Bogwood

[FishFanatic13]

i have a tank with two pieces of bog wood in it and want another pices and was woundering if you can use and wood like oak, beech etc
and if so is there any specical requirments you need to do to it like take the bark of it

Also the wood i have is starting to grow white stuff on it and was woundering what that is and how to get rid of it

also does bogwood reduce or raise your ph

 

[OldMan47]

Wood has a tendency to lower pH by releasing tannins into the water. Different wood species will release more or less of it so it is hard to predict the effect you will see. Before you place wood into the tank it needs to be truly dead and dry out. You do not want a newly cut branch dripping sap to go into your tank. Once wood has dried for a while, it becomes much easier to remove the bark.