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Aqua scape wood usable

Danioscape

Seedling
Joined
24 Jul 2020
Messages
6
Location
Luton, England
To use or not to use

After going hunting in the woods I stumbled across a huge oak tree branch that had been ripped off by what I think the weight of the ivy on it made it give way.

The wood was literally bone try and snapped in half with a good kick whilst harvesting the oak I noticed the beautiful shapes of the dead ivy branches entangled on the oak some of which I harvested I mean they look blahblahblahblahing awesome. The pieces are super dense and very thin 2-5cm in width

I would love to use these in my tank as they are gorgeous.
I have only come across Irish ivy being used in a tank after scouring threads the ivy in question is hedera helix possible also Irish ivy or hedera Hibernica I’m going to go back as soon as possible to try and get a positive ID.

I stumbled across an article about wood preparation and the main reason that evergreens are avoided is becuase they contain the chemical made to use turpentine such as fir yew cedar etc however chemical preparation or bog purification is possible I did some research and unless I’m just stupid I couldn’t see any direct relation to the pine trees

Also I believe manzanita is an evergreen shrub is this solely sold as driftwood? Or do the phenols and toxic substances within evergreens vary in degree in amount and in terms of their nature in terms of water solubility.

The only thing I could find about English ivy is gum-resin which is a ruby red substance which can be extracted from mature bark

According to another guide the difference between gum is that it is polysaccharides which can become water soluble thus leeched from the wood

The resin however requires a chemical solution which I’m not comfortable using since I eventually want to have critters in my tank although it is tried and tested.

I cannot seem to find catorgorically whether it’s gum or resin what to think about it’s use. I will probably end up putting it in the soaking bin until next year and see how it fairs the one person on the forum I found had a piece in their tank and claimed that it was the only evergreen wood they would ever use and very durable

This is what I have learnt so far so please if any of the information or I am misunderstanding something I am happy to be corrected

Thoughts Advice Please ?





https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix





https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-018-0204-3





https://www.henriettes-herb.com/eclectic/kings/hedera.html

Wood prep guide



https://aquaplantscare.uk/everything-about-wood-and-roots-in-the-aquarium/
 
Hi all,
hedera helix possible also Irish ivy or hedera Hibernica
It is a minor botanical difference, you can't tell which is which just by looking at them, they are both "Common Ivy".

I think people have had mixed results with dead Ivy (Hedera helix/hibernica), <"I've used it and it was fine">, somebody else wiped out their entire tank. I would soak it for a long time (several months) before use.

cheers Darrel
 
Hey Darrell. Thank for the information really useful.

somehow that thread didn’t come up when I searched ivy am I using the search engine wrong? I’ll give that a good school

That price of heartwood looked incredible although I though it would unlikely for heartwood to be at the top of the tree. I though heartwood was closer to the bottom near the trunk/roots as this would likely be the oldest peieces unable to transport water is this incorrect.

The peices of wood have been soaking for several months. There’s seems to be low tannin content in this wood.
Ive been soaking mine now for several weeks daily water changes. There is very little excretion I can see no sap resin at all as appOsed to the dead oak which one little branch colours the water very quickly ( I am aware that this is tannin heavy) The humic acid doesn’t bother me to be fair.

I just need clarification about whether gum ivy Is indeed a gum or resin in which case the polysaccharides should be able
To be dissolved in water. I’ll continue to daily soak and dry the pieces.

I have posted on a botanical forum aswell so hoping there are some experts in the field that can help me determine.

I know every tank is different and the woodmight react differently depending on its age/preparation and tank conditions at least You have used it with success definatelygonna use with caution
 
this is the fallen branch in question oak branch was like 10cm wide and snapped like a stick. It’s impossible to give a dare but it looked like it had been weathered quite a bit 8DD9E17D-474A-4D10-80FC-BD079B3EC758.jpeg E684A4C3-97D2-468F-8252-6A11F52EEE65.jpeg o
 
Hi all,
You have used it with success definatelygonna use with caution
Good idea. Have a look a the <"Daphnia bioassay">.
when I searched ivy am I using the search engine wrong?
It is to do with the site indexing, basically you can't search for any <"three letter words"> from within UKAPS, which is why I put Hedera in my search, I knew we had an Ivy thread to which I had contributed, and I would have used Hedera. You might be interested in the <"one legged Irishman"> as well.

You can search via Google using quote marks or colons try:

site:ukaps.org "Ivy" wood and "UKAPS" "Ivy" wood as search terms.

The tree branch looks more like Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) than Oak (Quercus robur), not that it really matters.

cheers Darrel
 
Thank you again Darell for taking the time to reply and the Detailed respond I will definately look at the daphnia report and one legged irishman and thanks up for the heads up on the search engine I’ll remember that for future reference. Didn’t realise I’d be using uni level searching for my tank 😂. But they gotta he done

As for the original material the large branch was completely decorticated the tree it lay under was defo oak but then again could have been moved blow whatever I’m guessing by your response that this doesn’t matter. I have some pieces with the bark still on if you’d be willing for a challenge 😂. To be fair I think this may be too my advantage as I know oak has a lot of tannins in the wood.

Gunna do a proper search now and see what I can dig up thanks for the point in the right direction :cool:
 
How did this end up turning out in the end? I'm going through a very similar thought process with a few oaks near me that are being strangled by ivy and was wondering the same things you were in 2020
 
Safer to use heather branches. Plants that are in the degenerative phase will be surrounded by dead branches that have already fallen off and dried out. They're relatively thick, and often twisted and contorted, so great for aquascaping. Obviously don't damage growing plants, the branches are green and not suitable anyway.
 
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