Safe Types Of Wood

wanted to go on a hunt for some wood for my tank
few questions first, what kind of woods are safe. i know that hard woods are best, but i have no idea what kind of wood is hard wood or soft wood lol!
does the wood have to be fully dead before i can pick it up and it be safe to put in an aquarium

are there any certain things i have to do to prepare the wood before adding it to a tank ?
i just need a few names of types of wood i can use, and some way of recognising them, then i can go out on my wood hunting adventure

kylealastairlove said:

wanted to go on a hunt for some wood for my tank
few questions first, what kind of woods are safe. i know that hard woods are best, but i have no idea what kind of wood is hard wood or soft wood lol!
does the wood have to be fully dead before i can pick it up and it be safe to put in an aquarium

are there any certain things i have to do to prepare the wood before adding it to a tank ?
i just need a few names of types of wood i can use, and some way of recognising them, then i can go out on my wood hunting adventure

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Soft woods are things like pine. They shouldn't be used because it oozes sap into the tank.
Hardwood is like decidious trees, oak, dogwood, etc

Wood needs to be dead and soaked in water for 2+ years before its considered safe for the aquarium.
It would be easier and safer to just buy certified driftwood online or in a store

thanks for the info crossfire, i've been thinking i know a few places not too far from where i live where there is dead fallen tree's that have been that way for a few years, i was just after a lot of long thin branches that i could use for my biotope, if you've seen George Farmers cambodian biotope, with heavily tannin stained water and lots of wood, i wanted to recreate something like that with lots of branches and plant it out as well of course just thought there might be some way to get my own wood

Crossfire said:

Wood needs to be dead and soaked in water for 2+ years before its considered safe for the aquarium.

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Sorry but that's a completely erroneous statement.
As long as the wood has dried out (ie. all sap has gone), you disinfect it (ie. boiling water) and then waterlog it so it sinks then it will be fine.

I use dead oak or alder wood in my tanks, just collect it, give it a good scrub in the bath with a stiff brush let it dry out again (I usually leave it on top of one of the tanks for a couple of weeks) then add it to your tank. It will take a while to sink. I have collected wood before and just cleaned it and added it to the tank with no problems (more tannins that way). You will see white fluff on the wood after a couple of days, if you have a plec they really appreciate the fluff, if not just take it out and wash it off then put it back into the tank. If you find an alder tree collect the cones too, leave those in a cardboard box to try and add those to the tank, they give off lovely tannins, you need to remove the cones after about 3-4 weeks and replace with fresh ones as they do rot. Hope this helps

thank you for the comments very helpful indeed ! cant wait to get out there and pick up my own FREE perfect pieces of wood lol

I love collecting things for my tank, have two very nice species of plants from the countryside. Splash plants around in Potassium Permangenate to kill off any bacteria before putting them in.

awesome, do you know what species they are, and thanks for the tip i was out walking down a lake not too long a go and noticed that in the middle there was a huge bunch of pointy star shaped leaf plants, thats my best description, but it looked great and i was just thinking yes please i'll take some of that, but obviously i couldnt quite get to it haha

I've had trouble identifying my latest two finds. One seems like a distant relative of cabomba, a striking almost golden green, is growing well in warm water and I imagine very hardy,
the other a beutiful semi floating plant that is growing well, has to be sprinkled with gravel to keep it on the bottom, see attched picture. I fear it could be a "annual", which means it will need to flower out
of the water and drop seed, if that's the case I will loose it in about a year, but I don't know, fingers crossed, it's perannial.

well it looks lovely to me, yeah fingers crossed

I like to collect the roots froom fallen trees...a lot of the time they are bare-no bark...seem denser sink faster. as far as tre ID get a book...you can tell by the bark in the winter or the leaves.fruit in the summer, but get a book or go for a walk in the woods with a knowedgable friend and take some pictures of the leaves and bark