Using dead shrubs for landscaping

Behind my house is an old railroad right-away, my guess is the tracks were removed 60 years ago. It is now an isolated walking trial. I assume some shrubs first came in along the trail before the trees took over. Many of these shrubs are now dead but well preserved, the wood is quite hard. I have a bunch of them currently soaking in a old hot tub that we no longer use. I am ecstatic on this find, they should look great in a 75 gallon planted tank I am setting up. The nice thing about shrubs is they do not grow straight up like a tree, I don't want logs in my tank.

I cannot boil the wood so I did add bleach into the water for a couple days to sterilize the wood. After a couple water changes, I will add dechlorinator to the water then more water changes. What I read, chlorine is a gas and drying out the wood will also remove any chlorine. I have a month or 2 before they will be put in the tank, many things to build.

Welcome to the forum Mark.

The wood looks amazing - I don't know anything about preparing wood for use in a fish tank myself, but I hope that yours looks fabulous in situ. (There are some species of shrub etc though that can't be use at all as they leak toxins - I'm sure you will have checked that these are ok).

Thanks LostBear, good to be here.

I will be very careful before adding adding fish, I may put some wood in a 20 gallon tank with a couple goldfish to see. No rush, I will take my time. The shrubs may have been dead for at least 5+ years, the water they are soaking in is crystal clear ie: no tannins leaching so far.

The primary occupants in the tank will be a large schools of Tiger Barbs with plants of courses.

madmark285 said:

Thanks LostBear, good to be here.

I will be very careful before adding adding fish, I may put some wood in a 20 gallon tank with a couple goldfish to see. No rush, I will take my time. The shrubs may have been dead for at least 5+ years, the water they are soaking in is crystal clear ie: no tannins leaching so far.

The primary occupants in the tank will be a large schools of Tiger Barbs with plants of courses.

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I LOVE tiger barbs - we used to have a single species tank contains just tiger barbs many years ago - it looked amazing and the fish were a delight!

But personally I don't regard goldfish as expendable - they are still little lives and deserve good care. As you say - take your time and check your water parameters and get your tank properly cycled before adding anything - there's no rush. The time you put in before pays dividends afterwards.

Welcome! As a goldfish breeder I don’t think of them as expendable either. That said, goldfish are quite hardy and may survive things that other fish won’t. Therefore, they may not be the best Guinea pigs to use.

I am a bit worried now, do I have toxic shrubs? Not sure where I can find that info. I was planning on cycle the tank with ammonia, I first want to establish plants (dry planting method) before any fish go in.

Since it will be home to 20-30 Tiger Barbs, maybe a couple of these guys should be the Guinea pigs.

I am excited, I have not had a tank in over 20 years and this time, it will be done right ie: plumbing (fresh water and sewer connection) right to the sump. Stage 1 of my hobby reboot, 2 20 gallon tanks and a 75 gallon all connected to the sump/filter. Once the 75 gallon is fully established, I want 2-3 Blue Rams in a 20 gallon tank.

If the tanks are all connected to the same filter, aren’t you risking the chance of contaminating all 3 tanks should you have to treat for ich or another contagious disease that could infect all if the tanks? I know they have this issue in some fish stored where they use the same filter in multiple tanks. I hate to throw a wrench in your plans but just want to be sure you have no issues later. Does anyone have such a set up Who could comment?

Yep, all tanks could get infected.

I can isolate any of the tanks by turning off the water return line and just use a sponge or HOB filter. One of the 20 gallon tank will may be used to quarantine any new arrivals.

My plan is to first establish the main tank (75 gallon) but the empty 20 gallon tanks will be cycled as they are connected to the sump/filter. When I set up the Blue Ram tank, just take bio media (sponge) from the sump, isolate the tank and run the sponge/HOB filter. Once I am sure they are healthy, connect the tank back to the sump ie: turn on a valve.

The vast majority of my fish will be in the 75 gallon tank.

Now stage 2 of my hobby reboot, a big African Cichlid tank, Mbunas! That would have it's own filter system.

madmark285 said:

I am a bit worried now, do I have toxic shrubs? Not sure where I can find that info. I was planning on cycle the tank with ammonia, I first want to establish plants (dry planting method) before any fish go in.

Since it will be home to 20-30 Tiger Barbs, maybe a couple of these guys should be the Guinea pigs.

I am excited, I have not had a tank in over 20 years and this time, it will be done right ie: plumbing (fresh water and sewer connection) right to the sump. Stage 1 of my hobby reboot, 2 20 gallon tanks and a 75 gallon all connected to the sump/filter. Once the 75 gallon is fully established, I want 2-3 Blue Rams in a 20 gallon tank.

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Please -do not use living fish as guinean pigs! It's cruel!

Could you do a google search to see which types of shrub etc are safe and which aren't? (Not sure if you know which varieties you have picked up).

I'm sorry if I've alarmed you - it's just I know I was warned when I first started fish keeping that there are some types of wood which are and remain toxic, because of the sap they contain, and which even years later, can affect the water. I dealt with the worry by not using "picked-up" wood, because it's much harder to test than "picked-up" stones.

I feel awful now because I feel I've taken the joy out of your tank - I'm sorry. I just worry about the fish.

No worries, you raised an interest point. My first wood collection trip, I went north on the trail and picked up branch from trees, I can use these if needed. It will be impossible to identify this wood ie: no leaves or bark. On my list of things to do, try to identify the shrubs I collected, some are still alive on the trail. My concern, why didn't the shrubs decay, they have been dead for a long long time. Does this wood have some type of natural preservative like cedar?

One positive issue, after 3 days the water is still crystal clear ie: no leaching of tannins. I plan on soaking the wood until October with numerous water changes.

I would prefer to buy driftwood from stores but I don't have an 'ADA' budget for this tank. Some of the pieces I collected would cost $80-100 in a store.

Note: I still plan on making a trip to Lake Ontario for driftwood, it only 20 minute drive from my house. Unfortunately it is the wrong time of year for collecting driftwood, you need to go in the spring after the winter storms have dump tons of wood on the beaches and before they cleanup for the summer season.

LostBear said:

Please -do not use living fish as guinean pigs! It's cruel!

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On the cruelty issue, some view aquariums in general is cruel.The industrial breeding of fish may be consider to be cruel. Breeding fish to be food for other fish can be quite cruel, IMHO. In college I was a part time manager of a fish store, the customers loved when we feed the salt water trigger fish. These guys would just rip goldfish to shreds. I would never keep any fish which required live food.

I personally dislike the bettas in a cup you see at some many fish stores.

So where do we draw the line on the cruelty issue?

Fish in tanks are only animal cruelty, if the fish is not properly cared for, and if it’s basic needs are not met.

If you keep an Arowana in a 29g tank, that is cruelty. If you keep a betta in a .5g tank, that is animal cruelty.

All my fish are very well cared for - in groups if needed, clean water, quality food, etc.

Some fish (like Oscars) need live food as part of a healthy diet.

Some points regarding the wood to stay on topic, even without leeching tannins, it can be problematic.

Watch very very close if your fish start flashing immediately after, or gasping for air or doing anything abnormal suddenly after it is introduced for a few weeks. At the first sign, remove immediately, better safe than sorry.

I had found a gorgeous root system driftwood, but immediately all my fish began flashing, so I had to remove it.

So be very cautious if you go through with it

Just to be clear, I am not passing judgment on anyone concerning keeping fish, that is not my place to do so.

NCaquatics said:

So be very cautious if you go through with it

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My plan at this time, install the wood in the 75 gallon tank, most likely it will be held in place using silicon. Fill with water (no gravel) and run for a week or so with carbon in the filter then add the bio-media and cycle the tank with ammonia. Once cycled, I will add a 20 gallon tank to the sump/filter and put a few Tiger Barbs in it.

If all goes well, I will disconnect the 75 gallon tank from the sump/filter and drain it. Put in the substrate and use the dry planting method for the plants. Wait 6-8 weeks then fill the 75 gallon tank and reconnect it to the sump/filter.

Hopefully all is well and I can start stocking the tank.

I want some Blue Rams for one of my 20 gallon tanks but that will have to wait until the 75 gallon tank is well established.