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Dead tree/ wood- how to make use of wood?

Nick_593

Nick_593

Member
Joined
29 Oct 2012
Messages
97
Location
Pembrokeshire/ Devon
Hi guys how can I use wood from a dead tree for an aquarium? The tree/ has been dead for years and dry as a bone.

Any advice please?

Sincerely,

N
8aee49091a9e41efb6e0de2b7ae4b30d.jpg


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Hi,
That looks good. Do you know what species? Some are toxic to fish, I found a 'safe to use' list when I Googled, most UK hardwoods are OK but best to check. Conifers are not OK (which that clearly isn't). If the species is OK 'd then see if it's rotten all the way through or not, if it is it's probably not worth bothering as it'll disintegrate fairly quickly. I found beech and birch became rotten really quickly with fungus right through but oak weathered on the outside and stayed rock hard inside (see my effort on 'Journals' for oak I collected in my tank).

Prep is up to you, I just wire brushed any loose wood and crap off and then washed it and cut to size. To get it to sink you can soak and/or boil it or I ended up fixing it to a plastic chopping board and weighed it down.

HTH
Cheers
Dave.
 
Thanks Darrel and Simmo.

Yes it's Quercus of sorts not sure on species it's been dead for years. It has fallen down in a field and I've had a load of branches from it.

Looks just like Manzanita wood. I'm hoping I can use it in a Scape. It is dry and dead as a bone. Looks like Deer horns some of it.

I've not used foraged wood in an aquascape before only stone, and researched all about how to treat it but not put this into practice yet. I am about to start the final layout of my aquascape and would like to use some of this wood. But not sure it will rot? Or need treating? And I don't want the hassle of tearing the scape apart if it all goes wrong : /. Haha.

I think I'll put a piece in as a trial however and see what happens. It's really nice material.

Nick

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Hi all,
Nick_593 said:
But not sure it will rot? Or need treating? And I don't want the hassle of tearing the scape apart if it all goes wrong......Looks like Deer horns some of it.
Click to expand...
No, it should be really rot resistant "as is", that is why you get the <"stag-headed" Oaks in fields">. The heart wood is very rot resistant, you can get timber framed houses that still have <"medieval Oak beams">.

cheers Darrel
 
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My 45p uses stag head oak and oak root. Turned water hangover urine coloured for around 3 months with every other day water changes so it's a good idea to soak for a while. I boiled mine in a huge pan on the bbq before final use because it just didn't want to sink. I wire brushed everything before doing the scape to get rid of anything soft. I added a bag of purigen into the filter because it was giving a slight yellow tint still. In terms of ph swing, I never measured more than around 1ph swing so I suspect that the oxidised tannins aren't that significant.
 
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