Quick question about cork

[leah610]

I'm currently in the middle of revamping my tank. I'm planning on adding driftwood and some cork. I'm going to soak the driftwood in saltwater since it'll probably mold (and then dry it in the sun after), but what about cork? Does it mold at all under the high humidity? Or can I just pop it in?


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[wodesorel]

Mine has molded, though fungus is a lot more common once cork gets in a humid environment. I just had to rip apart the bottom of my crested gecko tank because the cork decided to do both and it infested half the moss. Definitely treat first! I am boiling mine for the Rug tank in salted water.

[GotButterflies]

Hi Leah! I live in Florida like you. All of my tanks stay at a consistent 99% humidity, and none of my cork bark has ever molded. Even the cork bark that stays in the iso tote that I have has never molded. I don't know if it's our weather or the room I have them in, but I've never experienced an issue with it. I have never pretreated my stuff. I've gone straight from the store to the tank. I do bake stuff from outside first though. We have too many bugs here!

[leah610]

Hi Leah! I live in Florida like you. All of my tanks stay at a consistent 99% humidity, and none of my cork bark has ever molded. Even the cork bark that stays in the iso tote that I have has never molded. I don't know if it's our weather or the room I have them in, but I've never experienced an issue with it. I have never pretreated my stuff. I've gone straight from the store to the tank. I do bake stuff from outside first though. We have too many bugs here!

My tank is usually over 90% humidity as well, but I have had issues with mold in the past- especially with items on the side of the tank that holds more moisture. And unfortunately, I have never had the luck of the mold coming and then dying off after. The mold always sticks around for me and usually comes back even worse the next time after that. With my allergies, mold is really not my friend

I'm planning on putting the cork (and new piece of grapewood) more towards the side of the tank that has less moisture/more heat, so maybe it won't mold over I don't really want to treat any of my products (totally being lazy here!) if I don't really have to!


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[GotButterflies]

What kind of lighting do you use? I wonder if it has to do with that.


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[leah610]

The lighting is a LED light strip that came with the tank and attaches to the hood


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[GotButterflies]

I use UVB...I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not...but you never know. :dunno: