# drift wood centerpiece for 300 gallon mbana tank



## rotccapt (May 31, 2011)

hi all i was tired of looking for drift wood online and cringing every time i saw the price tag so when i went to Florida on vacation i kept my eye out for the perfect piece of drift wood. well i think i found it and it is big (no i mean huge). not sure what kind of stump it is but i found it in one of the rivers. the piece measures about 40 inches wide by 65 inches long and about 24 inches high. with a little bit of trimming this will go in my 300 gallon mbana tank that is 72" long 36" wide and 30 inches tall.most of the back leg will be removed so the piece will fit in the corner and i may also notch the truck a bit so that it will fit over the overflow box so alot of the baddly decaded parts will be removed. this piece will be propped up in the corner of the tank and will have a couple rock piles and another small stump along with some plants. i will also be using the tan pool filter sand with this tank i think the look will be great. i am also planning on adding some crushed coral to the filter to help with buffering

i will be making the center brace(s) removable so we can get the monster in and out of the tank if needed

to make it fish safe i plan on letting it dry while i build the tank then i plan on dumping boiling water over it and scrubbing off the remaining bark and loos derbies then i plan on spraying it down with a mild bleach solution and rinsing it again. then i will put it in the tank and let the tank run with a lot of carbon in the filter for at least a week doing several large water changes then i will add my sand and start the fish cycle.

so what do you think of it? also here is a rendering of the tank it will be in


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

It's an interesting piece and your description sounds good but hard to visualize the finished look. For mbuna I might want more rock piles than driftwood, but let's see how it turns out. opcorn:


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## rotccapt (May 31, 2011)

the top pic is what you would be looking at if you were to look into the side of the tank. the second pic (although hard to see because of the ice chest) is what you would see looking through the front of the tank. i will have some rock piles for them too. i had driftwood in my last mbana tank it they seemed to like it. this piece has lots of through holes in the root structure that should be cool watching them swim though


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## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

That piece looks perfect to me, i have two pieces in the centre of my 250 gallon arranged in a t shape. there's a socolofi in there making a little breeding spot under it. others swim in and around it so i think you're likely to see your fish in and around it. if u look at my tank you'll see i have a lot of rockwork too with the tanksize it works quite well.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Driftwood can look great in an aquarium, and you've got a nice piece there. Keep in mind, that driftwood will often leach out tannins, causing the tank water to turn yellowish/brown, as well as reducing the ph and hardness of the tank. In a mbuna tank, I would keep an eye on the ph and hardness, to ensure it doesn't drop below acceptable parameters.


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Don't forget that dry wood floats too. And it may take a really long time for a piece to soak up enough water to sink. It also may not sit the way you want it to on the bottom of the tank.

When you trim it to fit the tank I would suggest using a hatchet and chisel rather than a saw. Squared off stump ends really stand out.

Andy


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## NeptunesNeighborhood (Apr 19, 2012)

Narwhal72 said:


> When you trim it to fit the tank I would suggest using a hatchet and chisel rather than a saw. Squared off stump ends really stand out.


That's some good advice :thumb:


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## rotccapt (May 31, 2011)

yea i know about the tannin and the floating i went through that with my last tank and its drift wood. i found felt filters and carbon got rid of it and i did not have any ph issues. as for the floating i am probobly going to attatch some slate to the bottom of it to make it sink and sit like i want if it does not sink on its own. once it is in then i will put my sand in so that it will cover the slate


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