Found An Awesome New Piece Of Wood

[Scott MacAdam]

Ok, I put in in the tank last night.

Here you go!

 

[Delloy12]

That looks a lot better than I thought it would of

 

[Scott MacAdam]

I want to get rid of those rocks on top of it but it floats as of now...

 

[Delloy12]

I didn't notice your rocks on it

 

[CrazyAirborne]

looks heavy.

all of it looks heavy.

i like your wood tho.

 

[L_Plates]

So whats the deal with using wood that you can find out and about ? I always thought it was a bad idea to use it.

Am i mistaken ?

LP

 

[lil_phelpsy]

that looks awesome very inspired great find i think im gonna go walkin up the hill now lol

 

[`Peter]

So whats the deal with using wood that you can find out and about ? I always thought it was a bad idea to use it.

Am i mistaken ?

LP

its all good if you take the necessary precautions such as boiling it, scrubbing it, soaking it. You don't want any outside chemicals or materials inside your tank and your fish.

nice wood btw

 

[Vin Swords]

Thats a big one.. Thought I have bigger.

 

[Scott MacAdam]

To all the "nice wood" comments: Thanks!

As far ad it being "outside wood" I'm careful with it and I've only ever used wood I've found at the beach or in a bog or pond or in the woods.

I know some disagree but I've never had ANY problems at all...(because I'm careful)

Here's my method. (in this case, in the tub due to size)

Get it home and fill up the tub (or sink) and get it in there.
Hot water and LOTS of scrubbing.
If there is any bark or alage or film of sorts make sure to get it off.
Your water should be getting pretty gross by now, empty it and re-fill!
Make the water as hot as possible (good time to boil the smaller ones) and let it sit there for a while.
So you've killed off all the baddies, or so you think...
Back to scrubbing! Haha. You'll be surprised as to how much you missed the first time around (and how brown you'll make the water...)
Try scrubbing with various types of grit. (I've used sandpaper in the past) whatever works, it depends on the wood...
Now the soaking stage! If you refer to the pics up top, notice how brown the water gets just by having the wood sunk in there.
Let it soak for a few days (removing it for morning showers if you are using your tub as well! But don't forget to rinse out the tub carefully after, you don't want it soaking in shampoo water!)
Keep changing out the water when it gets sufficiently brown and wait for when it doesn't change the water color (for me, usually 3-4 days and even then it's not 100%)
The brown water (tannis releasing from the wood) won't hurt your fish at all, in fact some fish keepers like it (amazon biotope) but if you don't want it, let it soak.
Water tests! Wood can lower your ph. I don't know if it depends on specifically what type of wood it is that has a more or less drastic effect on water stats but I test 3 things.
1. My tanks ph
2. My taps ph
3. Water from wood soaking for a few days ph

This sets a benchmark for my tank for future tests and let's you compare your tap water to the water the wood has been in for the last few days. If your tap and wood's water are significantly different I'd re think using that specific peice of wood as it will have the same effect on your tank.

My ph results were
7.5 tank
6.5 tap
6.5 wood water

I'll retest the tank in a week and another week to see if any effect is there but I know my fish should be fine in the mean time.

That's all! Hope it helps!

 

[MBOU]

Only thing I would add to that is types of wood being used, you want to be using 'hard wood' so Oak, Beech, Hazel and fruit tree wood like Plum, Apple etc...

No deciduous(sp)/evergreens like Firs, Pine, Holly etc...

 

[Proxo]

I've been wanting to get myself some 'outside' wood but i'm scared lol.
Couldn't tell you the difference between wood

 

[MBOU]

Well, pines really soft and kind of....flakey.... if you open up a log of pine wood, you can dig your nails into it and feel its soft, same as if its green.... you dont want it either...

 

[Proxo]

Well, pines really soft and kind of....flakey.... if you open up a log of pine wood, you can dig your nails into it and feel its soft, same as if its green.... you dont want it either...

Lets say i was to get a bit of wood that wasnt ideal for a fish tank, what would be worst thing to possibly happen?

 

[L_Plates]

To all the "nice wood" comments: Thanks!

As far ad it being "outside wood" I'm careful with it and I've only ever used wood I've found at the beach or in a bog or pond or in the woods.

I know some disagree but I've never had ANY problems at all...(because I'm careful)

Here's my method. (in this case, in the tub due to size)

Get it home and fill up the tub (or sink) and get it in there.
Hot water and LOTS of scrubbing.
If there is any bark or alage or film of sorts make sure to get it off.
Your water should be getting pretty gross by now, empty it and re-fill!
Make the water as hot as possible (good time to boil the smaller ones) and let it sit there for a while.
So you've killed off all the baddies, or so you think...
Back to scrubbing! Haha. You'll be surprised as to how much you missed the first time around (and how brown you'll make the water...)
Try scrubbing with various types of grit. (I've used sandpaper in the past) whatever works, it depends on the wood...
Now the soaking stage! If you refer to the pics up top, notice how brown the water gets just by having the wood sunk in there.
Let it soak for a few days (removing it for morning showers if you are using your tub as well! But don't forget to rinse out the tub carefully after, you don't want it soaking in shampoo water!)
Keep changing out the water when it gets sufficiently brown and wait for when it doesn't change the water color (for me, usually 3-4 days and even then it's not 100%)
The brown water (tannis releasing from the wood) won't hurt your fish at all, in fact some fish keepers like it (amazon biotope) but if you don't want it, let it soak.
Water tests! Wood can lower your ph. I don't know if it depends on specifically what type of wood it is that has a more or less drastic effect on water stats but I test 3 things.
1. My tanks ph
2. My taps ph
3. Water from wood soaking for a few days ph

This sets a benchmark for my tank for future tests and let's you compare your tap water to the water the wood has been in for the last few days. If your tap and wood's water are significantly different I'd re think using that specific peice of wood as it will have the same effect on your tank.

My ph results were
7.5 tank
6.5 tap
6.5 wood water

I'll retest the tank in a week and another week to see if any effect is there but I know my fish should be fine in the mean time.

That's all! Hope it helps!

Thanks for the information, looks like i will be going on a wood hunt soon

LP