really want to be sure there are no bad things for the fish on the bamboo surface. hope this helps.

sirdarksol

Bamboo can indeed rot. While water has a difficult time penetrating the bamboo from the sides (this will happen eventually, too), it very easily will get wicked up along the capillaries. This will begin the rot process. It's slow, but it will happen.
I'm a fan of Japanese and Chinese decor, and have used bamboo in many projects. When it's exposed to water, it does break down. The breakdown is slower than most middle-density woods, but faster than, say, cedar.