Harvesting wood for your aquarium

[JettsPapa]

I could certainly be wrong, and if so I hope someone will correct me, but I'd be reluctant to use the wood in your first two pictures.  I'll agree it looks great, but it still has a lot of bark on it which makes me believe it's not seasoned enough to put in a fish tank.

The piece in the third picture looks good.

[mynameisnobody]

I haven’t harvested wood yet. In the future, I plan on setting up a (3)10 gallon aquariums with some platy runts that I have. The plan is to harvest wood. One piece of wood will go in after sitting in the Florida sun for a week. Second aquarium will get a pressure washed piece of wood. The last aquarium will get a boiled piece of wood. I will then have some sort of data as to how my local area’s wood should be treated before going into an aquarium. Obviously, common sense will be used and no wood will be used that looks as if it will be a problem. 
I will be documenting this on the forum in the future. Time line looks like I will be doing this some time in March. 

Edited August 31, 2021 by Manny

[Solstice_Lacer]

I too collect sticks and soak or at least pour over several batches of scalding water, as well as hydrogen peroxide. You could also add some parasite killing meds to a soak if you're really worried

[Guppysnail]

On 8/31/2021 at 9:52 AM, Jeff said:

@Guppysnail how do clean it?

I just pressure wash and boil. Everyone has their own preferred method. 

[Streetwise]

I think the key for aquarium wood is having a higher density than water.

[Patrick_G]

On 8/31/2021 at 2:50 PM, Streetwise said:

I think the key for aquarium wood is having a higher density than water.

I’m a bit jealous of the big wood used by British aquascapers. It seems to always sink and looks spectacular.

[Bullsnark]

On 8/29/2021 at 10:46 AM, Nik_n said:

I was considering going out in the forest behind my house and collecting some driftwood. I was told that as long as the wood is not rotten, drying it in the sun is enough. Have never tried it before but I'm considering it more and more now. The area I would collect from is a forest behind some farm land. I would go deeper into the forest and not the areas close to the farm land. If I find a piece or two I will probably, scrub it, let it dry in the sun, leave it in a salt bath for about a week, wash it with a garden hose and put it into a freshwater bath until it sinks. 

I heard that you could also do a bleach bath. Never tried it before, but I was told that the wood might absorb the bleach and leek it into the tank. 

 

Salt is a lot safer. A strong salt solution will kill any non-saltwater organism and won’t kill your fish if you have traces of it left afterwards.