Driftwood

[hvnsnt338]

Hi All ~ I'm Sandi and I just joined this group. I live in Northwest Florida and have kept many aquariums. I have one tank in partucular that I would like to set up planted with driftwood. It is a 55 gallon and am debating on the particular fish at this moment but leaning more towards larger black ghost knife and small oscar (to establish pecking order) of course bottom cleaners of some type.

My question is can cedar driftwood be used in an aquarium without causing any harmful side affects? I found this really, really gorgeous piece of root structure. When we cut if to fit the aquarium we found the newly cut wood to be red and smelt slight cedar. Looks more like cypress (and where we found it was amongst cypress stand) but it smells faintly of cedar. I know that I buy cedar bedding for my dogs kennels BECAUSE of the natural insect repellant properties and was wondering how that would affect the water column in an aqaurium.

I really, really would like to incorporate this piece into my aquarium but I also do not want to cause problems in the tank......SOOOO, any information, opinions would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
~Sandi

 

[DarkSeraph]

I think if you soak the peice in water for a week or two before putting it in an aquarium you should be ok.

Welcome to TFF

 

[zig]

Hiya Sandi welcome to the planted section

As far as i know cedar is ok to use in an aquarium but the wood must be totally dried out first of all, in planted tanks if you add wood that has not been dried out properly it can induce algae, or even worse it can harm the livestock in the tank, if you are happy it is dry i would add it to the tank, or as previously suggested let it soak for a few weeks first of all.

Cant really comment on the fish but im not really sure about Oscars and plants, i usually imagine them an incompatible but have never kept them so im not sure on that.

 

[riverman444]

Maybe I'm wrong, but Cedar is of the pine family. Members of the pine family produce oils and sap.

Cedar in particular gives off a strong aroma due to the oil it produces, which is why it is used in furniture and closets. As long as the wood is dry, I honestly don't think it would be a problem.

If you put it in the tank, I would keep an eye....or nose, rather......out for the smell of cedar as it may or may not be toxic to fish.

http/www.pestproducts.com/cedarcide.htm

Hmm.......may want to reconsider.

 

[hvnsnt338]

I really appreciate ya'll resonding to my post I have seen cedar driftwood for sale in LFS (but we all know about the LFS).
I will soak this piece for a couple of weeks and watch the water chemistry to see what happens.
I am still deciding on what type of fish to add to this aquarium. I have always had an oscar and I guess not having one seems weird. I also had a black ghost knife he got to be about 12 inches long and was such a character. I don't have anymore room for anymore tanks at this time....SOOOO I guess I'll just solve one issue at a time. I will try the driftwood after soaking and add to the cycled tank then add only one to two fish to start and see what happens.



Thanks gang for the input
~Sandi