How to prepare twigs or branches?

Salty&Onion · Apr 27, 2020

These are the branches and a little twig I've found. They look pretty awesome and I think that loaches would love them

I know they still have some leaves on them, but I will get rid of them, eventually I'll end up in boiling them and extracting tannins from them.

How would I have to prepare them? Boiling? Soaking?

But first excuse my cat for biting the branch. He's hungry every 15 minutes and then comes running and meowing to window for a paté.

Crispii · Apr 27, 2020

Boil the woods.

PheonixKingZ · Apr 27, 2020

Lol on the cat! :rofl:

Crispii said:
Boil the woods.

@Byron does not suggest to boil the wood, I know that for sure. He says it breaks down the wood fiber faster.

@Salty&Onion, do you know what type the wood is?

Salty&Onion · Apr 27, 2020

PheonixKingZ said:
Lol on the cat!

@Byron does not suggest to boil the wood, I know that for sure. He says it breaks down the wood fiber faster.

@Salty&Onion, do you know what type the wood is?

The branches are from a shrub. Just a shrub.

PheonixKingZ · Apr 27, 2020

Salty&Onion said:
The branches are from a shrub. Just a shrub.

I don’t suggest putting these in your tank unless you know exactly what type of shrub they came from.

JuiceBox52 · Apr 27, 2020

Are they totally dry inside and out ?

PheonixKingZ · Apr 27, 2020

JuiceBox52 said:
Are they totally dry inside and out ?

That’s what I was thinking.

If you just cut them off and the shrub isn’t dead, it may release sap into your water.

Salty&Onion · Apr 27, 2020

PheonixKingZ said:
I don’t suggest putting these in your tank unless you know exactly what type of shrub they came from.

Would this help?

JuiceBox52 said:
Are they totally dry inside and out ?

Totally, they actually have been there for 3-4 years since I moved to the house where I currently live.

PheonixKingZ said:
If you just cut them off and the shrub isn’t dead, it may release sap into your water.

I'm aware of this

Sylvan · Apr 27, 2020

They're Privet bushes and are toxic so I wouldn't.

Salty&Onion · Apr 27, 2020

Sylvan said:
They're Privet bushes and are toxic so I wouldn't.

Even when boiled or dried until dead?
What about the very small one?

Colin_T · Apr 27, 2020

Sylvan said:
They're Privet bushes and are toxic so I wouldn't.

give them to the cat, give them to the cat, give them to the cat, :devil:

Sylvan · Apr 27, 2020

No idea on whether they remain toxic after they're dead. I wouldn't risk it either way because some plants remain toxic for a long time after they've died and dried up like ragwort.

Byron · Apr 27, 2020

I've no idea what those shrub species might be, so they may or may not be safe.

Moving on from that big "?", if the branches have been off the shrub long enough to become dead dry, OK. I would not boil them as they may completely fall apart (boiling does weaken and separate wood fibres), and it is questionable what beenefit boiling might have anyway. Anything absorbed by wood can take years to leech out.

EDIT. As I was typing, Sylvan posted they are Privet. Apparently Privet is poisonous to dogs, so I would not put them in an aquarium.

Salty&Onion · Apr 27, 2020

Colin_T said:
give them to the cat, give them to the cat, give them to the cat,

I will I will. I hate cats anyway so that is a great way to murder them :devil:

PheonixKingZ · Apr 27, 2020

I personally wouldn’t.

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How to prepare twigs or branches?

Salty&Onion

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Crispii

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Salty&Onion

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JuiceBox52

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PheonixKingZ

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