Zoo Med African Mopani Wood, Medium (Sizes May Vary)

No local shops carry this wood, and after searching online for some for our two fish tanks we ran across these at a great price. They shipped quick, and are very nice looking in the tanks. Our pleco's love them, as well as the cat fish like to hide underneath them, after we propped one side up with some rocks.

To remove a lot of the tannin, clean the sink out, and place wood in sink. Boil water enough to cover the wood, let sit until water cools. Repeat this a few times until the water is mostly clear after cooling.

I ordered the Zoo Med Mopani wood in size medium from Entirely Pets. It was supposed to be 10-12" long, but when it came it was 20" long! I will have to saw it in half to fit my tank. No fault on Entirely Pets part as the tag put there by Zoo Med said size medium. Since the photo that accompanies this item is always the same, I thought I'd tell you what mine looks like. It is orange tone on top and chocolate on the bottom. The width varies from 2 1/2" to 4" and the top is rounded with a flat, almost hollowed-out bottom. So, if you wanted to angle it across your aquarium from the top, you'd probably want to keep the back to the back of the tank. There is a nice knot at one end of the main root and two smaller roots crossing at the other. There are plenty of small holes and protuberances for fish, snails, and freshwater shrimp to explore for food.

I can't speak to the leaching part, because I haven't placed it in the tank yet.

Much, much later: boil the heck out of this for two hours and then soak for weeks to get the tannins mostly out or it will stain your water whiskey brown and maybe lower the pH a bit. If you have an open top aquaria and let some of the wood stick out you will notice that the wood in the water actually gets a lot less orange than that part sticking out of the water. Do not let wood stick out of water if you have a hood. The humidity causes fuzzy mold problems on the wood. Do not use in brackish water tanks as mine rotted within two weeks in one. It really stunk up the tank for weeks then (boggy smell).

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I am getting ready to buy three more pieces of this mopani wood for my new tank. I purchased a small piece for my firzt tank, a ten gallon, and I was very pleased. I was nervous buying online because I could not choose the shape, but I think that because this is a real piece of wood, no matter what it is going to look natural, because, well, it's nature!! The colors are beautiful, copper and red, to light and dark brown. I had read that mopani wood wouldn't rot like driftwood, but would leach color into the tank and while it wouldn't be bad for the fish, could be displeasing to look at. Not wanting to deal with tinted water for weeks, and not wanting to wait weeks to soak it outside my tank, I decided to boil my wood. I boiled my piece for about an hour and a half, changing the water every fifteen minutes or so. After several water changes, the water was coming out much lighter. There was still a little color in the cooking water when I decided to move the wood into my tank, but I never noticed any difference in my tank water's color so enough must have boiled out at that point. I also noticed that the color seemed enriched after the boiling, but I think this is because I used a gas stove and didn't flip the wood. The bottom of the piece was significantly darker than the rest of the wood, so I think the direct heat from the flame inderneath may have started to burn the tannins or something. I liked how it looked, but you may want to flip yours to prevent this, should you try boiling it. I have not noticed any slime, or pests.... but this could also be from the boiling. Long story short, I suggest boiling. Seems to have a lot of advantages, and I already have a "Fish Pot" laying around from my regular maintanece, so I didn't have to ruin my good cookware. (Not that it would have... I see no staining on the pot) Did I mention that it looks great in my tank with a few stones and plants, and that my fishies love it?

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We bought this for our 50 gallon and its a beautiful piece of hard wood! That being said we did place ours into a big kettle of boiling water turn off the flame and let it steep till cool to remove some of the natural tannins..upon reflection we should have done this at least twice because it did indeed cause our water to have a slight tea colored tinge to it after a couple of weeks. A change of charcole and a %20 water change restored our crystal clear water again, however it is beginnning to look a little tea colored again but not nearly as much. I suspect it will be gone completely after the next change down the road. Placing the wood in the boiling water also has the benefit of sterilizing it as well! I do not regret buying this it is a very interesting addition to our tank.

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I ordered a medium piece for my small planted tank and I am extremely happy with it. The piece is about 14"x8"x5" and has beautiful dark and light tones. It has twisted branches and roots poking out. (My cory catfish love it!)

Before I stuck it in my tank, I boiled the piece for about an hour and then soaked it for a week in a bucket. The wood still made my water tea colored, but it is not too bad, and is getting less noticeable as the weeks pass.

I did not have any issues with fuzzy growth, like other reviewers mentioned. (Maybe because I boiled and pre-soaked it?)

All in all, I am very happy with the log I got, and would definitely purchase again.

One final note, the medium piece is a little large for my 6.5 gallon tank. I had to do a bit of cutting and chopping to make it fit right in my tank. A 10gal+ tank would be better suited for the piece I received. (Every piece is different, so your results may vary!)

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