What kind of wood can be put into an aquarium?

[RoyBoy]

ive done a lot of looking on http://www.manzanita.com and www.thedriftwoodstore.com and they have great products but i am wondering if Icant just go walking threw the woods and find a cool looking piece myself? has there got to be some kind of treatment done to it?

I understand washing and such to make sure critters and such arent attached but anything else?

thankyou.. you guys rock

 

[mfdrookie516]

you can.. that's basically what they do. really all ya gotta do is de-bark it. but you have to get wood that wont rot. Sycamore seems to be pretty popular, but that's the only locally available wood that im 100% sure on. I'd say most hard woods would be ok, but as I said, I can't say for sure.

You want to make sure that you collect from somewhere upstream of any traffic and/or pollution. Also make sure its nowhere that any pesticide/herbicide runoff would be.

 

[RoyBoy]

sweet... ill see what i come up with

 

[Sayf]

It takes way too much effort to get it all sorted before you can put it in your tank. I just use bog wood that it's been used in aquarium before.

 

[JakeVS]

I read this article a while back, takes you through the process.

Driftwood

 

[TropicalAquariumExpert]

Don't skimp on wood, buy instead of DIY. There's too many things that can go wrong from using unseasoned wood. Get on ebay, people sell wood with exact measurements and detailed pics so you'll know exactly what you get before you buy.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

If you find a really unique piece of solid DW, I'd say go for it. But debark, boil, soak in aqua salt water, and soak in fresh water (daily PWC) for a month and it should be OK.

Bugs love fallen wood, anything less than the above, IMO you're going to introduce something into your tank that could very well kill off all your stock.