# Red Cedar safe and will it sink?



## Sluuuder (Feb 7, 2012)

So I have an awesome stump I found when I was putting corn out at m deer stand. I took it home dried it out(only a few roots were in the ground) and cut of the dead part with a chainsaw. Well I cut through it and smelt cedar :/

Its red on the inside but its still a hard wood right?

Just wondering if it will be okay in my tank. Its soaking in my bathtub right now....Mom isn't a fan f it lol.

Also how long will it take before it sinks? The tank I'm putting it in is empty right now so ill attach it to some rocks so it'll stay sunk.

Just let me know! Gotta get it out of the tub soon!


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## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

Not a hardwood. Cedar and other evergreens are toxic. Turpentine in the sap. I wouldn't advise using it if I were you.


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## Tzac (May 18, 2013)

Redwoods are soft and full of antibacterial and antifungal chemicals that would not be good in an aquarium.


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## Sluuuder (Feb 7, 2012)

Well crap.....back to the drawing board I guess.


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## sadchevy (Jun 15, 2013)

The red cedar can be used, only after a thorough drying out. While soaking in the tub, Do you notice any oily film on top the water? Does the water start to smell like turpentine? If so, then the wood isn't dry enough. Hang it on a fence post for a couple seasons and it'll be good to go. It is a softwood though, and as such will rot a little faster. I have several cedar pieces in my tanks. Maybe Tom Barr will chime in on this, he has experience with cedar also.


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## Zapins (Jan 7, 2006)

I agree with sadchevy, it is possible to use it. I have used very old dead and dried out wood in the past, but in retrospect I'd recommend against it. The stuff doesn't hold together well.


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

In general, I think if you smell anything other then a 'wood' or an 'earthy' smell, it's probably not weathered enough to go into a tank.

I'd be especially wary of things like cedar, as the chemicals that produce the smell tend to also be irritants and toxic (why they are useful for storing clothes, etc. the toxins repel the moths)

It might be worth boiling over a campfire if you can find something big enough to put it in, but not sure if that would do much good in a reasonable amount of time.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*Red cedar needs weighed and can be used in tanks buut..*

First off cedar is not a hard wood, it's very boyant, I've had mine for over 6 months in water and it only stays down with 5lb+ of stone screwed into it. It will need weighed.

As fir safety for use.. Such a broad statements as "all cedar is not aquarium safe" is narrow minded and inaccurate. True fresh or improperly aged wood can indeed be dangerous or lethal to aquatic life, but it can be made safe.
I have a large piece of red cedar in my 55 gallon with a pleco that rasps on the wood and a rainbowfish (trying to find a whole school to add with it). It was In the tank during fish-less cycle and over a month of fish-in and moving about.
I believe plantbrain (tom barr) also has a large red cedar in a tank full of happy tetras. I think he has a thread on this forum with photos of the tank and wood.
I cannot account for how old his piece of wood is or how it may have been treated; but I can give you information about mine to hopefully help you decide on your own if its safe or not.

My piece of red cedar was purchased on eBay and I questioned the seller before I considered buying it. The seller pulled it out of a man made lake made by a damn that had kept all the cedar in that area under water for *60+ years. *. Truthfully the only reason I was willing to buy this cedar was because of plantbrain showed his tank. When it arrived it still had the smell of cedar faintly. I bought a large trash bin and soaked it for over 3 months (held underwater by a large river rock) it did not make an oily film from oils in the wood on the surface but I did get a bio film from what I put in the water (bio film can make a rainbow-y oil cover on the water. It will form bubbles when the water is agitated and not disappear quickly). 

When I set up the 55 the wood was still stubbornly wanting to float so my husband drilled holes to screw the wood to stone. The wood still had a cedar odor but it was not too strong. We monitored the fish-less cycle with API test kit every day, the wood did not adversely effect the bacteria from building up. When cycled and prepared the rainbow went in the tank for 2 days before we had to reseat the wood (was still too buoyant). New holes were drilled, still minor smell... Went in the tank and the rainbowfish was still fine so the pleco ( which sucks on/rasps wood) went in. I had a bloom of green hair alga form on the wood that I had to treat with hydrogen peroxide to get rid of.
There have been no noticeable issuers with the fish, plants, or benificial bacteria (the toxin cedar can exsude it an antibacterial or anti fungal.. It also keeps bugs away which is why people like to use cedar to keep moths out of thief cloths (chest or chips in closet). 

I will emphasize that my experience is with a very old very dead and very water treated wood. It did still have a little smell and it was monitored closely to see if it affected anything before making my decision on its use-ability. I would strongly advise against using freshly cut or only recently dead cedar wood. 

Some people have said they boil or even bake (in oven monitored closely) wood to draw out the dangerous oily sap (if oven have a cookie tray to catch the sap, it appsrently makes an annoying mess to clean in oven). I cannot account for how safe these methods will make fresher cedar aquatium friendly, so proceed at your own risk, but don't give up on it before you begun. If nothing else boil it and let it soak a year or more in a bucket then see how it's doing.

On added note: from research, white cedar/swamp cedar apparently has more of the dangerous oily sap and takes longer to become safe than red cedar, but it too can be used in aquarium with proper aging and treatment.


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## Aqguy (Oct 30, 2013)

Would make a good table piece with some sealer on it.


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