applewood okay to use in tank

[smooth_cannibal]

I have this giant hunk of applewood from my grandparents' apple tree. its cured and all. before I strip the bark I wanted to double check that's its safe for the tank. from what I remember fruit tree wood is okay. never been sprayed with anything.

course I just thought this isn't going to be easy to get into a 55 with the cross brace in the middle doh. I have to trim a ton off of it anyways. its like 5 feet long at least. thinking I can half it somewhere and then join it back together with a galvanized screw. any other ideas about large wood in tanks with a cross brace is appreciated.

 

[Paxdaddy]

I have a Branch from a dead apple tree in one of my tanks. Been in there for a few years with no problems

 

[wildroseofky]

Most fruit bearing trees are safe. I read somewhere that Date of Fig tree wood should be avoided though. Not sure why.

 

[Fishfur]

Should be fine, but don't use a galvanized screw if you need to join two pieces. They aren't meant to be submerged in water and will rust out. The zinc coating simply makes them a bit more rust resistant, not rust proof under water.

If you have to join two pieces, SS wire might be one way to do it.

There are some glues you might be able to use for this as well. Two part epoxy putties - there are some made especially for tanks.. come in blue or red,
[ they're meant to match corals or live rock], can be cured underwater and have a fairly long open working time, 15- 20 minutes, which gives you a lot of leeway to get the pieces assembled.

There's a plumber's two part putty as well, called Oatey's.. It's a light tan colour and also cures underwater and I've used it, as have many others, without any issues. But it has a very short working time, only 2-3 minutes before it's rock hard.

Crazy glue will hold underwater, but won't work well on something as porous as wood.

There is also a brand new joining technique I just ran across the other day. It's called Bondic. [ no, I don't work for them in any way]. Bondic is not glue, it's more like welding, only with plastic.

Based on dental resins that are cured with UV light, it can be applied to any surface that's been roughed up a bit.. [ won't work on very smooth surfaces.. so you sand smooth surfaces a bit]. Applied in thin layers to build up to whatever you need, it will not cure [ harden] until you shine the special UV LED light on it, which comes with the kit you get.

Then it cures rock hard in 4 seconds or so. Can be worked with most any tools after curing and layered as thick as you need it, one layer at a time. The company even has advisors you can write to for help to make it work with your own project. Pretty neat stuff, safe for aquarium use.. it's just a plastic once cured.

 

[smooth_cannibal]

cool. I am going to be trying that this week then. so none of the putty's or anything will be hazardous to the fish I take it. the screw is just what popped into my head. never tried anything like this. thanks for the tips. for all I know once I get it trimmed and stripped I may not need to separate it but as I was typing about if the wood was okay or not it dawned on me with the cross brace.

 

[Fishfur]

Nope, none of the epoxy putties I mentioned do any harm to fish or inverts. I have both kinds on some rock caves I made and after a few years, no issues at all.