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Where does the wood come from?

I always wondered why no one isn't selling ceramic pieces in wood shapes. In the marine hobby it has become something that is done since they banned the collection of Live rock years ago.
I could see this coming for the aquascaping hobby if any one started going on about deforestation of the land. Ceramic pieces could be useful as they would not leach tanins and might not be a good home for bad beard algae as other problems
 
For me it would be better to use locally sourced materials that are probably abundant and not damaging to the environment.
a lot of people dont know this is an option.
i guess most people figure that *Well if its not bought, there is just no way you can use it !*
Example is for old cedar wood (depending on type, age varies)
in my area we have tons of old dead dried up cedar wood from years and years ago (20+ some of them, its really neat and pretty) and if you soaked it for roughly 3 weeks to be safe imo you could very well use it.
Yes its softwood, but its still local and beautiful :)

I used to do dutch tanks so i dont use hardscape, never really have, but if i were to, i'd either buy lava rock from the store or just locally collect everything else lol.


Speaking of, i remember now i do have a tub of lava rock that i bought a while back- just never used it. hmmm.
 
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Lately there was another thread about it and in it i learned from @Edvet and @dw1305 that the common redish collered bogwood available in the trade is Pinewood dug up from the peat bogs. Thus if you find redish bogwood in the lfs it most likely is Bog Pine wood.. And since pine trees grow only in the northern hemisphere it most likely is from a Peat digging site not very far away (few 100 miles or less) from the wholesalers location if found in Europe. :) For the rest of the decorative woods in the vivarium hobby trade except Magrove probably never was submersed for a day.
 
wood types that are sold are sourced

Some UK bog wood is ploughed out of peaty farmland or sourced as a byproduct from peat extraction. In a past life there was a guy that came round with a lorry and chain saw and sold it by the cwt. Seldom use it now. As for the fancy spidery stuff I use heather twigs that can be found on poorly managed moorland.
 
seafaring nation, with a VOC fleet

We took the precaution of planting oak trees for our navy. Moved on to steel ships before the oaks matured. Still have them but they are past their prime. Where I live the surplus forestry plantations (softwoods) are being returned to heathland grazing.
 
I think it would be great if suppliers/shops provided this information as part of an attempt to become a bit more ethical/sustainable.
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That's a good point. When you buy timber, furniture, sheds, cutting boards or almost anything else wooden it's labelled with the origin and what sustainability scheme it's been approved by.
 
We took the precaution of planting oak trees for our navy. Moved on to steel ships before the oaks matured. Still have them but they are past their prime. Where I live the surplus forestry plantations (softwoods) are being returned to heathland grazing.

VOC stands for "Joined East-Indian Company" 1602-1800, back then it was worlds largest monopoly trading company. It was so large they had their own navy fleet to protect their cargo fleet. Back then there was no invironmental awarness, only colonial explotation without remorse. Actualy the whole country the Netherlands is gouverned by 2 provinces called Holland (north and south) where the harbors are. The rest around it called The Netherlands is simply confiscated as buffer area for its recources and strategic or political value. That was the first signe of their colonial expansion drift, exploit the confiscated areas around you.

The gouverment still is seated in Holland, actualy all major multinationals that run the country and beyond are seated in Holland too. It got big by name and marked itself on the world map with colonial explotation. Still, today actualy, but a little less in everybodies face, times change now they play saint. But behold.. Dutch poliiticians are since memory all educated or simply forced by the powerfull to become White-Collar Criminals.. :rolleyes: Some journalists say, we aren't a democracy at all, we simply are a Lobbycracy.. And they are correct.. Politicians are pushed forward by large multinationals, making deals, do and say what ever it takes, make this happen for us and your pension is secured.. ;)
 
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Just a example. In his book A Walk In The Woods Bill Bysons while praising rangers on the ground but realises the authorities have failed they the National Park Service and US goverment In the demand for the diverse flora botanists and scientists from early in the last century were allowed to raid and plunder the unique habits in the Appalachian Mountains, many of these people disapeared in the wilderness never seen again but some extracting plants on a industrial scale for mainly Europe.In the last century mammals unique there have become extinct now in double figures, many flowers and a whole lot of trees only found there have gone forever, in one example he shows instance of mismangement. A creek river is "chosen" for a Rainbow Trout farm,so they poison the creek killing all the native fish again many rare and unique to that habitat and one species that had never been seen before scientists said! Many times the National Park budget was spent totally on roads and bridges in the wilderness instead of protecting flora and fauna.The Appalachians are only one example in one place in the world. The books a great read by the way written as only Bryson writes and not all doom and gloom for anyone who has not read it about walking the Appalachian Trail
 
I know for a fact that people in Indonesia go into the forest searching for the right type of plants (azalea etc) to dig up for the roots which are then exported by the container load to China
Due to what I do I get offered all sorts of stuff like this people just send me pics in hope that I will buy or know someone who will buy
So unfortunately I believe a lot of this is not even sourced legally let alone ethically

The only wood that I know of that is available commercially and is a true byproduct is the wood that’s commonly used in vivariums in the uk which is coffee wood


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I really love this hobby and have done so for over 30 years but it’s an industry that isn’t particularly ecofriendly due to our species greed and strange behaviour of having to own things
Wild caught fish demand a higher price by the end retailer compared with farmed specimens of the same species and the rarer something is the higher the price goes
Or make something illegal and watch the prices go through the roof
CITES doesn’t really work that well, for example the Asian Arrowana is freely traded in parts of Asia so it only effects exports to EU, USA Australia etc
Some fish species are illegal in some EU countries but due to open borders within EU all you have to do is drive to the nearest country where it’s legal, buy it and drive home
Lots of Buce are still collected from the wild and sold by the kilo

Greed is a terrible Human trait but we all show it and accept it even on here we praise people for owning a collection of fish and plants without even wondering if they were ethically sourced or not

Why do we crave the exotic non native things ?

Why do people buy gars and other large predatory fish and yet they would not even consider having a pet Pike?





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Where’s the section of this forum that promotes native aquascaping ?

Surely even in the UK we have enough native plants to have a go at this ?

I’m not knocking this forum in any way as I think it’s brilliant but is this something that our hobby should be encouraging ?


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It is that weird paradox of folk wanting something 'natural' in their home, but generally being unconcerned about the impact on actual nature.
Is there anyone trying to push a more ethical and sustainable approach in the aquascaping side of the hobby?

Your point about UK plants - i wonder if some of the challenges are about seasonality and keeping a cooler water temperature?

Is there a list somewhere of common aquascaping plants and their closest UK native equivalent? Do we just not have the species suitable?
 
For nothern hemisphere biotope aqaurium, you would need a Cooler instead of a heater. And yes people have tried occasionaly there are a few topic about it.. If i remeber correctly even George our forum founder once did an English biotope tank.

But without a cooler it never is a long term succes.. It simply gets to warm in the tank setting this up indoors in small aqaurium volumes Indigenous plants from our region are mostly anual plants, some can be grown as evergreen in higher artificial light conditions..But all Indigenous fish need that cool winter periode and overall cool water, if it gets to warm to long than don't live past a year.. The only one able to coop with this is the Carp, officialy not indigenous, but an ancient exotic from asia. Romans are to blaim introducing the carp into Europe..
 
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If you're up to it emotionaly, follow this..

https://www.facebook.com/brutnature

It regularly reports and articles about deforestation etc. around the world, obviously it's mainly in the tropics.. Where else, since the majority of worlds forest is left in the tropics.





Or this
https://www.facebook.com/borneoproject



https://www.facebook.com/worldeconomicforum

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019...5AyMtv_DbEOUqj4l9QXx8q66-AYg_twJrN8fCRIL-s8lI

Nice sites to follow and it's not only doom and gloom but can be confronting sometimes. :)
 
This why we need to support fisher people that collect responsibly. I just don't think we will get the truth about where the wood comes from as well as the rocks.
 
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