# cottonwood in an aquarium



## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Well, I am getting the bug to rescape my 36 gal, but well... My wife has restricted my spending lol. There is a plethora of Cottonwood trees with sun dried and aged branches all over the area. I have had a hard time finding any information regarding the possibility of using this wood in an aquarium, is this type of wood stable enough to use submerged? It was just an idea I had while taking a bike ride with my daughter through some of the local open space.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

LOL! I figured this might not be the most highly discussed topic today. I guess I might just try to find a nice piece of the wood in one of the fields and give her a go in my kettle pond (nothing but snails captured from my 36 gal. living in it) and see what happens.

Everything I find about this wood is that it is a soft hardwood.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

cottonwood is soft and would easily deteriorate like compost. find a manzanita driftwood.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Crispino Ramos said:


> cottonwood is soft and would easily deteriorate like compost. find a manzanita driftwood.


unfortunately I do not have the money at the moment to purchase a piece of driftwood in the size that I would need for my aquarium (30-60$) And as far as I know Manzanita does not grow in Colorado. Most of the literature that I have found says that Cottonwood is a soft hardwood, but I am still not sure as to its durability submerged. I find it all the time along local creeks and rivers, and the submerged portions seem to be holding up.


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Well I'm not exactly sure, but I don't think Populus wood works. I tried an Aspen twig and I couldn't get it to quit floating and I'm not sure if the salicylic acid would affect anything. I think I read somewhere long ago that Popular wood is actually soft and rots pretty quickly. 

But I guess it doesn't hurt to try it in your pond, it would be fun to go out with your daughter to do it anyways, so even if the wood didn't work at least it is some quality time. I wish my parents would have taken me on adventuring when I was younger.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

COttonwood rots quickly. I wouldn't expect it to last long term.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

Pond water in Colorado is probably cooler than indoor tank water, so the cottonwood driftwood might do ok in a pond. But the warmer aquarium water would hasten the decay of the cottonwood driftwood. Try it anyway, keep an eye on the wood and monitor the nitrate, pH, phosphate.


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## BonesCJ (Jan 13, 2003)

try manzanita burlworks (www.manzanita.com), they have an aquarium section and I ordered two big pieces and it was only 23 dollars to ship from outside san diego to tucson, az. The owner rich is awsome and the pieces I got were top notch


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## bigboij (Jul 24, 2009)

i had a cotton wood branch in my tank it lasted for over a year till i broke it rearranging, i still have a broken piece of it covered in java ferns and anubias still going strong, hasn't rotted away


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## monkeyfish (Jul 5, 2010)

Have you checked out the unique driftwood thread in the swap and shop here? Ds drifter has the coolest and most affordable stuff I've seen. 

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

I imagine that cottonwood wood will quickly to turn to mush underwater. It is a ver soft wood and the old stumps and limbs rot really fast out in the woods.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

Got any ceder around the place? It is common in many parts of North America on disturbed ground. If you can find an old stump of that and soak it for a while it will work well for years. Use Purigen if you are having trouble with tannins.


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## HypnoticAquatic (Feb 17, 2010)

why not try something harder like crabapple or applewood or cherry. most likely someone on ur block has at least one ask when they prune then just clean em up. if u cant find any let me know im sure i could find some as they need/should be pruned every year or two.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

HypnoticAquatic said:


> why not try something harder like crabapple or applewood or cherry. most likely someone on ur block has at least one ask when they prune then just clean em up. if u cant find any let me know im sure i could find some as they need/should be pruned every year or two.


Unfortunately I am in a newer sub-division, but I might be able to grab a branch off an apple tree my dad has, that is one option I did not think of.



houstonhobby said:


> Got any ceder around the place? It is common in many parts of North America on disturbed ground. If you can find an old stump of that and soak it for a while it will work well for years. Use Purigen if you are having trouble with tannins.


I will have to do my research on the tree to identify one when I come across one.



bigboij said:


> i had a cotton wood branch in my tank it lasted for over a year till i broke it rearranging, i still have a broken piece of it covered in java ferns and anubias still going strong, hasn't rotted away


I was going to ask you what wood you had in your tank. I remember you saying something about it when you came and got some of the cherry's




monkeyfish said:


> Have you checked out the unique driftwood thread in the swap and shop here? Ds drifter has the coolest and most affordable stuff I've seen.
> 
> 
> Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


I have seen his stuff, usually others jump on the piece I would before I have a chance lol. 



BonesCJ said:


> try manzanita burlworks (www.manzanita.com), they have an aquarium section and I ordered two big pieces and it was only 23 dollars to ship from outside san diego to tucson, az. The owner rich is awsome and the pieces I got were top notch


I will certainly check it out. Thanks for the link.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Wood in the tank is a favorite of mine. There seems to be a great deal of misinformation (as always) floating around. Maybe it is just a different mindset. I think of my tanks as works in progress and am never too concerned with the "forever" factor. When we say wood rots quickly it is a relative term. If you plan to have it in your tank ten years, yes it rots too quick. For my game, that is plenty long. I also am willing to gamble and find out what happens. Many people state flat out that wood will raise PH, cedar will kill fish, etc. when they have not tried it. I have very large cedar and live fish. I say try the wood you find that appeals and it will be great. Monitor what it may do to the water and if it rots in a year the plants will use it. I find it last a bunch longer underwater where bugs don't eat it. It is very cheap when you pick it and you can replace it often if necessary. For crashing your PH, it depends on the buffering in your water. Just something to watch and be aware of potential trouble. I think that goes for most of our hobby.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

You might try some tougher rocky locations, higher altitudes etc, drier desert sections etc.

Harder denser, old/ancient wood is better.
Colorado is a big state, plenty of places to look.

Cottonwood is not on my list of woods, we have it all over here, never seen any worth while.

I collect the manzy here up in the mountains.


















It works well, I do not think you have much in CO, but you might find other similar shrubby trees. Post fire regions, say 10-20 years after a fire might be a good spot to look. 


Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

There are a lot of wildfires in the mountain, but I'm not sure what kind of trees we have in the mountain... I think a lot of pine trees and aspens. But, I hardly ever been to the Rocky mountains, so I can't really remember... the few times I been there was when I was in middle school going on a field trip with my classmates, lol.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

So many of the trees up there look the same lol. I might take a trip through Trail Ridge Road (the highest paved road in the u.s.) on sunday, or next sunday. Hopefully the snow has not started at the top lol. I might be able to find something that might work, but Pine is the most common wood up there.


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## Eden Marel (Jan 28, 2010)

Maybe borrow one of those books that have wild plants specific for CO to help with identification. I know I could've sworn I've seen them at Barnes and noble.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

If I remember correctly, much of the trail ridge is above treeline so not the place to look for downed wood. Washed out or once flooded areas are places to find old dried wood. I look along the shore of the lake for most of mine. When it rains and the lakes come up the wood is picked up and then left on the shore when water goes down. Much of the time this will drift into coves and be left in big piles. To me knowing what species of tree is not too important. I carry a small brush saw in the trunk and when something appeals to me, I cut off the part I like. I've never had a tank long enough for the wood rotting to ever become a problem.


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## monkeyfish (Jul 5, 2010)

> Have you checked out the unique driftwood thread in the swap and shop here? Ds drifter has the coolest and most affordable stuff I've seen.
> 
> I have seen his stuff, usually others jump on the piece I would before I have a chance lol.


If you email him and ask him to find a piece similar to one you like, he'll do it. Rod is a good guy

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

PlantedRich said:


> If I remember correctly, much of the trail ridge is above treeline so not the place to look for downed wood. Washed out or once flooded areas are places to find old dried wood. I look along the shore of the lake for most of mine. When it rains and the lakes come up the wood is picked up and then left on the shore when water goes down. Much of the time this will drift into coves and be left in big piles. To me knowing what species of tree is not too important. I carry a small brush saw in the trunk and when something appeals to me, I cut off the part I like. I've never had a tank long enough for the wood rotting to ever become a problem.


A good portion of Trail Ridge is above tree line, but there are some very nice dense forested areas just below the tree line, and some lower woody shrubs just before you reach the tundra near the top. The only problem with finding wood along lakes is that mos of our lakes are man made. I might go follow some of the creeks in the area and see what I can find. 



monkeyfish said:


> If you email him and ask him to find a piece similar to one you like, he'll do it. Rod is a good guy
> 
> Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


I have his website bookmarked. I am attempting to do this as cheap as I can,although if I cannot find a piece around here, I might just fold and order from him lol. My LFS is keeping an eye out for me as well. I am not in a hurry, I have time, the tank is running find and has been for over a year now, I am just starting to get a bit tired of the scape. Some of my fish have found some great hiding spots, so great in fact that I rarely see them lol


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## Jester206 (Feb 17, 2010)

I had the same problem as you I wanted some cool driftwood but i wasn't willing to pay big bucks for it from my LFS. I did a lot of research on the subject. There are a bunch of differing opinions out there I heard that softwoods like cedar and pine will leach oils into the water that can be harmful to fish but i don't know I'v never tried it. After all my research I decided to just go for it and do it my own way since I didn't find a clear "best way" to do it.

I went out and found a nice bit of wood ... well it was really more of a tree. It had died and fallen into some other trees so most of it was in the air. The only bit touching the ground was the stump. I figured this would minimize creepy crawlies and rot. I think it was poplar or ash. I'm not really sure but I do know that it wasn't an evergreen like pine or cedar. I bought a giant rubbermaid container from walmart ($20) and after i got home i broke it into smaller pieces and submerged it in water. I changed the water every once and a while and took a piece or 2 out when i was bored and scrubbed it with a wire brush. I kept it in the water for a few months this seemed to leach out most of the tannins, kill any critters that might be living in there and made it slightly less buoyant. I knew that this wood would never sink entirely because some of it is like 4-5 inches in diameter. I got a wicked deal from home depot on 2 boxes of untreated slate tiles that were leftovers from a custom order or something I think I got them for like 10 bucks for both boxes. I also picked up some stainless steel screws (3 for like $5 expensive!) When I was ready i scrubbed the wood really good with the wire brush (destroying the brush it in the process) and then cut them to the size i wanted, broke the tiles into more manageable sizes with a hammer, drilled a hole through the slate with a masonry bit and then screwed the wood on and presto tonnes of wicked wood for like 40$ and a little hard work!

I was a little scared to put the wood in my tank so i started to slowly add a piece at a time. It didn't seem to effect anything so when I did a total rebuild I put it all in. It looks awesome now and everything seems normal.

I don't really think adding wood that you find (when properly prepared) is any more dangerous then adding wood from the LFS. I have a piece from big als. They used steal screws that almost rusted out and I have no idea what kind of wood that is or how it was prepared. At least I know what I did to my wood. I say sometimes you have to just go for it, hope for the best, and see what happens.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Adding wood to the tank can get into a full book. I just go with what works-- works. I prefer using plastic tie wraps for electrical work to using screws as they can be made to fit two items together when there are no flat surfaces to join. I do have a bit of leaning toward the big stuff. These are cedar stumps and did color the water for quite some time. I do frequent water changes anyway and my water has tremendous buffering so it did not crash the PH at all. Two seventy gallon tanks.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

wow, I like the piece in the second picture. I would have flipped it upside down though lol. More like a tree stump. I have all the time in the world to decide, but the longer I wait, the more likely I will be able to purchase a nice piece.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

At the time I made that beast, I had a totally different purpose than now. At the time, I wanted a structure for fish to go inside. It doesn't show but the inside is hollowed out so that there is room for large fish. I've found it helps to have some water circulation through large pieces so the small dark areaare natural low spots in the wood where I removed enough interior wood to make and opening. It also gives me an opening to stick a hose in when refilling to flush out grung that might collect inside. With the stump upside down it makes quite a ballroom. Now I only have silver dollars and a mono in the tank and nobody cares if the center is open. Enertia keeps me from changing it. That and the thirty pound limestone rock holding it down.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Well, the search is over. I will be looking at purchasing a piece, I was able to sell my old Iphone 3g on craigslist for a small chunk of change, part of that is going to get me a piece of Driftwood for the rescape of the tank.


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