Do I need to boil cholla wood?

[KittenFishMom]

I bought a box of random chunks of cholla wood thru Amazon from BioActiveFX. Do I need to boil this before I put it in the 10 gallon shrimp tank? Can I put in a bunch at once, or should I only add a little at a time. I have IALs in the tank already.

[Flumpweesel]

I think cholla wood can be high in tannis so unless your want a dark water tank you may want to pre soak /boil.

I generally boil if I'm uncertain of the origin and storage of anything that is going in my tank. I've never bothered with cholla wood myself but if I got online I would boil or mircowave to be on the safeside.

[nabokovfan87]

Pretty much any wood, you probably should.  I don't do it for tannins, I do soaking for that.  Boiling is to allow it to sink and more specifically for the sake of trying to remove any contamination risk.  I soak my wood for a minimum of 5 days, usually 10-14 days for bigger pieces.

[KittenFishMom]

@nabokovfan87 So some wood you both boil and soak? How long do you boil it? I need to hit the thrift stores and get a BIG pot.

Most of my driftwood would have a hard time fitting in a metal trash can. How would you bring that much water to a boil?

[Streetwise]

Why are people boiling wood? Tannins are natural.

[mynameisnobody]

I’ve never boiled any wood that I’ve placed into an aquarium. Just dust it off or clean any apparent dirt off of it and in it goes. In all my years, I’ve never had an issue doing this. I think we love the hobby so much, we always want to do more, even if it’s unnecessary or ineffective. Good luck. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/3/2023 at 4:56 PM, Streetwise said:

Why are people boiling wood? Tannins are natural.

literally the only reason any wood should be boiled is sanitation.

Tannins are natural as mentioned and literally the reason you buy wood!

My mopani is over 8-9 years old and I still leech tannins perfectly fine off that wood to have a blackwater tinge. You're not going to boil that away.
 

On 1/3/2023 at 4:48 PM, KittenFishMom said:

@nabokovfan87 So some wood you both boil and soak? How long do you boil it? I need to hit the thrift stores and get a BIG pot.

Most of my driftwood would have a hard time fitting in a metal trash can. How would you bring that much water to a boil?

I have a fish pot (yep, because one time I boiled out the sap and was not going to make spaghetti sauce with that one!) that I use for wood.  Just like pasta, honestly, boil enough water to cover it and then you'd boil it for 10-15 minutes.  Follow your handy "this is how you sanitize water" survival handbook and that's the method I recommend.  If wood doesn't fit, I boil one side, then the other, then the other, etc.  Some pieces there's no chance of fitting and they end up getting hosed off and soaked.  After whichever prep method, toss it in a tub / bucket and soak it.  Every 24-48 hours I replace the water on that wood soak.

Inspect the wood before hand.  You can also do the exact same sanitation for freshwater pathogens by soaking the wood in salt.  This isn't going to harm fish, doesn't require anything but a bucket, and then you are fine to go ahead and toss that in a tank with a gentle amount of salt...... except for snails, that's perfectly fine.


 

[KittenFishMom]

@Streetwise I like tannins. I think it is to get rid of pesticides? I'm not sure, that is why I am asking. 

I don't like the look of fish "swimming in air". It doesn't look natural to me. I like the water to look like lake water, with some color to give depth. I always have IALs in my tank. I  just bought some alder cones. I don't want really dark water, but I don't think it should look like drinking water either. I know I will be soaking my boxwood roots in the lake most of the summer to remove toxins. I don't know which woods have to be soaked or boiled due to toxins or pesticides or pollution.

Edited January 4, 2023 by KittenFishMom
added second paragraph

[AllFishNoBrakes]

All the cholla wood I have is for my shrimp tank and it went into the tank after a quick rinse for any dirt