Nice..just stay away from my trout stream. I do the same thing for my own tanks. I also take some from lakes nearby but I have over 100 lakes and twice as many streams within 1 hour of home. Still, being a fishing/outdoor guide I worry about it a bit. Just don`t take to much from one area, spread it out watch out for spawning fish/ seasons etc..
Our water here is cold and acid. I use only "waterlogged" mostly, or "bog wood". The Bog wood comes from a local cranberry farm and is found when making new bog, its real bog wood, peaty, buried deep and ancient. This stuff stains the water with tannin a bit, tea color but does not hurt fish/shrimp.
The "water logged" stuff from rivers lakes is not the same. No way to tell how old it is, and you don`t want bark...that can cause problems, so identification is a problem.
I have often used alder and maple for sure, I also know our local crayfish eat the leaves of it as they decay in the fall. (a very good reason NOT to sell any wood from North America at least. Our Crays carry a fungus/parasite that kills other inverts. So far my shrimp are fine, I check for baby crayfish too, that is why I let wood sit dry 24 hrs)
I have also used some soft woods root balls most likely Douglas Fir or Red Cedar. All "water logged" so it does not float at all when found. I just scrub it lightly, rinse it with tap water, let it dry over night and use it no problems so far even with the shrimp/fish tank.
I also use drift wood from the sea, sometimes, if its really nice looking, boil it real good first though and you need to hold it down with rock till it "water logs", a month or so. I`m care full with this stuff though the salt inside it.
Watch new additions closely, I have had strange algae and "bio films" pop up over night,even on boiled then dried pieces. I had a really nice burl I wanted to use that grew white fuzz over night twice..even after 2 treatments. My shrimp would not go on it either, so I gave up on it for the fish tank...its covered in lizard crap now.
