Cedar Driftwood

[TankGirl]

I have a piece of cedar in one of my tanks, BUT it came from the Chesapeake Bay and it had been floating for so long that it was very porous and light, and no longer had the cedar aroma, indicating to me that any resin it had was long gone. It has been in this particular tank for 2-3 years without any signs of difficulty. A fresh piece of cedar, say from a fallen tree, might not be the best choice.

Edit: Also, it may be confused with cypress, which is often growing in a bog, and the "knees" make good wood for tanks because they are already waterlogged.

 

[Xzap]

TankGirl.. quick question. When you say it had no cedar smell, was that the outside of the wood or did you make a fresh cut into it?

Thx,

Dave

 

[TankGirl]

I made a fresh cut on the very bottom to make it stable and it did not have a cedar smell, but it was obviously cedar.

 

[Xzap]

OK thanks, I wrote a professor of wood science at Oregon State Univ. Hopefully he can give me some info on getting the oil out.
Thx,
Dave

 

[TankGirl]

Cool - a professor of wood science - what a cool job!

 

[Xzap]

Well, I talked to a wood scientist today with the USDA Forest Service who is in the forest products lab. This is what he recommended..

1. Soak it in denatured alcohol for at least 60 days.
2. Let it set out for 2 weeks.
3. Soak it in water 2 more weeks.

According to him, this will extract any oils, critters, etc from the wood.

Dave

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/index.html

 

[TankGirl]

That is very good to know - thanks for sharing the info!

 

[greenmaji]

What would denatured alcohol be.. and would that be isopropal alcohol and if so what % concentration...

 

[Xzap]

I understood him to mean 100%.

Now where do I put that 55 gal drum of denatured alcohol

Dave

 

[greenmaji]

Are you going to be curring that tree stump in the back yard.. ROFL!!!

 

[Xzap]

LMAO I really wanna use this stump, can ya tell *lol*

Dave

 

[TankGirl]

Long run for a short slide, if you ask me....

 

[Xzap]

LOL TG.. are you saying I'm going to extremes for the end result ?

Thx,

Dave

 

[TankGirl]

Nah, J/K - there is no such thing as "extremes" in this hobby, lol!

 

[Pacifico]

I haven't read all of the posts on this topic, but I'll give you a (now humorous) personal story for Cedar:

When I was probably 15, (and naive to the concept of there being 'bad' driftwood to put in your tank,) I put a lovely looking piece of Cedar in with my Jardini Arowana, Green Severum, and Dojos. Ok... It could have gotten ugly (financially & emotionally) but the fish were fine. The worst thing that happened was my water turned kind of an orangy-red.

I got lucky

 

[rubysoho]

Xzap, I guess you could set it outside in a garage or something and keep it covered so the evaporation rate slows (or keep refilling it). Now, if you want to make things interesting, I would think that be a good conversation started in the living room. Just leave the windows open so guests don't faint

 

[Xzap]

I haven't read all of the posts on this topic, but I'll give you a (now humorous) personal story for Cedar:

When I was probably 15, (and naive to the concept of there being 'bad' driftwood to put in your tank,) I put a lovely looking piece of Cedar in with my Jardini Arowana, Green Severum, and Dojos. Ok... It could have gotten ugly (financially & emotionally) but the fish were fine. The worst thing that happened was my water turned kind of an orangy-red.

I got lucky

How old would you say your wood was Pacifico ?

Ruby.. I'm gonna let it soak for about 30 days in the tub and see how that goes. I wonder if could add enough denatured alcohol to the tub water to have any appreciable effect?

Dave

 

[rubysoho]

No clue, but good luck! Hope it doesn't stain your tub

 

[BillD]

I have seen cedar for sale in the LFS, so perhaps it is okay.

 

[Pacifico]

Well, I know for a fact that the wood was sitting in my backyard for at least a year... And it was already water-logged when I put it in (and no, I didn't know to boil it first at the time). It is very possible (and likely) that the wood was old enough that the resins had already 'leaked' out.