Hardscape
Stones and wood, and what they do to your water.
The part most guides skip: some stones are calcareous and slowly push pH and hardness up, which quietly works against a soft-water tank, while most wood leaches tannins that tint the water and nudge pH down. Here's every common stone and wood with its real effect, so you can build a scape that suits the water you want.
Stone
Watch for calcareous stones- Seiryu Stone
Blue-grey rock with sharp ridges and bright white calcite veins.
pHHardness - Dragon Stone
Tan-brown rock full of holes and honeycombed hollows.
pHHardness - Lava Rock
Dark red-black rock, very light for its size and full of tiny pores.
pHHardness - Pagoda Stone
Layered brown stone with flat stacked tiers, like little pagodas.
pHHardness - Petrified Wood
Stone that looks like wood, with grain patterns but rock-hard and heavy.
pHHardness - Slate
Flat grey layered stone that splits into thin sheets.
pHHardness - Texas Holey Rock
Pale cream stone full of large smooth holes and tunnels.
pHHardness
Wood
Watch for tannins and floating- Spider Wood
Fine pale branching root wood that splits into thin twisting fingers.
pHHardnessmoderate tanninssoak first - Manzanita Wood
Smooth, hard, reddish branching wood with a clean fine taper.
pHHardnesslow tanninssoak first - Mopani Wood
Heavy, dense two-tone wood, dark and light, with a sandblasted look.
pHHardnesshigh tanninssinks - Malaysian Driftwood
Dense dark brown wood that sinks on its own, gnarled and solid.
pHHardnessmoderate tanninssinks - Cholla Wood
Hollow tube of wood full of natural holes, light and honeycombed.
pHHardnessmoderate tanninssoak first