# Tree stumps in the aquarium?



## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

I was wondering whether putting a tree stump (small one) in the aquarium would be a good idea? I realize that wood will release tannins and I've put driftwood in my tanks in the past, but this is different and I'm not sure if its dangerous or not. I found it outside my house and it was partially buried, so I gave it a good tug and out it came. I can't boil it as its too big for any of our pots, but I can treat it with something or scrub it real good if that's what you would recommend. It's a real nice looking piece that would look great covered in java moss and maybe some java fern and/or anubias growing from it. Take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks.
-Ryan


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## Bombay (Mar 3, 2006)

It would be best to know what kind of wood it is. I do believe some types of wood could release toxins. Also, I am assuming it is still 'green' inside.

As a general rule, I would not put something like that into a tank...unless it was a very very very large tank.


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## jstageman (Jan 17, 2006)

From my experience, it works fine. I found a similar stump in the woods near my house (not nearly as gnarled and cool-looking as yours, but that is neither here nor there) and had it sandblasted by a local company to remove some softer/rotting areas since it was too big to boil or cook. The wood is pretty dense, but still wanted to float a little, so I tied some fishing line to a piece of slate buried under the substrate and then put another rock on top of the flat slate. 

In the few months the tank has been set up (maybe 2-3--not really sure) I'm not sure if it has become fully waterlogged yet, but it is working so far. Had a lot of the basic "new tank" issues, including a recently concluded battle with GW (won by me!!! :icon_cool ) but that could just have easily have been caused by my livestock levels as the wood (probably a combination of the two). Now the water is crystal clear and everything appears to be humming along nicely.

A lot probably depends on the type of wood and a bunch of other factors I don't know enough about to comment on, but I would say find someone to sandblast it (cost me about $20 bucks, but that was their minimum; I probably could have had them do 5 or 6 similar stumps for the same price) and let 'er rip!


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## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

Thanks for the responses. I may try sandblasting it a bit to clean it up and the bonus is that my father has a sandblaster from working on cars. Cool looking piece of wood IMO. Oh, and the tank I have is a 90g tank with some SA/CA cichlids, Silver dollars and various bottom feeders. I have a pair of blue eyes in there (can't remember latin name) that are looking like they'll be spawning. They already have a spot secured under some rocks. Thanks again!
-Ryan


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

blue eyed plecos?!?! the panaque cochledon?!?!?!( sp* ) thats amazing if you have those..i am uber jealous then


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## SuRje1976 (Feb 2, 2006)

How long has the stump been laying around? Spalting is common in many types of wood. It is deterioration caused by a fungus. It would guess that this could cause some problems. Unless you know somehow that it is not spalting, and that there are no other potential issues, you may want to play it safe and use it as firewood.


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## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

No, its a Central American cichlid. The name is _Archocentrus spilurus_ I think. I do have a chocolate pl*co in there though. The tank isn't really planted, just some low light stuff like java fern, anubias coffefolia and some java moss. My planted is a 20g and with the 90g I wanted to do something a little different. Check out these fish showing their colors though, if you're not familiar with them. 

Male guarding territory:









Female spitting sand:









-Ryan


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## magicmagni (Nov 7, 2003)

I had good results using an oak stump on my 125 Gallon tank. See my signature.

The wood should be a dense type. If it is soft it may rot in your tank.
Depending on the type of wood you should be ok. Just blast it all off with a garden hose. If you want to be extra sure it's clean take some hydrogen peroxide and pour it all over the wood to clean it the best you can.

Not a bad idea to soak it for several weeks in a large container (garbage can works well) to get it waterlogged and also to help remove tannins. May take several weeks to several months before this happens.


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## lumpyfunk (Dec 22, 2004)

I had a stump in my 90, it went ok but I had lots of GW issues, probably unrelated, but I had some bad episodes. I would defiantly soak it in a 5% bleach or h2o2 solution for a couple of days to kill any hitchikers that are in the wood, plus it will help get the tannins out.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Boiling water is another good disinfectant. Just put two big pots of water on the kitchen stove and get them boiling. Put the stump in a garbage can or a 5 gallon can, and dump the boiling water on it. Then leave it to cool down. Not many organisms can survive boiling water. And, best of all, it is has a non-toxic residue.


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