Collecting Wood For The Aquarium

[mantella]

How do you guys go about collecting and treating wood for the aquarium? Obviously, well decayed wood and fresh wood are both inappropriate for the aquarium; is there a sweet spot of "deadness" you have too look for? Which trees have wood that lasts long in wet environments than others? Does it depend on where the wood comes from on the tree? I would think roots would do better in wet environments. Can you do anything natural to the wood that will delay decomposition? Should bark be removed because I have never seen wood at the store with bark on it.

Sorry for all the questions! Thanks!

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Best to find stuff that's fallen and dried out, if its fresh then it will need completely drying, I used my airing cupboard and after that the bark came off easily, then it was soaked for a few weeks so it sunk.

 

[Zikofski]

i collected my wood from the bottom of the garden i don't think it matters what type but as steve says it needs to be dead and dry, when i mean dry i mean dry from sap, i knew my wood was cut off for about 2 years so i knew it was dead and free from sap, i cut of the rotten bits and stripped the bark, and it has coloured nicely in my tank, i didn't neat to treat it or use tannins, i help mine down with rock until it stayed sunken the pic in my sig is the wood i used, and if you click on the journal link i have a few videos and pics and some more info maybe of use to you

 

[Jenste]

Avoid any "sappy" trees.

 

[372xp]

Avoid any softwoods, by this I mean conifers and pines. Beech and oak are good, but only the heartwood. Holm oak (quercus ilex) is your best bet it is so heavy it dont float anyway. It should be hard to the touch even after soaking. You are probably best off pulling out some that has already been submerged in a stream or river for a while and giving it a good boil up to kill anything on it.

 

[Chris0422]

I just tried this for the first time. I went to the park and found a downed tree old enough so the park was gone. It was an oak so the wood was still in good shape. I put it in a bucket with boiling water and changed every 2 hours. I did three changes total. Then soaked in fresh water with a little aquarium salt for 2 days changing water 2x a day. Bought some shale at my LFS and drilled through it. Used some stainless steal screws from home depo. Have had no problems. One of the pieces got a little fungus on it but went away after a few days. Total cost was about 5$.

 

[Chris0422]

I have not attached any green yet but its doing fine in my tank

 

[Zikofski]

very very nice i like the look of it

 

[Chris0422]

OK so the piece of wood I had found had started to decay and caused a Lil bit of a problem. Every fish in my tank was swimming at the top of my tank gasping for air. Took it out and did a 50% water change all fish are good but I'll stick to buying stuff online....if only to save the fish. http/www.drsfostersmith.com. has good prices on drift wood.

 

[Zikofski]

are you sure it was the wood that caused this and not another issue? that the WC fixed? if the wood is slightly rotting just cut that bit off, i found wood at bottom of my garden and no problems yet so far, trying to grow moss on mine as well, may depend on what wood it was

 

[DrRob]

I have some elder in my tank, came long dead out of the garden (I have loads of it). Apart from some fairly significant tannin leeching, which this wood seems to be prone to, it's been fine.
 
Fruit woods are also generally good. I have some big bits of apple and plum soaking in a vat in the garden.
 
As Chris0422 has said, you need to watch out for anything rotting, which is why really old stuff is good and why I tend to age it myself for a long time. 
 
The other place worth a glance is flower arranging supply places, but watch out for varnishes.