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What's that wood?

Joined
10 Mar 2018
Messages
469
Location
Aylesbury
I spotted some interesting wood in the local aquatics shop. It's labelled as vine wood??

Looking to make two big trees at the front of a new tank, the only problem is it costs a fortune..Large bits are £90.

If I was going to build two trees I would need to buy 5 or 6 bits, which is far more money than I want to spend.

does anyone know what it is? Has anyone used anything similar?

Is it really the remains of a 90year old vine?
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Does look to be an old vine,not sure how long it will last submerged though.

I get bored after 6 months, Are we talking a few years or a few months? If it's breaking now relatively quickly is it going to stain the whole tank brown?

I spotted it at Northampton reptile centre, for a far more reasonable price, but they are sold for terrariums

My LFS isn't a pet shop I would trust, half the aquarium plants are house plants...
 
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I wouldn't like to say how long it would last but nice as it looks,I think you could find something just as lovely but more durable for the money.
 
Frustrating day, I also found some interesting bits of pine roots from some trees that blew over.. Just checked and there not aquarium safe. Luckily I didn't get around to cleaning it


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You can use old vine roots and branches, we use them here often, you just need to do some prep work, fairly standard and its ok. If u have time dip it in water and leave for 2 weeks, if theres no time u can cook it and then use brush to scrape melted layer and thats it. It releases thanins but not more than standard aquascaping wood. Its quite nice and interesting and u can do some nice scapes with it.
 
I came across this link, that put me off using the pine root I found.
http://injaf.org/articles-guides/general-guides/guide-to-aquarium-wood/

Unsafe woods for use in an aquarium
Cedar (avoid anything evergreen/coniferous)
Cypress
Grape vine – this rots very quickly
Horse chestnut
Lilac – this is poisonous
Ivy – this is poisonous
Pine
Spruce
Walnut
Yew – this is toxic
You’ll note that yew and pine are safe in the form of bogwood, unfortunately it will take longer than your lifetime for you to replicate the conditions that has made them safe, so please avoid them when collecting wood yourself.
 
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