Bogwood vs driftwood

[Svetlana3k]

Is there any difference between using bogwood vs driftwood for my pl*cos? I have commons, farlowellas, and bristlenoses, i have driftwood in the tank, which the bristlenose loves, but the commons don't touch it, farlowellas, rarely. Every article I've read says use bogwood. Any info would be great.

[polkadot]

Hi Svetlana3k,

I'm using driftwood for my tank and the plecos seem fine with it. My understanding of bogwood is that it's heavier and some (or all??) has 2 tones of colors?

Bogwood


Driftwood???? but its damm heavy for its size!

[Ben]

Bog wood is much more dense, and is considerably less buoyant. It is
wood that has fallen into fresh wather pools, and slower streams, and has absorbed quite a bit of minerals from the water and decomposing vegitation, and in many cases has a very heavy tannin content that gives it the red colouration. The tannin, acts as a natural preservative that makes bog wood rot very slowly.

Driftwood is very buoyant. This is why you often see it attached to a
slate or ceramic plate on the bottom. The only way you can get it to sink on it's own is to submerse it in water for several days weighted down so that it can absorb some some water. Even then it is quite likely to move around easily in your tank. Usually drift wood come from salt water, and becomes much more buoyant as it absorbs salt. It will sometimes rot more easily than bog wood, but if it is salt water drift wood, the salt acts as a preservative for the wood, much like the tannin does for the bog wood.

BTW, tannin will leak slowly out of your bog wood frequently to give
you water a reddish colour, it is harmless, and is in fact very good for many plecs and cats. It helps make the water conditions more natural for the fish.

I currently use both in my cat-tank. Some of my plecs prefer to munch on the bog wood, and some prefer the saltier drift wood.

Hope this helps a bit

[Dinyar]

Really?

I always thought that in the UK they called it "bogwood" while in the US they say "driftwood". I have plenty of so-called "driftwood" that sinks like a stone.

[Silurus]

Actually, I think Ben is right. I looked up a dictionary (Oxford Paperback) and driftwood is "wood floating on the sea or washed ashore by it".

[Dinyar]

Could well be. However, in my (limited) experience, I rarely (never?) hear/see the term "bogwood" used in the US aquarium vocabulary but encounter "driftwood" frequently. Perhaps the (valid) distinction has been largely lost in US usage?

Dinyar

[Barbie]

Bogwood actually refers to the rootwood of trees that grow in marshy/boggy areas. It will release far more tannins into your tank, and tends to be much more dense and difficult for the plecos to rasp into new shapes. I have a few pieces that have been constantly in use for 5 years, and they will still tea stain new tanks to a nice shade of brown in just a few days. The tannic acids that are released will actually dissolve some of your carbonate hardness and thereby soften your water. You can find rootwood such as mopani and wellaby wood that are just very dense, but have a very light color to half of the piece, like only the lower portion suspends itself into the water. Those pieces also tend to release large amounts of tannins.

Hope that helps

Barbie

[coelacanth]

I always thought that in the UK they called it "bogwood" while in the US they say "driftwood". I have plenty of so-called "driftwood" that sinks like a stone.

Yup, I think it's a different word for the same thing. We call driftwood what you'd pick up on a beach, and bogwood is what comes out of bogs, whereas in the US I've never heard it called bogwood. Sometimes comes from Irish bogs, but quite a lot now comes from areas abroad being turned into plantations of various sorts.
There are a few other instances where the US gets things confused like this.
Like 'Football' being a game played with the feet.........