# Using Bush branches for fish tank decor



## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Hello All,

So today I went by a local pond to try to find some drift wood or dried branches that might look nice in a fish tank. I didn't find much. When I got home, I looked this bush that I have in my back yard, the way the branches branch out in a bunch of different directions, it seems like it would look nice.

Has anyone every tried this?

Of course I would have to chop up the bush and wait for it to dry out first before I could even use it. I also thought about using the base to turn it into a big tree in my 55G. 

How long do you think it would take to dry out?

Here is a couple pictures of the bush:

What do you guys think; yay or na?

I know it might be a lot of work, and time just to get it ready to go for the tank, but I don't mind. I think the process could be fun.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

I googled this and only found 1 other thread on a different forum that was asking about a rosemary bush. 

One person said that there would be to much oils in the rosemary bush that wouldn't be good for the fish tank.

Obviously this is not a rosemary bush, but would this bush have the same amount of oils as well?


I would definitely be soaking this for a long time and boiling the pieces before I use them.

I just want to make sure that this is possible before I start hacking away.

Thanks in advance for anyone who has answers for me. I appreciate it greatly!

Also, if you have every had similar experiences, let me know what you did and how it went. Thanks again!!!


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Also,

The branches are kind of rubbery right now. I'm thinking when i dries out it will harden up.

I don't know if this would be a factor though.


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## Nambroth (Apr 21, 2012)

From the looks of it-- and I am no expert, but the bush looks like it might be a Boxwood, or _Buxus_. I couldn't tell you which species. I wish I could tell you if it'd be "Safe" or not but I am not sure. They are a somewhat common ornamental bush. If you figure out it'd be safe, it might be a neat addition as the wood is generally dense and hard. 

No matter if it's safe or not, be sure that it's never been sprayed with any pesticides, etc... or had over-spray from a neighbor using such products.

Sorry I'm not more help!!


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Nambroth said:


> From the looks of it-- and I am no expert, but the bush looks like it might be a Boxwood, or _Buxus_. I couldn't tell you which species. I wish I could tell you if it'd be "Safe" or not but I am not sure. They are a somewhat common ornamental bush. If you figure out it'd be safe, it might be a neat addition as the wood is generally dense and hard.
> 
> No matter if it's safe or not, be sure that it's never been sprayed with any pesticides, etc... or had over-spray from a neighbor using such products.
> 
> Sorry I'm not more help!!


Hey no problem, Thanks for the comment. I Just Googled Buxus and boxwood. It does look similar if it is not indeed one of those.

Thanks!


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Looks like Buxus to me, too. 

IMO it is too twiggy, but that can be pruned. I would remove all the stuff smaller than about 1/4" for sure, and see if that makes it look a bit better. Maybe start removing more if it still looks too busy. 

Loricariads are highly likely to eat the bark pretty quickly, leaving just the wood. That is OK.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Diana said:


> Looks like Buxus to me, too.
> 
> IMO it is too twiggy, but that can be pruned. I would remove all the stuff smaller than about 1/4" for sure, and see if that makes it look a bit better. Maybe start removing more if it still looks too busy.
> 
> Loricariads are highly likely to eat the bark pretty quickly, leaving just the wood. That is OK.


Thanks for the input Diana,

Yes, I would remove a lot of the little trigs. below is another piece of the bush that I just cut off and pruned up a bit. It is like 4 feet long' ish.

First I would let it dry out, and then remove all the bark and maybe even trim it up a bit to get to a final piece. I think it has a lot of potential and there are a bunch of other pieces left on the bush. 

This piece is basically a rough draft, I'm excited to work on it...

After it dries up, I would soak it for a long time. A piece this long though I wouldn't be able to boil unless I cut it up into pieces and then glued it back together afterwards.

Has anyone tried this before? 

I will post up more pictures as I trim more branches and as I progress with this project. 

If anyone has any information regarding doing something like this, please let me know so that I can do this correctly.

Thanks!


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

No need to boil it. You could soak it in a garbage can. I did that for a lot of branches, turning them upside down every few days, taking them out to decide where to cut them and so on. Many stayed the full length and I just very carefully maneuvered them into the tanks.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

I would not want to use that wood for myself but then we will have different ideas on that. My thinking does NOT mean that you should not. 
Three reasons for me not to use it. 
1. It will take way more time for it to dry so that it doesn't color the water. Like maybe several years? Your thoughts and what amount of color it gives may vary a lot. 
2. I don't like to strip bark and I certainly don't like it falling off in the tank. 
3. I can go for a walk and find fully dry wood pretty easy. 

Depending on what part of the state you are in, you may be able to go for a hike on some trail or walk around a lake and find some really good dry stuff hung up where high water has left it hanging in a tree or brushpile. I need the exercise, enjoy the walk and certainly love the variety and prices!
Not around Austin by chance? I could put you onto some good spots local.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

PlantedRich said:


> I would not want to use that wood for myself but then we will have different ideas on that. My thinking does NOT mean that you should not.
> Three reasons for me not to use it.
> 1. It will take way more time for it to dry so that it doesn't color the water. Like maybe several years? Your thoughts and what amount of color it gives may vary a lot.
> 2. I don't like to strip bark and I certainly don't like it falling off in the tank.
> ...


I'm in Abilene Texas actually. I'm from California, I'm just stationed at Dyess AFB. I wish dyess was outside of Austin though. There really isn't much around as far as places to find wood like this although there is a couple places I'm interested in looking. 

I really hope it doesn't take years to dry out. I'm not sure how long it will take. Maybe there is ways to speed up the process safely. I will look into it.

If it does take years, I might keep the pieces and use them in the future. I was already prepared for it to take a long time, so we will see how it goes.



diana said:


> No need to boil it. You could soak it in a garbage can. I did that for a lot of branches, turning them upside down every few days, taking them out to decide where to cut them and so on. Many stayed the full length and I just very carefully maneuvered them into the tanks.


Thanks for the tip, that's a good idea with the garbage can.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

From researching, it looks like it is going to take quite a bit of time. I might just throw the pieces up on a high shelf in the garage and forget about them for quite some time.

I heard of people drying wood in the oven, I'm not sure about that though.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

If you've got some time, I might make a suggestion? 
Rather than waiting and hoping, I would try taking a trip out North of town to the lake! I often use Googlemaps to do a search for wood. Amazing the things you can see. Things like the type planes at Dyess but also what type wood might drift up on the lake shore. I really have to say that it is pretty scarce in that part of the world but I bet there are some small bush types that I'm not seeing. Not that a lake is required to find wood but it does often mean a public area where you can wander around freely. Looks like a good set of dirt roads on the North end? Almost any wood that grows along the edge , some of the dead stuff winds up in the water and along the shore. You might find just what you want already dried.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

PlantedRich said:


> If you've got some time, I might make a suggestion?
> Rather than waiting and hoping, I would try taking a trip out North of town to the lake! I often use Googlemaps to do a search for wood. Amazing the things you can see. Things like the type planes at Dyess but also what type wood might drift up on the lake shore. I really have to say that it is pretty scarce in that part of the world but I bet there are some small bush types that I'm not seeing. Not that a lake is required to find wood but it does often mean a public area where you can wander around freely. Looks like a good set of dirt roads on the North end? Almost any wood that grows along the edge , some of the dead stuff winds up in the water and along the shore. You might find just what you want already dried.


Ya I want to look around. I used Google maps to look around the local lakes as well. I probably won't have a chance to go out and check for a while, I work this weekend and next weekend I'll be in Dallas for a Tough Mudder race. I might look around Dallas see if I can find something though!


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

no help here but good luck with the tough mudder bro its no joke dont know about dallas but the tough mudder in colorado is all uphill in the mountains ive never seen so many with broken ankles in my life


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

ARgH! Bad timing. I'm going to Dallas tomorrow and could have tucked one in. I could just leave it laying behind the motel?:wink:

No kidding, though, if Dallas had the flooding rain we had last week, there ought to be a bunch of new dead wood hanging up in the trees if you can get out of the mud to look!


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

PlantedRich said:


> ARgH! Bad timing. I'm going to Dallas tomorrow and could have tucked one in. I could just leave it laying behind the motel?:wink:
> 
> No kidding, though, if Dallas had the flooding rain we had last week, there ought to be a bunch of new dead wood hanging up in the trees if you can get out of the mud to look!


No doubt about that. I think I'm a stick with my bush branches and wait it out for now. I cut up the entire bush and dug up the base as well. It took a couple hours, lots of sweat and a sore back. I trimmed up some branches and have them in my garage. I also left some of them outside just to compare progress.

I think they have potential, so we will see next year... Lol


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## pyrosnowman (Oct 11, 2013)

discoveringmypath said:


> No doubt about that. I think I'm a stick with my bush branches and wait it out for now. I cut up the entire bush and dug up the base as well. It took a couple hours, lots of sweat and a sore back. I trimmed up some branches and have them in my garage. I also left some of them outside just to compare progress.
> 
> I think they have potential, so we will see next year... Lol


Definitely keep up with the updates! I'm excited to see what you do with it since I think it'll be a really cool piece of driftwood to use. I wish I was able to just find stuff like that sitting around. Pruning looks good as well by the way!


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

pyrosnowman said:


> Definitely keep up with the updates! I'm excited to see what you do with it since I think it'll be a really cool piece of driftwood to use. I wish I was able to just find stuff like that sitting around. Pruning looks good as well by the way!


Thanks man! I really don't know how long it is going to take to dry out. I have it in my garage right now, but I will keep you updated as time progresses.

I actually found a piece of dried out wood that I want to use. I will post it up on my next post. I need to trim it a bit so that it will fit in my 55G though.

Where do you live? If you can find wooded area, lake or rivers. You could probably find some good pieces of wood. Driftwood is expensive to buy so I think it is worth it to go out and look.

I wish I could find some nice rocks around here, but I don't see that happening.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

This is the piece of wood that I found that I think I'm going to use on my 55G. It is dried out and I spend the past couple days taking all the bark off. I"m going to buy a garbage can and soak the wood for now, until I'm ready to put it in the 55G or I find some other wood that I want to use instead.

It is going to go the full length of my tank and I'm going to have to chop off the top or let it come out the fish tank.

But I think it would look good. The plan, is to have DHG carpet the bottom of the tank, have a bunch of plants all around the tank, Get a couple of mosses growing all over the wood. 

I also like the way wood branches look with moss growing all around it and having a plant like pennywort sort of loop around the branch as it goes up. I think the moss on the branch with the sort of lilly pads coming off it would look amazing. Sort of like the picture below.

Just some ideas.

Let me know what you guys think!


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Best way to age the wood:
Alternately wet and dry it. Soak it really well, then set it in the sun for a couple of weeks. Then soak it again... repeat. 
This will help to break down anything in the wood that might be toxic. (I do not think boxwood is toxic). 

I have done this with a couple of species of plants for my tanks. 
Albizia julibrissin root- it sat on my driveway for about a year, getting rained on, then dried. 
Lagerstroemia indica- I found this in a field in the winter, already alternately soaked and dried. I soaked this in a garbage can, then put it in the tanks. 
I did not remove bark from either of these. The fish (Plecos and related fish) did that for me. 
Quercus douglasii bark- I tossed this in my pond to soak (no fish in the pond) until it sank. No real aging involved. When it sank, I moved it to the tanks. It still released a fair amount of tannins, but most of the tannins ended up in the pond. Plecos ate this, too.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Diana said:


> Best way to age the wood:
> Alternately wet and dry it. Soak it really well, then set it in the sun for a couple of weeks. Then soak it again... repeat.
> This will help to break down anything in the wood that might be toxic. (I do not think boxwood is toxic).
> 
> ...


 
Thanks for the advice. I'll keep that in mind. I'll try soaking it a few weeks and then letting it sit out in the sun and repeat.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

For Dallas area folks:

I was at Randol Mill Park last weekend and looking around the lake. On the bank that seems like West, there are a number of branches down in the water. Your decision whether to accept the duckweed that is sure to come along, but there did seem to be a lot of nice plants under the water!


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## pyrosnowman (Oct 11, 2013)

discoveringmypath said:


> This is the piece of wood that I found that I think I'm going to use on my 55G. It is dried out and I spend the past couple days taking all the bark off. I"m going to buy a garbage can and soak the wood for now, until I'm ready to put it in the 55G or I find some other wood that I want to use instead.
> 
> It is going to go the full length of my tank and I'm going to have to chop off the top or let it come out the fish tank.
> 
> ...


That looks like a pretty nifty piece you have there. I just soaked mine in a big plastic tote for a couple weeks, refreshing the water several times when it darkened. That is a fantastic idea having a plant such as pennywort wrapped around the wood.. I have always liked the look of moss on the driftwood pieces as well. It's nice to see some new things that would be cool to try and add a little twist to them. Also, do you plan on making a thread for your 55g?

I'm in Dallas, TX and as I'm sure you're well aware, there isn't a whole lot of places to just stumble upon some nice driftwood. The good news is that I will be at Beavers Bend Park next month and I'm hoping to find some good, or even decent, driftwood and maybe some cool stones if I'm lucky.


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## pyrosnowman (Oct 11, 2013)

PlantedRich said:


> For Dallas area folks:
> 
> I was at Randol Mill Park last weekend and looking around the lake. On the bank that seems like West, there are a number of branches down in the water. Your decision whether to accept the duckweed that is sure to come along, but there did seem to be a lot of nice plants under the water!


Thanks for the heads up! I may just have to go and check it out if I can find the time! :thumbsup:


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

pyrosnowman said:


> Also, do you plan on making a thread for your 55g?


I will be making a thread for the 55 as well. Maybe when the piece of wood is ready to go. 



> For Dallas area folks:
> 
> I was at Randol Mill Park last weekend and looking around the lake. On the bank that seems like West, there are a number of branches down in the water. Your decision whether to accept the duckweed that is sure to come along, but there did seem to be a lot of nice plants under the water!


I'm not sure where this actually is, but I will look into it. I have a friend that lives in Plano, North of Dallas (I pretty much call it all Dallas/Fort Worth). I'll be heading up there this weekend for the Tough Mudder; staying at my buddies house.

What kind of plants did you see? That would be awesome to get some plants grown in the wild lol.


Pyrosnowman: If you end up checking it out, let me know what you find...


I'm also going to try to hit up some Fish stores to see if I can find some decent plants. I don't have a big selection here in Abilene. 


Right now, I have the piece of wood in a little kiddie pool in the back yard. See how long it takes till it sinks. I'm sure I have got quite a bit of time for that to happen though.


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## pyrosnowman (Oct 11, 2013)

discoveringmypath said:


> I will be making a thread for the 55 as well. Maybe when the piece of wood is ready to go.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hopefully won't take too long for that driftwood to be ready! I will definitely let you know if I get a chance to go and especially if I find anything out there. Always willing to help others out, and hey isn't that the point of this forum anyway?? Lol


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

If you do go by Randol Mill Park, take a look at the patch of trees on the West side of the lake. They are mostly post oak trees and that makes them a really hard wood that dries real tough. They also have a habit of shedding branch. So assuming nobody goes there often to pick up wood, there should be some down wood that has some ends sticking up off the ground where it hasn't been eaten or rotted. No guarantee but seems likely to find some there. For location, this is a park just off I -30 midway between Dallas and FTW.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

PlantedRich said:


> If you do go by Randol Mill Park, take a look at the patch of trees on the West side of the lake. They are mostly post oak trees and that makes them a really hard wood that dries real tough. They also have a habit of shedding branch. So assuming nobody goes there often to pick up wood, there should be some down wood that has some ends sticking up off the ground where it hasn't been eaten or rotted. No guarantee but seems likely to find some there. For location, this is a park just off I -30 midway between Dallas and FTW.


Thanks for the tip, I never had a chance to look when I was in Dallas. After the Tough Mudder course, my legs were dead... They still are...



> Hopefully won't take too long for that driftwood to be ready! I will definitely let you know if I get a chance to go and especially if I find anything out there. Always willing to help others out, and hey isn't that the point of this forum anyway?? Lol


It is the point lol.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Quick update:

So I went out and bought another 10G tank (guess I'm in the 3 Tank club now; lol), I relocated all my fish and the few plants that I had in the 55G. 

In the 55G I had soil, topped with gravel. I took out the gravel and added play sand. I also used a fine strainer to sift through the sand. I was able to remove all the rocks and tiny little flakes that weren't sand. What was left was pretty nice for play sand. 

While I had the tank emptied, I also painted the back black. It looks really good! I used Plasti-dip, which is a rubber coating; the nice thing about it is that if I ever want to remove it, I can peal the whole thing off really easily.

I added the piece of dried wood that I found to the tank as well. I figure it will water log faster being in the tank. While it is in there, I can keep doing water changes on a regular basis to get rid of the tannins. Since my fish have been temparly relocated to the new 10G I won't have to worry about toxins in the water from the wood affecting them.

I don't know how long it is going to take until the water is good to go for the fish, but I will find out eventually. Once it is safe and the log is water logged enough to stay down on it's own, I will begin adding fish and planting the tank.

I will post up a picture in a bit so you can see what I'm working with so far...


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Here is the pictures of the wood in the tank right now. I will start a thread on the 55G tank journal soon too.

I will keep you guys updated on the other branches I have gotten from the bush as well on this thread.

Don't mind the dirty glass. It is a work in progress right now.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

lol In the 3rd pic, you can see my duel monitors for my computer. It's like high speed internet, once you have it you never go back. The same is probably true about fish tanks...


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

The wood that I have in the tank was completely dried out when I found it. I have only been soaking it for a couple of weeks prior. 

Since I've put it in the tank already and plan on doing many water changes every couple of days. 

I'm anxious to start putting a couple plants in there, but I want to make sure it is safe first. What will I need to test the water for before I put plants of fish in the tank?

As far as test kits, all I have right now is the basic master test kit for amonnia, ph, nitrite and nitrates.

Thanks for any responses. Can't wait to start putting plants in here.


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## Terminalance (Oct 31, 2013)

Once you feel you have sufficiently dried it out, I would test it with some minnows from a fishing store or some 15c commet goldfish in a trashcan before testing it with your cycled tank.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

I do lots of wood and can't say that I have ever had toxins, just color. Assuming there will be a fair amount of color and you will be doing water changes as the cycle goes along, I would guess that there is no worry about toxins. There can be some changes in the PH from the wood but if you have lots of GH?KH, those will buffer the water and you may not see any change. Just something to be aware of if you are keeping anything delicate. I keep mostly cichlids and do so much water changing that I rarely see anything. As fast as it comes out of the wood it gets changed out with the water anyway. We're not talking a pint of liquid in the wood, more like 10 drops? So that's not much pollution if there is some . Worst case might be if you picked up wood that had oil, etc. on it. but then you would likely notice that.


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## Terminalance (Oct 31, 2013)

Wouldn't the wood rot eventually? At least the lichens and moss would die and rot.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Terminalance said:


> Once you feel you have sufficiently dried it out, I would test it with some minnows from a fishing store or some 15c commet goldfish in a trashcan before testing it with your cycled tank.


I never thought to try this, but I think I will. I haven't tested the basic parameters, but I will soon, just to see where I'm at.



PlantedRich said:


> do lots of wood and can't say that I have ever had toxins, just color. Assuming there will be a fair amount of color and you will be doing water changes as the cycle goes along, I would guess that there is no worry about toxins. There can be some changes in the PH from the wood but if you have lots of GH?KH, those will buffer the water and you may not see any change. Just something to be aware of if you are keeping anything delicate. I keep mostly cichlids and do so much water changing that I rarely see anything. As fast as it comes out of the wood it gets changed out with the water anyway. We're not talking a pint of liquid in the wood, more like 10 drops? So that's not much pollution if there is some . Worst case might be if you picked up wood that had oil, etc. on it. but then you would likely notice that.


The water is suprisingly clear right now which is nice. I don't know if the black background kinda helps the water appear clearer than it actually is though. I've done one water change just to get some of the loose debris off the sand, but I will do a huge water change this weekend. See what the color looks like in the bucket.


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## Terminalance (Oct 31, 2013)

As far as tannins are concerned, I used to have a huge problem with driftwood in my tank leeching the stuff out. I hated it. I did 90% water changes every week and it still would come back, despite me soaking it for 6 months. Seachem Purigen has saved me so much on my water bill, that the 11$ a pack was easily more than worth it. Overnight, it soaked up all the tannins from my water and has been crystal clear since. I now use it in every single one of my tanks, regardless of there being wood or not. Something to think about!


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Terminalance said:


> As far as tannins are concerned, I used to have a huge problem with driftwood in my tank leeching the stuff out. I hated it. I did 90% water changes every week and it still would come back, despite me soaking it for 6 months. Seachem Purigen has saved me so much on my water bill, that the 11$ a pack was easily more than worth it. Overnight, it soaked up all the tannins from my water and has been crystal clear since. I now use it in every single one of my tanks, regardless of there being wood or not. Something to think about!


thanks for the tip. I have put drift wood in my tank before and it did release tannins. With the lights on in the tank, you couldn't notice anything, but with the lights off you could tell that there was a tint to the water. The color wasn't that bad though and over time it went away.

The wood that I had in my tank in the past didn't hurt my fish, and it is the same type of wood that is in it right now. I think I will be fine. I might put some cheap feeder fish in there this weekend and see how they hold up. If all goes good for a week I might put my fish back in there. I think with the fish in the 10G it is pretty cramped. I don't want to stress them out to bad.


How long with the feeder fish in the tank until I can assume things are good to go?


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## Terminalance (Oct 31, 2013)

> How long with the feeder fish in the tank until I can assume things are good to go?


It sounds like you are sort of on a time crunch with all your fish being in a 10 gallon. I'm sure it would be fine. Something about introducing the feeder fish into your tank though is that they are much more likely to be carrying diseases. I wouldn't put them in your main aquarium. 

Now I thought that normal wood would rot in an aquarium over time? Hence the only commercially sold wood being Malaysian, Mopani, etc. , is there something different about that wood and something from your backyard?


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Terminalance said:


> It sounds like you are sort of on a time crunch with all your fish being in a 10 gallon. I'm sure it would be fine. Something about introducing the feeder fish into your tank though is that they are much more likely to be carrying diseases. I wouldn't put them in your main aquarium.
> 
> Now I thought that normal wood would rot in an aquarium over time? Hence the only commercially sold wood being Malaysian, Mopani, etc. , is there something different about that wood and something from your backyard?


When I say feeder fish, I'm talking about the cheap gold fish. Do these fish tend to have diseases? I figured they would be like any other fish from pet smart since all the tanks share the same water.

I don't think there is anything special about the commercial wood. I think any hard wood that is dried out would last a long time submerged. I had similar wood in the tank before for about a year. It was pretty much the same as the day I put it in when I took it out.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

The problem I see with using fish to test is that fish like goldfish react different than what we might normally have. Some are much more tolerant of stuff in the water. So it might show something but then our normal fish not be able to cope with it. You can find goldfish living in drainage ditches where most fish would die! 

The question of wood rotting over time is true but I never find it a problem. Wood will rot but it takes years, sometimes ten years! When you think of all the other mess we deal with in planted tanks, there are lots of bigger messes rotting away. One advantage to the store bought mopani and others might be that they are a very dense wood and heavy enough to sink immediately. Maybe it's the extra money we invested that weights so much?


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## Terminalance (Oct 31, 2013)

I think the wood will be fine, the main thing I'd be concerned with is if you have ever used pesticides or fertilizers that may have been soaked and trapped in the wood. Now if I had a large assortment of rare and very expensive Malawi Cichlids then I would most definitely test anything and everything I put in my tank. But I really don't think it will be an issue.

And yes goldfish have a much higher tendancy for diseases due to the amount of stress they go through and the large concentrations of each other they are housed with. Kinda like people, more likely to catch a disease in a crowded subway than in your own home.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

I might use some of the fish I currently have to test it out... this way I know they don't have any diseases, plus it will free up a little space in my 10G so it is not so cramped. 

I might try a couple of the algae eaters today to see how they do after I do a water parameter test and a water change.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

So I added all my fish back to the 55G.

The water parameters where fine, so I added a few fish and they seemed to be doing okay. I was going to wait a day or two to add the rest of my fish, but they were to cramped in the 10G and when I noticed that one of my algae eaters died, I decided to put them all back in the 55G.

They are doing way better now with lots of space again. The fish love the wood and the few plants that I have put in there so far (Hygrophila Kompakt and Anubias Nana). I'm going to start a new thread for the tank. 

I'll leave this thread for updates on the branches from the bush I cut up.


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## Terminalance (Oct 31, 2013)

Glad to hear they are doing fine!!


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Terminalance said:


> Glad to hear they are doing fine!!


Thanks!

If anyone is interested here is my 55G tank Journal.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=4631313#post4631313


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## Jmyers2019 (Oct 5, 2013)

Lol good luck with the tough mudder! Ive seen someone break a leg on those swing things lol! The branch looks cool though


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

Jmyers2019 said:


> Lol good luck with the tough mudder! Ive seen someone break a leg on those swing things lol! The branch looks cool though


lol Thanks, It was actually a few weekends ago, but it was a blast and my legs where dead afterwards. It was fun, if you ever get a chance to do one. I would prepare for it though by running regularly, if you don't the last couple miles will suck...


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Why not just try it out? Cut a branch off fresh and green from the plant in order to get a worst case scenario of what kind of stuff is going to be leached into your water. Put it in a small quarantine aquarium and leave it there for a week. Test the water PH, and if it seems okay dump a feeder guppy in and see how it fairs. 

Also, don't worry about tannins! Stained water is very in vogue at the moment.


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

TyrannosaurusSex said:


> Why not just try it out? Cut a branch off fresh and green from the plant in order to get a worst case scenario of what kind of stuff is going to be leached into your water. Put it in a small quarantine aquarium and leave it there for a week. Test the water PH, and if it seems okay dump a feeder guppy in and see how it fairs.
> 
> Also, don't worry about tannins! Stained water is very in vogue at the moment.


I"m not really worried about tannins.

It would be a nice test actually; I'm not sure if anyone has tried that on this forum. I might try it in the future though. 

As far as the bush branches that I have in my garage. I guess you can say that is a test to see how long it will take to dry out and be ready for a tank from a fresh cut.

Most pieces that I have are still drying out in the garage. I also left some outside with the stump. I'll see what the difference is like between the two in a few months...


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## discoveringmypath (Oct 9, 2013)

The wood is one of the pieces from the bush. It is pretty dried out, not completely I'm sure because it hasn't been that long, bit I'm thinking about trying it out soon just to see what happens...

I'm going to throw it in a a bucket of water, let it sink...

Anyways this is a potential setup I'm thinking of. 

If you can picture this, I'm going to get another rock for the front left, the wood piece and center rock will be raised an inch or two. The substrate level will cover the majority of the other rocks, and it will slop up on the right side. I will be using really fine pebbles.

I actually strained through some play sand see here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=472130

I'm going to use the fine pebbles from that thread...

I'll start a thread on the tank when I get it setup... 


Anyways, I guess we will see what this bush that I chopped up has to offer soon!


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

discoveringmypath said:


> I"m not really worried about tannins.
> 
> It would be a nice test actually; I'm not sure if anyone has tried that on this forum. I might try it in the future though.


Well if yo try it out, let us know!


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