# How to prep Cholla wood for shrimp tank?



## Bananariot

You can do anything of those listed. It may leech tannins, I usually want that so I just plop it in my tank after a light rinse.

Basically you can do it anyway you want. I'm sure since its from ryantube who keeps shrimps, it should be pesticide free.


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## sayurasem

I don't do anything to the cholla woods. Just put it in your tank until it sinks down by itself. Because the tannins itself is beneficial to shrimp.

If you don't like the way it looks floating on your tank, you can get a container and let it float till it sink there, then transfer to your tank make a pyramid out of it, etc.


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## ChadO

*Cholla wood prep*

I choose to boil mine for about 5 minutes - just as a safety precaution. After boiling, I then put it in cold water to cool it off. After that, I put it in the tank. There must be something that boiling does to it, because when it is cooled and goes into the tank, the shrimp just pile on to it - like 30+ at a time. They just swarm it.

The reason I started this regiment was I went through a nymph episode in my 33L tank. Luckily, it was just one critter, and at the time I had no idea at all what it was. I saw it attack one of my shrimps, so I quickly got the net and scooped it out. This was probably a year ago or so now. It wasn't until a few weeks ago and reading about other people's experiences that I realized what it was that I had back then.

Anyway, the closest thing I could attribute the nymph to at the time was some cholla wood that I had added, and so as a precaution from then on, I started boiling it before adding it to my tank.


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## aluka

thanks every one for the advice =)
And yea, thats what i was worried about. I think i will boil mine too =< just in case!


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## Puddles

I've stuck a pebble in each end to make it sink before, then pull the pebbles out after a few weeks.


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## randyl

Just glue different types of moss (weeping, willow, phoenix, ... etc) onto a few piece of cholla wood, they were soaked for 1 month now (not that they need to be soaked that long). Now I super glue the moss on, I'd put them in a bucket with water for a day or two before putting them in the tank. I know super glue is safe, but I think what I do is safe too.


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## MsNemoShrimp

randyl said:


> Just glue different types of moss (weeping, willow, phoenix, ... etc) onto a few piece of cholla wood, they were soaked for 1 month now (not that they need to be soaked that long). Now I super glue the moss on, I'd put them in a bucket with water for a day or two before putting them in the tank. I know super glue is safe, but I think what I do is safe too.


Make sure you use shrimp safe glue


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## DrakeScree

I boiled it for 2 hours in a small pot, changing the water when it got low and yellow. Then I dropped it in the tank, and it sank in about an hour. It yellowed the water for 3 water changes, and then was fine.


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## abc

Yup, boiling is what I do with all wood, IAL, and alder cones, just in case the critters on them are harmful.

For the latter two, you don't have to boil them long if you want to keep the tannins. I don't depend on the cholla wood tannins. i want to nuke the wood so there is no danger of anything bad absorbed in the wood


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## SBPyro

Depending on the size of the Cholla wood, the small diameter (>1") bout 6 inch long ones I just drop them in. I have a large one in my 20 Gallon long that I boiled for bout 12 hrs total with 3 or 4 water changes due to buoyancy and the excessive tannins. As for plants I tied peacock moss onto the large one and tied Anubias nana petite to other pieces.


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## abc

I created java moss and marimo ball trees. I keep my cholla wood straight up and tie a wad of java moss on time. As it grows out, it looks like a tree. Or you can cut a hole on the bottom of a marimo ball and put it on the end of a cholla would like a hat. Tie it too. After a while, the marimo ball also grows.

Put them all together as a group of 3-4 throughout the tank, and you get cholla wood trees with moss and marimo as the top's. :bounce::bounce::bounce:


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## randyl

I cut cholla wood with an angle, then arrange them so they don't look as boring. Like this newly set up one. It will look much better once the moss grows a bit.


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## Puddles

That looks pretty good Randyl.


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## abc

Here are my cholla trees with the moss on top...


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## aluka

wow, those look nice. 

I boiled mine for an hour after reading here and now i am dry starting some fissiden on it =), hope it'll turn out as nice as you guy's!


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## Barbgirl

Ohhh Keep us updated on growth!! I was thinking of growing some on a piece I have as well.


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## randyl

One thing to note is ... cholla wood, especially the surface, will disintegrate over time. So do expect them to change. I peel off what look will fall off soon before attaching moss to it.


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## Bananariot

randyl said:


> One thing to note is ... cholla wood, especially the surface, will disintegrate over time. So do expect them to change. I peel off what look will fall off soon before attaching moss to it.


Lol tell him this after his latest post xD


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## randyl

Bananariot said:


> Lol tell him this after his latest post xD


Oops... it's okay, ignore my last comment for the next few weeks ;-)


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