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Stones, branches and other natural materials in the aquarium

While an aquarium can be decidedly decorative in its own right, and is often a stylish piece of furniture, first and foremost it is a habitat for the animals that are kept in it. Such an aquarium looks most beautiful when it looks natural, and a natural look is most likely to be obtained by using natural materials for decoration and texturing in addition to planting.


Stones in the aquarium

When it comes to rocks, you can use tried-and-true materials available in stores. With different wetrock you can set colorful accents. For aquascapes, for example, in the Iwagumi style, various stones have proven suitable. Dragon stones, knife stones or petrified wood are beautiful ways to create a hardscape. These types of rocks are often seen in the templates in books and magazines. But you can also create great layouts with lava boulders or aquarium rocks. On coarse-textured rock, you can perfectly attach various mosses, ferns and other perching plants , they grow very well on the rough surface. If the rock has cracks and holes, you don't even have to tie the plants on, then you can just stuff them firmly (but of course still careful enough not to squash them!) into the gaps. Some rocks can harden the water, this is especially disadvantageous for aquascapes where soft water shrimps should move in. Therefore, please read the item descriptions carefully before ordering to see if the stones are suitable for a soft water aquarium!


Test stones for aquarium suitability

Of course, you can also go out and collect stones yourself - a trip to nature can never hurt, often you can find first-class ideas for aquascapes there ... and self-collected materials are something special. If you want to use these stones in your aquarium, you should test them for lime beforehand. Often you hear the tip to test with vinegar. However, vinegar is a very weak acid, and a test with vinegar is often not conclusive enough. Acetic acid, citric acid or another relatively strong acid is more suitable. Simply drizzle it on the stone and wait a short time. If the stone contains lime (and thus can potentially harden the water), the area where the acid was applied will begin to foam to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the lime content. After the vinegar test, an oil test is then called for ... some types of rock, such as slate, can actually contain oil, which would not be very healthy in the aquarium. For the oil test, simply place the stones in a bucket of clean water overnight - if a light film of oil appears on the water surface the next morning, the stone is not suitable.


Woods in the aquarium

As woods different roots like bog roots, red bog roots, mangrove wood or also the two-colored mopani wood have proven themselves. From time to time one hears of problems with mopani wood - however, this is not due to the wood itself, but to the fact that mopani roots were sandblasted from unsafe sources with unsuitable blasting agents, the remains of which then dissolve in the aquarium water and can be toxic for the stock. Mopani wood from reputable sources is safe. Wood is very popular in the invertebrate aquarium, not only because biofilms can form well on it, but also because crayfish, for example, need a high proportion of fibrous food, which they can gnaw off well from the somewhat softer bog roots, among other things. 

Roots can be beautifully planted with moss or perching plants such as ferns or Hygrophila pinnatifida - either twine or cyanoacrylate-based superglue, which is absolutely harmless in the aquarium, is used for this.


Treatment of wood for aquarium

Many types of roots float up at the beginning, because they first have to soak. Nevertheless, you should not over-sprinkle this wood so that it sinks - over-sprinkled roots can rot faster. You can either water the roots separately or put them directly into the aquarium. Then you should weigh them down with stones, for example, so that they stay down and do not mess up the painstakingly built aquascape when they float up. Another option would be to attach a slate plate or even one or more suction cups to the bottom of the root with a stainless steel screw. Then you can simply place it on the bottom plate or attach it to it. You can also easily add additional structure to the aquarium glass in this way, in which case the suction cup is attached to the side rather than the bottom, of course. 

Self collected wood in the aquarium

Self-collected wood and twigs are also very beautiful in the aquarium. The woods of deciduous trees are particularly suitable. You should be very careful with coniferous wood and wood from bushes and in case of doubt rather do without it. An exception is the hazel bush. Especially the bizarrely shaped branches of the cork hazel are extremely decorative and can be ideally planted with mosses and perching plants . Before using them in the aquarium, they should be allowed to dry thoroughly. Well suited for larger pieces are those that have been exposed to the wind and weather for a long time. In the case of self-collected wood, just as with roots from the trade, it can initially come to the formation of bacterial coatings that are somewhat reminiscent of mold. These bacteria feed on organic residues in the wood and disappear all by themselves when these residues are consumed. Shrimps and snails like to eat these coatings.

Other natural materials for the aquarium

You can also collect other natural materials such as alder cones yourself if you have the opportunity to do so. The important thing here is not to collect too late in the year, so that the rain has not washed out all the good ingredients, and not too early - the alder cones must no longer be green. You can test them simply by putting the cones in a glass of water. After a few minutes, you should see a dark brown haze sinking down from the cones. Cones from conifers are not suitable, so you should look carefully when collecting them! Unlike conifers, alders like to grow near bodies of water.

In recent years, the fruiting stalks of the tree hazel, the so-called witches' nuts, have also become popular in aquaristics. They look very bizarre and offer shrimp an incredibly large grazing area. Before adding them to the aquarium, remove the nuts from them.
Brown autumn leaves are also a great nature-like decoration for the invertebrate aquarium, which not only looks beautiful, but also provides the inhabitants with a first-class food source in addition to hiding places. Alternatively, you can of course also use almond leaves .


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    Vielen Dank für den gut geschrieben Artikel. Eine wirkliche Seltenheit in der Heutigen Zeit und bei diesem Thema.
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    Markus

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    Ihr solltet dazu schreiben, dass man in der Natur gesammeltes Herbstlaub besser vorher im Ofen bei 150-200°C trocknet und eventuell sogar vor dem "backen" abbrüht, damit man sich keine bösartigen Pilze oder Bakterien einfängt. Ansonsten ein sehr in formativer Text.

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