Longevity of Tree Fern Panels

[bellerophon]

Whats everyones experience with tree fern background panels? I've read 3 years before replacement is needed and also seen 5 years. Is it safe to assume the more dense the material the better life you can expect out of it? I've ordered quite a bit from calwest before but a good deal of the panels were very "less dense?" cant think of the right word. Pretty see-thru and very very light.

any recomendations on quality tree fern panels? I've heard greate things about calwest but I was dissapointed.

[littlefrog]

I would argue that unless you can find old tree fern (sometimes blocks of it emerge from people's basements), skip it. New tree fern is garbage, and although it is supposedly farmed, I doubt that it is sustainably harvested. Tree ferns are slow growing plants.

You might want to consider trying Epi-web (firstrays.com) or one of the other new synthetic materials, which will last forever. I've used Epi-web in one tank so far, and it looks pretty much like the tree fern in another tank. Plus it is made out of old plastic bottles and the like, so you know it is 'sustainably harvested' so to speak.

[bellerophon]

I'm def. considering the switch. I'd just like to see more pics of it in use. Right now I have a few tanks set up with tff and curiouse as to when I should plan on replacing them.