Wood for mounting minis?

[RSJ]

I have a lovely piece of mesquite wood that has been hosting S. American cichlids in my aquariam for about two years. The fish have gone to new digs and the tank is now empty. The wood is still firm and fine, still giving out tannins like crazy. Here's the question: since the tannins from this wood lower the pH significantly in my tank, is it not a good candidate for hosting a couple of mini's mounted? Will it be too acidic a background for the roots? Then again maybe there are some mini's that would like that sort of mount. What do you all think?

Ronnie-Sue

[Forrest]

I would love to know the answer to this question, as I would like to collect rain water in a used wine barrel, and I wonder what affect teh remaining tannins would have on the chids.

[LJA]

Bark and CHC will both leach tannins for quite some time, and this is usually not a problem with adult plants. Seedlings, however, can be very sensitive to and adversely affected by high concentrations. If your piece of wood has been soaking for two years though, I don't imagine that you'll encounter concentrations anywhere near high enough to do any damage. In a closed system like an aquarium, a piece of wood may significantly lower the water's pH, but it's not going to have nearly the same effect out in the open. I'd be willing to bet that if you measured the pH of the water hitting the top of the mount, then measured the pH of the water dripping off the bottom after it sluiced across and down, you'd notice absolutely no difference. I'd say, go ahead and mount.