New Wood In The Fish Tank

[Spiceweasel69]

Hi

I need to get hold of some lengths of wood, approx 7ft long fairly straight to lay diagonally from top left to bottom right of my tank. These i cannot find anywhere so i am looking to take a walk into the woods and find some myself. How do i cure / dry fresh wood and how long will it take? Im not going to have the tank set up for some time. Are there any specific woods i need to avoid - i will need to strip the bark from anything i find i appreciate that.

Thanks

 

[rdd1952]

I'm certainly no expert on wood but my understanding is that you don't want evergreens such as pine or cedar. Not certain what the reasoning is behind that but have read it a few places. Also you would want wood that has been dead and dried to minimize the amount of tannins that will leech out. Of course the flip side of that is that dried wood will have to become water logged again before it will sink and stay submerged.

 

[Spiceweasel69]

Thanks. I realise that i cannot put softwood in there or any woods that will have sap or resin to leak into the water. I guess im looking to 'prepare' some wood and dry it out over a year or so to dry it.

 

[rdd1952]

If you have an area where you could lay a piece and dry it, that should work fine. You would even have the option of cutting a small sapling to get what you want. That would probably minimize the amount of potential bad things that could be attached to the wood.