Is all wood the same or what?

[SpaceButler]

I'd like a piece of driftwood for my tank. I was wondering if it's all the same or if certain types of wood are toxic and need to be tested first.

Also, if someone could tell me a good procedure for getting wood ready for the tank, ie. sterilizing or soaking.

Thanks.

 

[SerLunchbox]

i am not sure but i would think that only certain wood should be suitable for tanks. definately do not use any driftwood that came in contact with salt water. To get wood ready for the tank the best thing to do is soak it in water for quite some time until it is no longer coloring the water that it is soaking in.The ore times you change the water, the more it will sterilize the water. When i soak my driftwood, i often add dechlorinator to the water so that chlorine is not present and it also reduces the risk of chlorine leeching into the tank.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Mopani and Malaysian woods are very good for a tank with panaques (royal pleco, or other wood eating plecs) as they are very dense, so not only do they sink well, they last a lot longer.

Ironwood is a no no, it is very toxic, but I doubt you'll find any of that around. Cedar I would avoid also, since it's a very perfume wood..

If this is wood you found, then you must make sure it's not still green in the middle, particularly important with silver birch as it contains some pretty thick oils (you can burn a piece of it, and hold a wet piece of paper over the smoke that comes off, You will see if there is an oil on the paper, you've probably seen this cooking hotdogs while camping and used silver birch bark to start the fire, quite disgusting..)

The harder the wood the better, but the longer it would have to be exposed to the elements (aka adrift).

Once you have the piece, make sure it's rinsed free of all sand and other visible contaminants, then boil the wood for no less then 1/2 hour (you can add salt to increase the temperature if you want to be very safe) then let stand in the water for another 3/4 hour, this will heat the center of the wood up to burn off any pesky insects/parasites.. (last thing you want is termites in your tank)

once that's done, allow it to cool down and soak in room temp water for 4-6 hours, you may add salt.. then rinse the wood thoroughly and you can put it in your aquarium..

If you are buying it from a petstore (can be very expensive) then you could soak it in very hot water for 3-4 hours changing the water half way through.. If the discolouration of the water is not what you want, then repeat this every couple of hours, the hotter the water, the faster it will bleed out the tannis that causes the discolouration.

I've written this as I went, I hope it explains a good chunk on using found driftwood in your tank as I understand it.. (If I missed anything, please feel free to add to it) I prefer not to use bleach since that can cause the wood to weaken/rot... (not to mention increases the chances of a pocket of bleach releasing into your tank 8O 8O )

 

[SpaceButler]

Whoa, that's very helpful. Just the type of thing I was looking for. Thank you both.

 

[JohnPaul]

If you do a search online, I am sure you can find a lot of info. I remember reading a site that had very, very thorough directions for how to prepare your wood. I didn't bm the site so I don't remember what it was, but it was very thorough about all the steps you need to take to make it "aquarium safe."

Do a Google (or similiar) search for "preparing driftwood" or something along those lines.

 

[BASSNMAN]

You can get malaysian drift wood from Foster $ Smith. IT is neat looking and reasonable. You need to boil or at least soak it to get out some of the tannin. It will still give your tank a slight amber color and lower your ph. It sinks like a rock.

 

[caribou]

I ordred malaysian driftwod from Foster & Smith and was happy with what I received, but all pieces are different. I guess you can request the type you want (branchy etc.) I bought two pieces and one looks like a stump but it hollow so it provides a good cave for plecos. I soaked mine for a week and them boiled it for five hours. Hardly any tanins are being released now. F & S african driftwood looks pretty interesting too. I've also picked up a couple of pieces of drifwood on ebay but you have to careful about what type of wood it is and where it came from. JMO