Safe Driftwood?

[aclark]

Went camping at the Indiana Dunes State Park and found some neat driftwood while hiking around. I had to break it off a larger trunk of wood, and there is some "live"/"wet" wood still in the trunk and I wasn't sure if it was safe to use, or if it would rot in the tank. I also found a couple smaller sticks I was going to use in conjunction or in my smaller 20 gallon tank. So is it all good after I either bake or soak it? I have a laundry sink I'm going to put it in, should I add anything to the water to kill micro-orgs? A small amt of bleach?

 

[thing fish]

Not sure what type of wood that is, but if it is a hard wood then it should be just fine. It looks really cool. I would give that "live" area where you broke it off the sniff test. If it smells at all like pine or cedar, then you probably dont want to use it.

Assuming it is safe wood to use, I think baking it at the lowest possible setting is a good idea, as long as you keep a very close eye on it. If you use bleach, a cup/5 gallons...but then you want to do a prolonged soak/rinse/drain with fresh water and repeat over several days to remove any bleach that may have soaked into the wood.