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Reef to River.

Any ideas what kind of wood (root) this is?
Or what it’s “hobby” name is?
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I cant remember the tradename off the top of my head but it might as well be called "Trouble".
There have been many reports of this root giving out some sort of toxin or not maturing properly in a tank, leading to everything from rotten smelling water to dead fish.
Its very pretty but I would be very careful with it, especially if you want to use large amounts.
 
Yeha it's relaly annoying that wood cos it looks amazing but it's actually not useable. @LondonAquascaper used some on his tank recently and had to take it down cos everything went gross ;(
I’m thinking the twisted/knotted manzanita wood my offer a good replacement.

Still debating Iwagumi as I’ve always loved a clean Iwagumi, or a simplistic and clean setup for some angelfish.
I’m in love with @Siddy 45p Iwagumi, what would that look like in a 90cm tank :pompus:
 
I’ll definitely be giving it a miss then. Which is a shame because it’s got so much character.

Not having many options for great LFS near me (windsor) makes the decision of creating an Iwagumi really hard as I can’t just go and select rocks.

Might have to drive up north.
 
I’m thinking the twisted/knotted manzanita wood my offer a good replacement.

Still debating Iwagumi as I’ve always loved a clean Iwagumi, or a simplistic and clean setup for some angelfish.
I’m in love with @Siddy 45p Iwagumi, what would that look like in a 90cm tank :pompus:
Manzanita is really really nice. The most expensive wood, but coming from marine it probably won't seem so bad.

Sid's Iwagumi is soooo beaut, great inspiration. It's always hard to pick when there are so many beautiful options.

Not having many options for great LFS near me (windsor) makes the decision of creating an Iwagumi really hard as I can’t just go and select rocks.
TBH I think with hardscape you do just have to make the trips. It's much more fun and fulfilling that way. I live in London and it's also a bit rubbish for aquascaping. I think cos they need big premises to store everything, it's just too expensive to be in a city, so have to go on occasional big trips.

For hardscape, it's Aquarium Gardens, Riverwood and Scaped Nature in the South. Aquarium Gardens stocks a wide range of beautiful hardscape with a few amazing standout pieces, but not lots of each type, but then they also have a lot of beautiful scapes and plants too. I've got a lot of fantastic quality plants there. Riverwood stocks a big range of hardscape from small to large too and since they have a good outside area it there's a lot of it - it's the place I go for all of mine, I think pete has a real good eye for sculptural hardscape. When I went recently, Scaped Nature did have some fabulous manzanita, they seem to specialise in it, as well as some very large nice rocks good for an Iwagumi. Good to look on their Instagrams and ask them what's available, often they'll send you pictures. Nothing compares to going there and fiddling about with it for hours though!!

For fabulous plants, you've got to go to Wildwoods World of Water Enfield which shouldn't be too hard for you to get to, they also sell some hardscape but not loads so I probs wouldn't get it from there, and they have v reasonably priced and unusual fish too.
 
Thank-you for all of that @shangman
I’m currently spending hours a day just trawling through every image I can find of Iwagumi. @Sid.scapes I’ve come across glassaqua and couldn’t agree more, biostethics and aquascaping_ryno also have some layouts that caught my eye.

I think I’m learning that Iwagumi either take a lot of practice or a real natural eye for it. Something I have neither of haha.

Maybe I’ll lean more towards angelfish, maybe I won’t, I’m useless at making my mind up :banghead:
 
Ya, its millennium wood - its used in George Farmers latest video - he soaked it for 10 weeks prior to use, and did multiple water changes before putting it in a tank.

I soaked it for about 6 weeks and mine turned my entire tank manky. I think it just releases shitloads of organics or something because I was having to change filter floss 3x per week, and at one point the pump nearly chugged to a halt it was so blocked. Weird though because it doesn't actually release that many tannins - but something else is going on for sure...... Anyway, I would caution anyone using it that they risk having to restart the entire setup.
 
From a reef keeping perspective I would always cure anything that enters my tank anyway.
I’ll definitely be avoiding it and going with something else if that’s the route I take. I’d also be covering it in moss, so the texture isn’t overly important.
 
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