Why does the wood in aquariums lie with its roots facing upwards?

Have you ever noticed that in most aquariums the wooden roots are positioned with their wide ends at the bottom and the delicate roots pointing upwards? But why? While I was judging a biotope world championship, I noticed that almost all the participants there had done it differently. They had taken pains to position the roots to be visible in the aquarium with their roots facing downwards. A coincidence? No - definitely not! Biotope aquarists often collect an incredible amount of information about the habitats they want to recreate in the aquarium and look at lots of photos of them, if they exist at all. And these underwater photos tell you that it is only in exceptional cases that the roots do not protrude top downwards into the water. 

On the JBL expedition to Colombia in February 2022 ( Expedição 2022 Colômbia I ), I paid especial attention to this issue. And it turned out that the result is not entirely clear. Most of the wood lies around in the water in all directions. When they break away from the river bank, the trees with their roots slide to the edge and tip into the river. When this happens the trees and branches end up lying horizontally in the water. Incidentally, this is quite unfortunate for the angelfish, whose vertical stripes are then as incongruous as dots in a check pattern. But maybe evolution will change that and in a million years we'll have angelfish with horizontal stripes. Crenicichla, on the other hand, often cavort in the water under horizontally lying tree trunks and their stripes perfectly match the shadows of the wood!

Back to the wooden roots. In smaller streams, the trees often grow right next to the river and when they die, there is a dead tree upright in the water. Then we have a root whose fine root network continues downwards in the water. By the way, this looks very natural in the aquarium and can be planted very nicely. The plants between the fine branches grow upwards and form a great visual complement to the wood.

You often get roots that have been cut into pieces with a saw to fit into your aquarium. Try NOT to put the smooth surfaces downwards, instead lean or glue them against the pane (this is more stable and prevents buoyancy). Since this sometimes happens when the aquarium is already full of water, you can use a good, non-toxic underwater glue such as JBL PROHARU UNIVERSAL . However, such glues are not superglues and, once glued to the pane, you’ll need to anchor the wooden root firmly in the right position with stones, until the glue has "hardened" the next day. This glue, by the way, is a good purchase for every aquarist, because we often need to fix something under water. But beware: when an object, whether wood, stone or plastic pipe, lies in the water for longer than a day, a biofilm forms on the surface that is so slippery that no glue will hold! So always remove biofilms first with a piece of clean steel wool, as with some pane cleaners (e.g. JBL Blanki ) instead of a steel brush, and remove the biofilm before gluing!

Glue overview:

For above and underwater bonding of stone, corals, plants, wood, decoration, panes, technical items, small leaks, metal (incl. aluminium), plastics except PE/PP: JBL PROHARU UNIVERSAL

For quick gluing (non-toxic superglue) of plants, corals, small decorative items:  JBL PROHARU RAPID

Especially for glass panes (TÜV tested):  JBL AquaSil transparente or JBL AquaSil preto

For foil backgrounds (to be stuck from the outside), to apply the foil free of reflections and bubbles:  JBL FIXOL

Find out more about decoration (stones and roots) in the Themeworld under Decoração (pedras, raízes) .

© 12.02.2023
Heiko Blessin
Heiko Blessin
Dipl.-Biologe

Tauchen, Fotografie, Aquaristik, Haie, Motorrad

Comentários

Hinweise und Einwilligung zu Cookies & Drittinhalten

Wir verwenden technisch notwendige Cookies/Tools um diesen Dienst anzubieten, zu betreiben und abzusichern. Des Weiteren verwenden wir mit Deiner ausdrücklichen Einwilligung Cookies/Tools zum Marketing, Tracking, Erstellen personalisierter Inhalte auf Drittseiten sowie zur Darstellung von Drittinhalten auf unserer Webseite. Eine von Dir erteilte Einwilligung, kannst Du jederzeit mit Wirkung für die Zukunft über den Menüpunkt „Cookie-Einstellungen“ widerrufen.
Mit dem Klick auf „Alle erlauben“ erteilst Du uns die ausdrückliche Einwilligung zur Verwendung von Cookies/Tools um die Qualität und Performance unseres Dienstes zu verbessern, zur funktionalen und personalisierten Leistungsoptimierung, die Effektivität unserer Anzeigen oder Kampagnen zu messen, für personalisierte Inhalte zu Marketingzwecken, auch außerhalb unserer Webseite. Dies ermöglicht uns personalisierte Online-Anzeigen und erweiterte Analysemöglichkeiten über Dein Nutzerverhalten. Dies beinhaltet auch den Zugriff und die Speicherung von Daten auf Deinem Gerät. Deine Einwilligung kannst Du jederzeit mit Wirkung für die Zukunft über den Menüpunkt „Cookie-Einstellungen“ widerrufen.
Über die Schaltfläche „Einstellungen ändern“ kannst Du individuelle Einwilligungen zu den Cookies/Tools erteilen, widerrufen und erhältst weitergehende Informationen zu den von uns eingesetzten Cookies/Tools, deren Zwecke und Laufzeiten.
Mit dem Klick auf „Nur unbedingt erforderlich“ werden nur technisch notwendige Cookies/Tools eingesetzt.

Na nossa declaração de proteção de dados explicamos-lhe como processamos os seus dados pessoais e para que finalidades usamos o processamento de dados.

Selecione as suas configurações de cookies

Notificações PUSH da JBL

O que são realmente notificações push? Como parte do padrão W3C, as notificações Web definem uma API para notificações de utilizador final que são enviadas através das notificações do navegador para os seus dispositivos fixos e/ou móveis. Nos dispositivos finais, surgem notificações tal como o utilizador final as conhece das apps instaladas no dispositivo (por exemplo, e-mails). Nos dispositivos finais, surgem notificações tal como o utilizador final as conhece das apps instaladas no dispositivo (por exemplo, e-mails).

Estas notificações permitem que um operador de um website possa contactar os seus utilizadores enquanto estes tiverem o navegador aberto - independentemente de estarem a visitar o website no momento ou não.

Para poder enviar notificações Web Push, só é necessário um website com código de Web Push instalado. Assim, as marcas também podem utilizar várias vantagens das notificações push sem apps (comunicações em tempo real personalizadas no momento exato.)

As notificações Web fazem parte do padrão W3C e definem uma API para notificações de utilizador final. Uma notificação permite informar o utilizador sobre um acontecimento, por exemplo, um novo artigo no blogue, independentemente do contexto de um website.

Este serviço é disponibilizado gratuitamente pela JBL GmbH & Co. KG e pode ser ativado ou desativado de forma igualmente simples.