# Mopani wood, beautiful 6 weeks ago. Now ugly.



## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

I purchased a beautiful piece of two-tone Mopani wood as a centerpiece for my aquarium. It's now been about six weeks and the Mopani wood has lost most of it's coloring and is now primarily black and dark brown. The dark colors wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't using black Eco-complete. 

I removed it from the tank and cleaned it up with PP to remove all of the algae, but it's still rather ugly. There is hardly any contrast between the Mopani wood and my substrate.

Is this typical of Mopani wood?


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## Jadelin (Sep 30, 2009)

kcrossley said:


> Is this typical of Mopani wood?


Mine also turned dark reddish-brown and black. But I have light-colored substrate, so the contrast is good for me.


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## Shavemacman (Jun 21, 2008)

I think it is normal. I just added a new piece to my tank and it is much warmer brown than my older wood which now looks monotone dark-brown, almost black.


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

Yes, it's normal. Mine's turned almost black after 2 years submersed


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

Just a questing, sorry if I'm thread jacking...
- Are mopani woods easily rooted by anubias and ferns?

And to keep the thread on topic:
- Can someone post a picture of how bad the browning/darkening is?


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## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

legomaniac89 said:


> Yes, it's normal. Mine's turned almost black after 2 years submersed


Does driftwood turn really dark too?


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

kcrossley said:


> Does driftwood turn really dark too?


Yep most wood will get much darker coloered over time under water. roud:


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## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

If that's the case, I wonder if I wouldn't be better off with something artificial, like the products from OSI? Not the cheesy stuff, but the artificial stumps. http://www.oceanstarinternational.com/Ornaments.htm


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

kcrossley said:


> If that's the case, I wonder if I wouldn't be better off with something artificial, like the products from OSI? Not the cheesy stuff, but the artificial stumps. http://www.oceanstarinternational.com/Ornaments.htm


Only if you use plastic plants in there as well. :icon_mrgr


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

My older piece of Malaysian driftwood has stayed a nice red color for over a year now underwater, and so far my Mopani looks pretty decent (submerged about a month now).

My newer piece of Malaysian wood is super dark, almost black. It's still leeching tannins pretty good.

Maybe you could get some manzanita for your tank?


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## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

Captivate05 said:


> Maybe you could get some manzanita for your tank?


Will that hold it's color better?


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## bbeddes (Oct 27, 2009)

Regardless of how it looks originally, almost any submerged wood will turn black, including manzanita.


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## kcrossley (Feb 22, 2010)

bbeddes said:


> Regardless of how it looks originally, almost any submerged wood will turn black, including manzanita.


Yep, I just found a really cool piece of manzanita and when I submerged it, it turned black. Oh well. Maybe I'll need to lighten my substrate sometime in the future.


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## sollie7 (Jul 19, 2009)

Might lighten it up a bit If you brush it with a wire brush it will also get any soft parts off


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