Curing mopani wood with Ethanol

[Angryamygdala]

Hello all,
Im new to these forums so forgive me if this is the wrong place.

I am trying to establish a small (10gal) planted tank, I wanted to add some mopani wood to help my rhizomes grow and help feed my placo. I was wondering if short of boiling the wood there was any other methods I could use. My tank ended up pretty brown after a small piece was added (since removed).

Specifically, if I were to soak this wood in an isotonic (~70%) pharma grade ethanol, and of course allow time to dry before carful rinsing. Would this be effective? As many of you know alcohol is an agressive solvent, but Im not so sure how much penetrating power it will have.

:/ Just throwing it out there, has anyone tried other means of curing their decor?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Never heard the use of ethanol in that manner before. I just boil my DW and stones to satisfactory effect. It's a tried and true method.

 

[Convict2161]

I'd stay away from chemicals. Ethanol would be put of the question IMO. Boil it, soak it even run it through the dishwasher all tried and proven ways.

Stick with what works.

 

[foster53]

The dishwasher method works pretty well!!

 

[brennae]

The brown color is just tannins and they won't hurt anything. you can use carbon in your filter to get rid of the color.

 

[Angryamygdala]

The dishwasher method works pretty well!!

Not sure how well the household would receive this idea, Im soaking the log now. I guess Ill just wait it out.

 

[Super_Blueberry]

If the piece is small enough, you can wedge it in the tank of your toilet. It will stay soaked, constantly get fresh water to help remove tannins, and it's out of the way.