Cholla & ph

[Wygglz]

Hey all. I have a question for you tannin experts. If I put a 6" half pipe of teddy bear cholla in a 36 gal, will I be messing with the ph? The other half is away and I think the yoyo loach would like a cave. It seems to me that something that small would be insignificant in the scheme of 36 gal, but I'm not the water chem half of the equation.

[Shrimple minded]

IMO not at all.  I would feel comfortable bringing multiple pieces (of 6 inch FULL pipe) in and out of my 40B.

I boil mine with RO for 20 minutes and let them cool for a couple hours before addition, which removes some tannins, but certainly some remain.

 

[Wygglz]

Thanks Shrimple! 

[ShrimpP]

Some factors that come into play;

Higher temps leach out tannins quicker (hence why boiling released them faster).

And obviously how much mass there is of the tannin source and how much tannins remain.

But the main factor if you will notice any water parameter change, is your KH. With 0 KH, you could very well lower your pH easily (how much, again depends how much tannins/humic acid leaches out. But with any decent KH, even 3dKH, you won't notice any pH change at all. It would take quite a lot of tannins/cholla "wood" to lower the pH.

So if you have decent KH, there wouldn't be any pH change.

 

That a baby yoyo loach? Cholla wood doesn't get that big, so he must be small to fit under that. In case you weren't aware, yoyo loaches are often bullies, fighting among themselves and other Botia quite often. and even nipping at other fish's fin. Maybe when he gets older that may become apparent.

[Wygglz]

Thank you ShrimpP. The loach is still small. I took his hiding plant and felt bad. He hasn't been too much of a bully, but he is in with other bullies so they seem to have a truce right now amd everyone leaves everyone else alone. And they have 36 gallons for 3 tetras and a loach so they have their space.

[Crackhead Johny]

9 hours ago, ShrimpP said:

That a baby yoyo loach? Cholla wood doesn't get that big,

How big? https://www.etsy.com/listing/231861102/cholla-cactus-wood-plant-stand-perch

I have seen some nice sized stuff.

[Wygglz]

This is just 2" diameter I would estimate and 6" long but cut in half lengthwise. I use the cholla from The Shrimp Tank.

[ShrimpP]

6 hours ago, Crackhead Johny said:

How big? https://www.etsy.com/listing/231861102/cholla-cactus-wood-plant-stand-perch

I have seen some nice sized stuff.

Well, I'll be... haha. That's huge!

I've seen cholla fields in New Mexico where some sellers collect them, and the "branches" have only maxed around 2-3 inches in diameter.
Looks like I am definitely wrong though, a quick search shows there is larger dead/dried up cholla/cactus (Cylindropuntia) species harvested. I'm just used to only seeing the common 2" wide sticks. Does look like the teddy bear cholla the OP is referring to, does only get about 2" in diameter though.

[Crackhead Johny]

I'm tempered to get a huge beast multi branch cholla for a center focus piece in a tank. I was eyeballing this one http://www.save-on-crafts.com/cholla.html

but since there are 6 available I suspect that is just a ref photo and I might end up with a log.

 

[Ramp Inc.]

On 4/1/2016 at 10:54 AM, Crackhead Johny said:

I'm tempered to get a huge beast multi branch cholla for a center focus piece in a tank. I was eyeballing this one http://www.save-on-crafts.com/cholla.html

but since there are 6 available I suspect that is just a ref photo and I might end up with a log.

 

I got one of those cholla branches from save-on-crafts.com and it pretty much looks like the picture.  It's big.  It cost a lot to ship though and in my opinion it's too ugly to use as a center piece.  

 

Don't bother buying the "bonsai" wood.  My piece was tiny and stupid looking.

 

But their manzanita pieces are great.