BOGWOOD

 

What is Bogwood?

Bogwood is wood preserved in a bog due to anaerobic conditions. Usually bogwood is stained brown by organic matter (tannins) present in the bog.

• True bogwood is very rarely offered in aquarium shops as it is very expensive. The wood offered are usually pieces of wood that have been dried out in the sun and so may float when first placed in a tank.

The wood becomes waterlogged after many weeks and so will sink in the aquarium. Large pieces with interesting shapes are quite collectible and are often added to aquariums to give them character.

What Bogwood does to the water

The wood will leach out tannins which slowly turn the water brown (this reduces with age). This is harmless and indeed often thought of as beneficial to the animals as it is a mild antibacterial, fungicide agent and the wood provides trace minerals and nutrients for all your animals and plants. These tannins will alter the pH of the water making it more acidic and will soften the water in a similar way that peat does. This can be counter balanced by adding Calcium carbonate like crushed seashells or coral sand. Ensure your tank water has a decent level of KH and this pH effect will be minimal.

• When adding fresh wood to the tank often a light white coating appears on the wood for a couple of months. This is a harmless fungus and should disappear. Algae eating fish often eat it.

• Adding activated carbon to your filter will remove tannins, and regular water changes will help keep them to comfortable level.

Benefits of Bogwood

• Provides live food in the form of infusoria for fry, small fish and invertebrates.

• Provides essential trace minerals for all life in the tank (including plants).^]

• Provides essential fibre in their diet for catfish like bristlenose or Otocinclus fish.

• Adding bogwood significantly reduces fungus and bacterial disease in your aquatic animals. .

• Provides hiding places for your animals, so they feel less stressed, and therefore will be healthier.

• It looks nice.

Preparing the wood

Do not simply dunk the wood into your tank. Your piece of wood has probably been sitting on a shelf in the shop for a long time. It may have collected chemical sprays from the air and often will be coated with dust.

Take the wood and rinse it under normal tap water and leave it in a bucket of tap water for several days. If the water turns very dark brown then the wood probably hasn't been pretreated and you'll need to replace the water and re-examine the water every 2 days until it shows signs of lessening. This can take months in a untreated piece.

If it is pretreated it should sink rapidly within a day and will not leak out high levels of tannins. Once you're happy with the way the wood is looking, add to your aquarium.

• Boiling wood in water for 6-12 hours is a quick alternative to letting it sit soaking in water for weeks. But this is a very smelly and dirty process for most home aquarists. It also destroys any beneficial fungus or bacteria there may have been on it - along with any harmful ones.

A selection of bogwood can be found at  http://www.absolute-aquatics.com