[YELLOWRAVEN]

I WANT TO GET SOME DRIFTWOOD FROM THE LOCAL LAKE OR RIVER AND USE IT IN MY AQUARIUM,

IS IT SAFE TO DO SO ?
IS THERE A PROCESS I MUST PUT THE WOOD THROUGH AND IF SO WHAT ARE THE NESSESSARY STEPS TO PREPARE THE DRIFTWOOD FOR A SAFE AQUARIUM ENVIROMENT ?

KIND REGARDS :fish:

 

[Fishguy28]

Hardwoods are good softwoods work okay but break down quickly. The wood you want to stay away from are any evergreen types, pine, cedar, yew etc.

The normal rinse and boil process for preparing wood is usually enough.

 

[mlancaster]

Hi YELLOWRAVEN,

I used wood found at the beach; I belive it is eucalyptus. This is the process I went through, might be overkill:

1) soaked it in a trash can, let it dry
2) soaked it in the trash can with bleach water 1:20 parts, let it dry
3) soaked it in the trash can with excessive amounts of dechlorinator, let it dry

The bleach turns it a bit of a lighter color, so be weary if this is a concern for you.

After a few days in the tank, some fungus type stuff grew over air bubbles being released from the wood. Others on this site noted it is not harmful or of concern; it has not caused any issues in my tank.

Thanks,
Matt