# Can I use any piece of wood?



## gator11 (Apr 30, 2009)

My friend has a gold fish in a tank right now and would really like to add a piece of wood as the hard scape. I know that it has to be dead already, but aside from that, would any old piece do, or would he have to buy a chunk of wood from the store? We were thinking of going and looking around in the woods tomorrow and seeing what we could find, that's why I ask.


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## marcus0655 (Feb 24, 2009)

I heard if you do that then you need to make sure that it is free of pesticides and that you sand it down, and make sure that it gets all of the tannins out before putting into a tank.


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## gator11 (Apr 30, 2009)

marcus0655 said:


> I heard if you do that then you need to make sure that it is free of pesticides and that you sand it down, and make sure that it gets all of the tannins out before putting into a tank.


Tannins? I'm not sure what you mean by that.


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## marcus0655 (Feb 24, 2009)

When you put fresh wood in water it start to tan the water making the water turn brown, yellowish, sorta like tea bags,LOL!


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## gator11 (Apr 30, 2009)

ah, I gotcha now. Is there anyway to get rid of that?


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## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

Boil, boil, boil, it. It will still leach tannins, but after boiling & water changes that will go away. I wouldn't use just any wood either, you want a hard wood.


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

I heard oak tree branches work well, and will not rot in water. You still have to remove the bark and boil, but oak trees are plentiful so the branches are easy to get.
clwatkins10 uses them in his tanks and he has some great looking setups.


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## omboocat (Nov 3, 2005)

Oak is great wood to add in a tank. Last for years. Just make sure it is dead and not rotting.
wilma


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## zavikan (Jan 5, 2009)

Gettings your wood clean for your tank can be hard.

If its 'small' enough to SOMEHOW fit in your dishwasher, I would personally recommend that (no soap...). I have done various methods to prepare wood, and the dishwasher was AMAZING. When I put the piece in the water, there was very little discoloration, and it was all gone by 1 normal weekly water change.

James


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## crawdaddy (Apr 16, 2009)

The harder the wood the better.
Stay away from pine.


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## Vladdy (May 6, 2008)

No. Brushwood is the term for using a piece of wood in an aquarium that's never been submerged in water before. Brushwood contains fungal spores and is prone to rotting when it is wet. If it is placed in the aquarium without treatment it will rot, and produce slimy bacterial blooms. Boil it for an hour or more before butting it in your aquarium. Do not use pine or softwood brushwood, because the sap is harmful to fish. All of the aromatic woods contain toxic, volatile oils known as Phenols. The best woods for the aquariums are from fruit bearing trees (apple, pear, cherry, walnut, oak etc), anything 'sappy' (ie pine, cedar, beech, maple, sycamore) have high contents of Phenols and are toxic to most life forms in some respect (it has been proven that pine/cedar shavings cause cancer and liver damage in rodents). That is why pine is used in furniture and cedar is used in mothballs. Make sure the wood is dead and not already rotting.


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## kvntran (Feb 16, 2008)

Hi,

I drive along southern California freeway and notice very nice branchy shrubs, after some searching, the shrubs turn out to be Acacia redolens.
many twisted branches and many features making them better looking than manzanitas.

I'm tempted to use them as driftwood in aquarium, does anyone have any experience with it?

many sites on the internet indicate that it has no known toxic.

I will take some picture of it and post here.

Kevin


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## dr.tran (Oct 8, 2007)

How about mapple and mulberry? I thought about ironwood since that should not rot at all. But probally impossible to find in my park.


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