MagpieTear

I was at a LFS today and saw some awesome shapes of "Grapewood" I'm going to guess it is debarked grapevines. They were in the repitile section, I'll guess for the lizards to crawl on and bask. Thing was, it was about 1/4 the price of the driftwood, with much more appealing shapes. Anyone know anything about this stuff and if it's suitable for a freshwater tank?

Nessie!!!

I'm not so sure, read your tank manual if you stil have it, the opne my tank came with said driftwood suitable. Best Of Luck!

capekate

Hi Magpie
I use grape vine in a lot of my projects. I would have to assume that kept in water its just going to deteriorate. So not sure how well it would work in an aquarium. I have to put grape vine in water to soak and make it pliable. That is why I think over time it would deteriorate.

` kate

MagpieTear

LOL, My tank didn't have a manual, or if it did, I lost it years ago. Thanks Kate, that's what I figured, but the only stupid question is the unasked one...

capekate

Hey ! I hear ya! I love the grape vine and your right, they sure come in interesting shapes. Would be nice eh?

~ kate

Dino

We use that exact product here with no ill effects,

MagpieTear

Oh really? Cool, I may have to go investigate a small piece and test it then.

Dino

We probably have 20 pieces spread out among the tanks in the fishhouse.

sirdarksol

I would check with the petstore to see if they know if the grapewood has been treated with insecticide. I killed a bunch of shrimp with treated grapewood once.
Aside from that, I've had a problem with the stuff growing a fungus or bacterial bloom, but I'm guessing there was another factor in that (it was in a brackish tank, for example).

MagpieTear

Hmmm.... I'll have to go and see if the labels have a website or phone number on them, I'd almost be positive the clerks at Pet Supplies Plus wouldn't have a clue if it has been treated or not.

Dino

We tested ours on feeder guppies for a few months before we added it to tanks containing rarer fish.

TheEssigs

Before you add it to a tank, I would throw it in a bucket of waterchanged water for about 48 hours and see how it affects the wood. See if it spouts any mystery stuff and see how much play you get from it... I would also test the water before and after to see how much the water chem changes, if at all, as well.... just to be safe!

Good luck!