Silver Maple wood in a tank okay?

[neilanh]

So I went looking for some driftwood to put in my tank for my pleco to gnaw on, when I found this piece on Ebay. I won it, and I asked the seller what kind of wood it was and confirmed no chemicals were used. The seller thinks it's silver maple.

Is silver maple safe for my tank? How can I confirm that's what it is?

 

[rich311k]

It will be fine. You can boil it to be sure.

 

[neilanh]

Thanks Rich, you're always there answering my questions - It's much appreciated.

I'm planning on boiling it, already working on figuring out a pot or something large enough to hold it to do so. I was also gonna let it soak for a while to make sure it's clean before going in as well.

 

[fearlessfisch]

What a beautiful piece of wood!

 

[neilanh]

Yeah, I'm really digging it. It's a pretty decent size too:
13 inchs long,12 inchs wide,and stands 11 and a quarter inchs at the tallest point

My plan is to boil it for about 30 minutes, then let it soak for a week or two, keeping an eye on the color of the water and changing it with more boiling water as needed until it can stay clear for several days.

That sound like a good plan? Should I be using salt too in this process?

 

[rich311k]

Here is an excellent article on preparing drift wood.

Driftwood preparation

 

[QTOFFER]

That's a nice peice of driftwood! I've seen pieces that size but not as interesting at my lfs for $30 and up.

Maple may not want to stay submerged even after boiling. One solution is to attach it to a piece of slate with STAINLESS STEEL screws. You can drill through slate with a masonry bit - you just have to be patient and go slow to prevent cracking the slate.

 

[neilanh]

I was afraid of that! I'm hopeful it'll just want to sink, but if not the slate option is my backup plan. I'll have to pick up a masonry bit I guess, I just have regular drill bits. Thank you for the information!

I do have to ask though, is screwing it in with the stainless better than using aquarium sealant? Or will the sealant not stick to the wood?

 

[Jman17H]

That"s an awesome piece of driftwood!

I have never found a piece that fit in a pot and have always just ran mine through several cycles of the dishwasher (no detergent of course). I have had great luck with this method!

 

[rich311k]

The sealant should work just fine, if you would rather not play with drilling slate. If it is hollow you can stick some rocks inside of it as well.

 

[neilanh]

Good to know, just weighing my options. Gonna wait and see what the thing does, I suspect it'll be here by the end of this week. He shipped it on Saturday.

 

[severum mama]

Love the driftwood, it will be a great centerpiece for your new tank. You'll be much happier with it than the ornaments you have now- I had something similar once, and after a while the paint started fading and flaking off.

 

[neilanh]

Hey guys, so this piece didn't come in this week, dunno why, but in addition to this I also got 2 small pieces of cypress that are here.

Question about prepping it. I read the article on it, and the article recommended boiling for 7-8 hours. Really? Or was this duration for pieces that aren't quite dead yet? I don't know that I'm interpreting the article correctly.

Also, when using the salt during the soak or boil, the article recommended some pure salt. Is that the best to use?

It also says "Look for water softener and be sure its 99% salt." Do I want water softeners or not?

Got two pieces, that are 6 and 7 inches long and hollow to create "caves". Really like them, but one of them the edges are very sharp and very thin, so I don't know if I can sand them down enough to protect the fish.

TIA

 

[Sidi]

I think the long boil time is a bit about removing air, so that it sinks. Surface mold and bacteria probably will die much sooner than that, but it's always better to be safe than sorry (but I've been lucky finding, and boiling, driftwood for my main tank).

The wood I'd be most worried about in a tank is cedar, since it excretes an substance that is very herbicidal and (if I remember right) antibiotic. The others can give off all sorts of unwanted compounds like tannin, sap, mold, or bacteria...but cedar should really be scary.

 

[SparKy697]

Hey guys, so this piece didn't come in this week

Really? I bought a piece from the same guy after you did and I got mine yesterday! You might want to contact him.

 

[neilanh]

Ahh, the boiling helps with the sinking too. We'll these smaller pieces will already sink, so that's not a prob. So, I'll give them a good boil bath and a soak to see how they do. My large piece I don't know about it's sinking ability yet...

How long do you boil your pieces for Sidi?

Thanks for telling me Sparky. I got a msg from him saying thanks for payment and he was going to ship on last Saturday. I thought maybe because of the holiday the mail was just slow. I'll give it tomorrow, and if it's not here I'll get ahold of him. I'm anxious to see it. He claimed the pics didn't do it justice at all.

 

[neilanh]

The main peice came in today, and the guy was right, the picture doesn't do it justice. I didn't pick up on the depth of it in the picture, nor it's size. It's awesome, I love it.

However, there's no way it's going to fit in the stock pot my wife bought, so there's no way I can boil it I don't think. The base of it would fit, but the part stick out from the base on the left side of the pic makes it way too wide to fit in the largest pot she could find.

I'm guessing I'll get a container that's large enough for it, tupperware or something, and pour boiling water over it then let it soak. I think I'm also supposed to add salt, but all I have it table salt, will that work? I doubt it, but can't hurt to ask.

Any other suggestions? I'll try to get some better pics up soon.

Edit
I put up some more pics in my fishless cycle thread in getting started if you're interested.

I'm really wishing I could boil this. I setup a container and put it in there, then added several gallons of boiling hot water treated with aquarium salt over it. The water started turning brown instantly, so I fear this is going to be a long process. Any better ideas?

Also, as I feared, it's not a sinker, so I'll have to work that out later if it doesn't waterlog while it's soaking.

 

[neilanh]

no other thoughts on this?

The 2 smaller pieces I was able to boil. I boiled them for 2 hours, changing the water about every 30 minutes, until the boil didn't yield any more color in the water. I then let them sit submerged over night, and the water is still clear this morning. Is that a good way to judge when they're ready to go in? I don't want brown water in my tank.

 

[severum mama]

I don't really have any thoughts on boiling wood. I've never done it. I always just soak the wood in a bucket for a week or so and do water changes as necessary. As far as getting it to sink, I know you can attach a piece of slate to the bottom with stainless steel screws, and just bury the slate under your gravel. You'll never know it's there.

 

[neilanh]

Yeah, I'm not so much worried about getting it to sink, the advice you (and others) offered on the slate and stainless screws sounds easy enough. It's just that this is a pretty decent size piece of wood, and I don't want to wait several weeks for it.

Patience is a virtue, I know, doesn't mean I want to have it.