rjm316

Has anyone had experience in using Mopani wood in their tanks? It's a beautiful African hardwood that has unique and textured detail.Very dense si it sinks immediately in aquariums. Problem with it is it needs to be soaked for a couple weeks before putting in tank because it leaches tannins which will greatly discolor water. I had a piece in my tank , it developed this whitish hairlike fungus so i removed it and boiled it but the fungus like stuff came back. I threw that piece out....the others are fine.

Chief_waterchanger

We never had a problem with mopani wood developing fungus, but it is pretty tough wood, and excellent for aquariums. Hope the next piece works out well for ya.

jsalemi

I bought a medium piece for my new 56g, and just ordered a large piece from DFS. It is really nice looking wood, and I'm looking forward to using it to decorate the tank. I'll probably start soaking it when I get home tomorrow, since the current 'schedule' has me getting the new tank going in about 2-3 weeks.

CPVFD325

I recently bought a peice of this wood at Petco. I soaked it for about 2 days and did notice a bit of color change in the sink....I changed the water about 3 or 4 times.....It finally was fairly clear on the last go-round....so i went ahead and placed it in my tank.....but have noticed a slight discoloration to my water.....ack! My Ph is still fine, and i went ahead and did a full water test and all my levels are still fine. I thought about doing a partial water change to see if it gets better. I am now having second thoughts about it, maybe i should let it soak in the tank for a few more days and see if the water gets any darker......since my levels are ok should i be worried?

The wood does look great in there. I would love to plant it with live plants, but im scared my Oscar will tear them up as he gets bigger....

susitna-flower

The color in the water should clear somewhat over time as you do water changes. It doesn't offend me, I have several pieces in my big tank.

Tsunami35

I put some in my 30g recently, I didnt soak it first, and it only discolored the water for a few days, and didnt affect the ph at all.

jsalemi

If you want to clear it up quicker, run activated carbon in your filter -- that does the trick in a day or so.

CPVFD325

I have never heard of activate carbon. Can you buy a activated carbon filter inserts for a HOB filter? or how about Undergravel filter systems? do explain. please.

Drea

You can buy small nylon woven bags, and a container of charcoal. Just rinse the bag after you fill it in some tank water, before you put it in the HOB. I thinks most LFS and LPS have these items. After you use it you can throw away the carbon,and clean the bag, and have it for the next time

CPVFD325

Great! Thank you! do you know if they sell the little cartridges for a undergravel system?

jsalemi

No, undergravel systems don't use any type of cartridge. You'd have to add an internal, HOB or cannister filter to take advantage of activated carbon.

As for what it is, it's a modern improvement on the old charcoal used in filters many moons ago (and maybe in some cheaper filters today ). It's more pure than charcoal, so its better at removing contaminants quickly. This is among the better of the AC products out there: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...99&pcatid=3599

There's also a host of carbon-substitutes available, that remove contaminants without removing the stuff that plants need to thrive. Seachem's Renew has been spoken of well here.

CPVFD325

I beg to differ. at the top of each bubbler stack there is a carbon cartridge that all the air and water passes through.....

jsalemi

Hmm, never seen one of those for a UGF. But then again, I don't like UG filters, so I never paid much attention to them either. In any case, I found them here, buried deep on the DFS site: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...d=7168&catid=3. They're refillable, according to the description in the print catalog.

CPVFD325

Well, Come to find out the cartridges that i already had in my bubbler stacks were activated carbon. They did however have some sludge built up and i was planning on replacing them anyways.....but i did go to petco yesterday and bought two new ones and replaced the gunky ones. I also did a 25% water change.....water looks better. I Also found that i had gunk and algae built up on my glass (beneath the light) cleaned it up and i got much more light to pass through....soo its looking better.