Decor Questions

Hello, I am new to these forums and first of all I would just like to say how impressed and grateful for the wealth of information I have found here. Within the next couple of weeks I will be setting up my first ever discus tank in a 120cm x 45cm x 35cm 189L tank. I have kept hardy tropical fish and oscars before, but I believe this will be a completely new challenge for me. :)

The other day I was thinking about the decor in my tank, and I have a couple of questions that I would greatly appreciate if answered. Ok, here goes.

1) In the past I have used sandstone rock in my fish tank set-ups, that I have collected from my garden (on the edge of a national park :) ). I usually scrub them very hard to remove any excess sand or grit before placing them in the tank. So far I have had no problems with them, in terms of water quality for my hardy fish, but I was just wondering if sandstone rocks would pose any problems with keeping discus, or would I be better off purchasing rocks from my LFS?

2) My family has a rather large collection of firewood obtained from eucalypt gum in our garden (sorry my tree knowledge is fairly limited) and I am wondering whether this sort of wood would be ok to use in my discus set-up? Or, once again, would I be better off purchasing drift/bog wood from my LFS?

Thankyou all for your time, and any help would be appreciated immensely :D .

I dont know a great deal, but i have a piece of sandstone in with my discus from my garden and it is fine, again i scrubbed it and soaked it well before it went in the tank, and then it was initially in with hardier fish but its fine with my discus.

The eucalypt i imagine would not sink.. and if it did i imagine it to be quite a pourous wood that would 'leak' into your tank water possibly leaving a strange smell and colour behind, what it would do chemical wise is beyond me!! But i have heard drift wood is best bought from a LFS rather then picking it up off the beach etc as they have all been fumagated so there is no little nasties inside that can hurt your tank - and you still have to soak it for weeks until all the colour comes out and then its safe to put in your tank..

Hope this helps - but remember I'm am amature.

Hi i'm not sure about the sandstone

with the wood how long has it been dead for(how long has the tree been cut down for) becouse wood cut straight from the tree is not sutible and you would be better of getting it from the LFS

Thanks for all the great responses! :D

So far sandstone has not presented any problems with my other aquarium set-ups, hopefully it should be fine with discus, but I just want to make sure.

The eucalypt gum was cut down about 2-3 years ago, was dried out, and was recently cut up into small chunks for our fire. Although, I don't think I will be using it in my tank, so I will just go and buy some driftwood from my LFS.

Thanks again.

If the wood is old you can try soaking it to see what it does to the water.

Even wood from the LFS will normally need to be soaked or boiled to remove nasties, so if you have some nice pieces you might as well give it a go and save some money.