# Prepping maple for a fish tank



## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

bulrush, wood that you see in fish tanks tends to be very dense (common in deserts) and/or very slow to biodegrade (common in swamps). I'm afraid a typical Maple fits neither of those criteria.


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## bulrush (May 7, 2007)

Even though maple is a hardwood it's not dense enough for underwater use?


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## mrbman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

From what I understand preping it would involve aging it outside to help dry it out then boiling it for a long time to make it waterlogged/sterilized. I dont know if it is aquarium worthy but you could try it out in a tank wothout anything you were attached to in order to see how it does :icon_ques. I wish I had some links for you but I know there are some sites out there that better describe the process in detail.


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## kasslloyd (May 28, 2007)

You could dry kiln the branches, remove the bark and coat in an epoxy or polyurethane or something else that would be inert once cured then screw it to slate plates to give it enough weight to sink... Kind of like how you proccess cypress knobs for tanks.

You might be able to find a local lumber yard with a dry kiln that they would let you put your pieces in to dry... or you could always just sit them in your attic during the summer months and that should accomplish nearly the same thing. ;-)


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