# How do I prep fresh cut manzanita with the bark still on???



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I'd personally try running it through the dishwasher without any chemicals, and then trying a pressurewasher.

It's not absolutely essential that the bark come off, but it will rot and could affect your water quality, so keep an eye on that if you can't get it off.


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

lauraleellbp said:


> I'd personally try running it through the dishwasher without any chemicals, and then trying a pressurewasher.
> 
> It's not absolutely essential that the bark come off, but it will rot and could affect your water quality, so keep an eye on that if you can't get it off.


Yet another reason to force my SO to buy me a dishwasher!!! 

So what can I do if I dont have a dishwasher OR a pressurewasher?


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## Betta Maniac (Dec 3, 2010)

Soak and peel?


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

I have an azalea bush that I found recently cut. It was still "live" when I got it. I hosed the roots out very well (which was more difficult than I imagined), scraped off the finer roots, leaving larger roots (half-pencil size) . 


I then dried it in the oven for 7 hours at about 250. Wood doesn't usually burn until it reaches MUCH hotter temps so it was fine. 

Now it's on the back porch, in a 30g barrel, soaking until I need it. I'll anchor it to a ceramic tile to hold it steady when it's time.


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

I just stuck in it the tank really quick to see how it would look an snap a pic or two. It sunk just fine and I LOVE how the bark looks! Its so red and pretty!!! 

Can I just leave it in the tank how it is and put some of the stuff that sucks out tannins in the filter? Whats that stuff called? Purigen?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Fresh wood needs to cure for a while. The bark, sap and leaves have toxins in them and will need to age to render them harmless.


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

mistergreen said:


> Fresh wood needs to cure for a while. The bark, sap and leaves have toxins in them and will need to age to render them harmless.


Will boiling it make it safe? 

How long is a while?


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## Johny_Dough (Nov 30, 2010)

Leave out in the hot sun for a year. Take it from me you do not want to just boil and put it in. In 2 weeks you will have a tank full of sap.


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## NatCh (Feb 23, 2011)

redfishsc said:


> I have an azalea bush that I found recently cut.
> <snip>
> Now it's on the back porch, in a 30g barrel, soaking until I need it. I'll anchor it to a ceramic tile to hold it steady when it's time.


Maybe this doesn't matter for fish, but azaleas are known to be quite toxic to mammals. I see that the toxins are mainly in the bark and leaves, and are water soluble to boot, so it may not matter in this case, but I'd be pretty reluctant to stick azalea wood in my tank. :eek5:


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

Ok, is there some kind of alternate method i can use? like sealing it with something? Maybe dipping the cut ends in epoxy or sealing the whole thing with krylon fusion clear?

I really dont want to wait like a year.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

WaterLogged said:


> Ok, is there some kind of alternate method i can use? like sealing it with something? Maybe dipping the cut ends in epoxy or sealing the whole thing with krylon fusion clear?
> 
> I really dont want to wait like a year.


You have too, maybe 6 months. This is why people find dead mazi or age the mazi.

You can try to encase the entire wood in a block of epoxy


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

mistergreen said:


> You have too, maybe 6 months. This is why people find dead mazi or age the mazi.
> 
> You can try to encase the entire wood in a block of epoxy


Well that really sucks.


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

NatCh said:


> Maybe this doesn't matter for fish, but azaleas are known to be quite toxic to mammals. I see that the toxins are mainly in the bark and leaves, and are water soluble to boot, so it may not matter in this case, but I'd be pretty reluctant to stick azalea wood in my tank. :eek5:



Holy cow. Read that comment about the "mad honey", that's some scary crap. 

Well anyhow, I'll test it first. I did get it at the end of winter before it was full of sap for the growing season. I'll do some water changes in the barrel and proceed with caution.


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

Johny_Dough said:


> Leave out in the hot sun for a year. Take it from me you do not want to just boil and put it in. In 2 weeks you will have a tank full of sap.


It it was harvested in winter and had few/no leaves, sap is much less of a concern (still cannot ignore it). Woodturners like myself only harvest some woods like magnolia and holly in the dead of winter when sap production is at a standstill or else it deteriorates and blotches up the wood pattern.


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

I baked it for a few hours at 250. I guess tomorrow I'll get out my stew pot and boil the hell out of it. I really want to use this stuff like asap so if anyone knows anything I can do to make it safe I would really appreciate it.


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## VaultBoy (Nov 11, 2010)

i would bake - boil - bake - boil the hell out of it then let it dry thoroughly out in the sun until it gets the dry aged look of old wood... it will still take a couple of months probably.

other wise go out and find a new piece if you need it sooner. sorry for the bad news.


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

People use wood to build tanks all the time. They seal the wood and they hold water for years so I dont really understand why I am getting stone walled on the idea of sealing the wood and putting it in the tank. 

I went out and collected some old oak branches and I'm boiling them now. Hopefully these will be ok.


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## NatCh (Feb 23, 2011)

WaterLogged said:


> People use wood to build tanks all the time. They seal the wood and they hold water for years so I dont really understand why I am getting stone walled on the idea of sealing the wood and putting it in the tank.


I don't think you're getting stone-walled, really, it's just that none of us have any useful ideas for what you're wanting to do.

Yes, you could (probably) paint the wood with something to seal it, but ... what? What would be safe? How long would it last? What would happen to the sap, etc. that was behind the seal? Would it just stay there, or would it eventually force a breach in the seal? What about the inhabitants of the tank? Would their behaviors eventually breach the seal? How eventually? What would happen when the seal finally breached, assuming that you didn't catch it before it actually did? Even if the answers to all those questions were known, there's still the matter of whether the appearance of the finished product be agreeable to you.

I certainly don't know any of that.

I'm also thinking about the fact that people sell unsealed, well-dried, aged and generally sand-blasted wood for aquarium use. They don't sell wood that's recently cut and sealed with some sort of artificial coating. I can't help thinking there's a reason for that ....

The closest that anyone comes to that, is artificial, painted, resin-molded ornaments that _look_ like wood. If you're truly in as much of a hurry as you seem to be, that's probably your best, safest bet.

Far better than experimenting with something that nobody seems to know anything about doing, which has such a potential for going so badly wrong. (shrug)



I have a question for you, and I hope you'll take it in the spirit it's meant -- I'm not trying to pick an argument, just to understand: _why_ do you want to put wood into your tank?

Based on your willingness to completely seal the wood in some sort of artificial coating, you don't seem to be looking for any of the benefits of having real wood in the tank. If it's aesthetics only, then again the artificial stuff would seem a better fit. If it's something else, we might have other suggestions to offer ....


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

NatCh said:


> I don't think you're getting stone-walled, really, it's just that none of us have any useful ideas for what you're wanting to do. I also note that people _stopped_ building tanks out of wood, and eventual failure the sealing may have been among the reasons. (shrug)
> 
> Yes, you could (probably) paint the wood with something to seal it, but ... what? What would be safe? How long would it last? What would happen to the sap, etc. that was behind the seal? Would it just stay there, or would it eventually force a breach in the seal? What about the inhabitants of the tank? Would their behaviors eventually breach the seal? How eventually? What would happen whet the seal finally breached, assuming that you didn't catch it before it actually did? Even if the answers to all those questions were known, there's still the matter of whether the appearance of the finished product be agreeable to you.
> 
> ...


Yeah you're right about all that. I wasn't thinking about all the "what ifs". I'm not in a huge hurry, it' just that I really *LOVE* the look of the wood I got and I really want to use it. 

I guess I wasnt getting stone walled. It just seems like in this forum you guys can get around just about anything. I kind of felt like I was just getting simple "nope cant be done" answers. But now I see why.

Here is a pic of it- (I just stuck it in for a few mins for the pics)











NatCh said:


> I have a question for you, and I hope you'll take it in the spirit it's meant -- I'm not trying to pick an argument, just to understand: _why_ do you want to put wood into your tank?
> 
> Based on your willingness to completely seal the wood in some sort of artificial coating, you don't seem to be looking for any of the benefits of having real wood in the tank. If it's aesthetics only, then again the artificial stuff would seem a better fit. If it's something else, we might have other suggestions to offer ....


I was wanting the wood just for the sake of how it looks. Thats why I was willing to seal it. It's really been a task to get wood that looks like I wanted and now that I cant use what I have its seeming impossible.

The tank is for my kid so patients and waiting 6 months is really far fetched. lol!

So, basically im sorry for sounding like a butthole.


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## NatCh (Feb 23, 2011)

Ha! No, you didn't sound like a "butthole," just someone who was frustrated, which is something I can certainly sympathize with. 

I can see why you like that particular piece of wood, it's really nice looking.

I had a piece of manzanita last year that I bought for a flower shrimp to rest on (apparently my tank is too "clean" for them, but that's a different story ). It was sold for a bird perch rather than aquarium use. It was dried, but still had the bark on. After a few days it started growing weird fuzzy stuff on the ends, so I tossed it and moved on to something else, but it sure looked nice for those few days.


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

NatCh said:


> Ha! No, you didn't sound like a "butthole," just someone who was frustrated, which is something I can certainly sympathize with.
> 
> I can see why you like that particular piece of wood, it's really nice looking.
> 
> I had a piece of manzanita last year that I bought for a flower shrimp to rest on (apparently my tank is too "clean" for them, but that's a different story ). It was sold for a bird perch rather than aquarium use. It was dried, but still had the bark on. After a few days it started growing weird fuzzy stuff on the ends, so I tossed it and moved on to something else, but it sure looked nice for those few days.


Yeah, I really love this wood. You're right I was pretty frustrated! LOL! 

The oak pieces I got are a little similar but totally suck in comparison. I just dont know where to find something that looks like this but is safe...

I got the manzanita from [Ebay Link Removed] It was labeled "craft ready". I guess I can message the seller and see if it was fresh cut because I just assumed that it was.


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## NatCh (Feb 23, 2011)

When you got it, how heavy did it feel? If it was pretty light, it was probably dried already, in which case your boil/bake/boil regimen will likely do what you need.

In any case, I'm glad you're feeling a bit less frustrated, even if the actual issue isn't resolved yet. :icon_cool


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

NatCh said:


> When you got it, how heavy did it feel? If it was pretty light, it was probably dried already, in which case your boil/bake/boil regimen will likely do what you need.
> 
> In any case, I'm glad you're feeling a bit less frustrated, even if the actual issue isn't resolved yet. :icon_cool


It was very light but it was also a little bendable. I emailed the seller to ask if it was dried or not.


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## Johny_Dough (Nov 30, 2010)

Search for a thread named "My Log". He sealed his in something


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Well, the good thing is your piece of wood is very small... Let it dry and soak for a few months and it should work.


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## VaultBoy (Nov 11, 2010)

I didnt mean to sound like i was stonewalling you, and i understand your frustration as i am a very impatient person 

Having seen the piece of wood you were talking about i can say now that it will probably dry out and age very quickly with the baking and boiling routine (i have read that freezing is good too) and left out side for a few weeks would probably make it quite alright. When you think its ready leave it in a bucket or tub/bath full of water for about a week and you should see any sap in it start to leech out of the cut end if its not fully cured, then i would bake and boil it again let it dry out thoroughly and try again.

Also you will probably get a white/grey slimy fuzz growing on it which is ok and most fish IME will pick at this and it will go away after a couple of weeks in the tank.


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