Wood.......

HAHAHAHA

My husband and I are such criminals, when we go scouting for rocks we end up leaving all my camera gear in the car, take the camera bag and I have the camera in my hand... while I'm taking photos, he's picking rocks for me and stashing them in the bag hehehehe

 

@Linxie, at least you have a conscience lol.. im sure the locals here think I work for the local parks department..maybe we should invest in an official looking uniform........... hmmm

 

LOL and an ID card to go with it

 

Don't want people looking funny at you follow these steps:

1Wear a bright green shirt.
2 Must have a big rimmed hat preferably biege in color.
3 Have a lanyard around your neck with any old card dangling from it.
4 Take a magnifying glass and look at things before picking it up. Then nod as if in approval of your find.

Or just dress as a hobo.

I got loads of driftwood around the house even though I would never use all of it and know it.

 

Another one indeed.. some good tips there Gerhard, thank you.

When catching shrimp/swords i'm often approached by confused and concerned people and I find myself having to explain that i'm ridding the local rivers of invasive species, this normally earns me a solid nod of approval... hell, maybe I am also developing a conscience... Then again, maybe its just because I look like a hobo.

 

LOL I went through a similar thing a few months back. I found a plant (can't remember the name now) in a local damn, so I took some for my aquaponics system and a lady approached me asking what I was doing. I told her the same thing

 

fiends! the lot of us....

 

I prefer environmental relocation and preservation for beauty technician

 

you are clearly well versed in these subtle arts... I will from now on defer to your wisdom.

 

So how does one know what wood will work? I came across a pile what looks like it either came off a grapevine or a bottlebrush tree..... Very hard and after de-barking it seems to be nicely veined too. Would it be safe, and if so, would I soak and for how long before introducing?

 

LOL I have loads of driftwood on my outside table and loads of stones as well - knowing well I'm never going to use them again. Just as bad as the rest of you lot... @TrevorR, do you have the same problem?

 

Avoid trees in the families Apocynaceae (gifboom), Moraceae (fig), Sapotaceae (milkwood) and Euphorbiaceae (tamboti etc.). The trees that I would use whenever I can find a proper piece of dead wood, are ironwood (Combretum inerme), mopane (Colophospermum), kiaat/Dalbergia family, maybe also Diospyros. The reason is that it helps tremendously to start with a wood that is quite dense when dry, so that it doesn't take two and a half years for it to stay sunk by itself. Ironwood in particular is wonderful, but because the trees grow so very, very slowly, it would be absolutely criminal to destroy a living tree for the sake of aquascaping with it. Even collecting dead stumps, one has to bear in mind the insects, birds, frogs and other animals that rely on deadwood for nesting and shelter. Not to preach, but only take when there is clearly enough to go around, and when the particular piece is not home to something. As an example, the population limiting factor for the Brenton Blue was found to be the abundance of fallen trunks of a particular tree, which are used as nest hollows by the ants upon which the butterfly caterpillar is a nest parasite. The butterflies only started to recover to some extent when the fire regimen was restored to preserve the trees. There are countless similar examples. Dead wood and random rocks aren't just useless ornaments in nature - they are very functional for the wildlife and plants in that specific environment.

 

Thanks so much @dorff , that certainly makes sense and some thought provoking advice too. Any thoughts on my question about the bottlebrush? Not quite a Diospyros, but I suppose close enough

 

What @dorff says is great! Just avoid poisonous trees and you will be fine! I use lots of wood, even sweet thorn (Acacia Karoo) I generally soak my wood in salty water for no less than six weeks. Some of the harder types of wood I tie to a piece of cord and chuck it in my reservoir util it sinks which can take for ages. Grape vines are my favorite, but they can be expensive and hard to come by. I am always hunting for wood! LOL! I have very hard water and the tannin s help to soften it for my New World Cichlids.

 

Correction: Combretum inerme is called leadwood, not ironwood. My bad. But I should add that ironwood would also work, and wild olive as well, as both are dense and very hard woods.

Grapevine: One should approach wine farmers, as they regularly prune or replace vineyards. The wood makes fantastic firewood, but because it is so gnarly and contorted, it is not usually sold next to the road, for instance, as it does not pack into bags very easily. Instead, the farmers and their workers use it on the farms. I will see if I can get some from a friend whose family farms on the Gariep/Orange River in the Northern Cape.

 

@dorff If you can get grape vine, please let me know, I am very interested!

 

Lungfish; Interesting!

 

September this year while vacationing in KNP I had to mentally prepare myself and wife every morning before going on drives to NOT TO LOOK AT THE WOOD (magnificent pieces just laying there) but to focus on the wildlife. If we just could get some of that!!!!

 

Bahahaha you're not alone, I was going to the bergies with a friend much earlier this year and seeing all these beautiful stones lying on the side of the road, thinking about how I could fit them into my tank and some of them if I had a bigger tank.