Wood....

[freerunner416]

Hi,

I am looking to have a discus set up again but would really like to get some branches to have in the water... Is there any UK trees that it would be okay to use wood from?

What treatment would i have to do to the wood before using it - other than soaking it?

Thanks in advance

 

[Mikey1]

What treatment would i have to do to the wood before using it - other than soaking it?

Thanks in advance

nothing....just soak it

when i am at my LFS and i see people buying wood and rocks i literally shake my head and smack my forehead with the palm of my hand....why pay alot of money for wood and rocks when you can find them for free outside?

 

[freerunner416]

What treatment would i have to do to the wood before using it - other than soaking it?

Thanks in advance

nothing....just soak it

when i am at my LFS and i see people buying wood and rocks i literally shake my head and smack my forehead with the palm of my hand....why pay alot of money for wood and rocks when you can find them for free outside?

thanks Mikey,

Makes sense to me but are all woods okay? The sap etc doesnt effect the water?

 

[Sharpy1987]

doesnt the wood need to be dead? if its alive, doesn't the sap contaminate the water?

 

[Mikey1]

doesnt the wood need to be dead? if its alive, doesn't the sap contaminate the water?

yes, sorry....i was assuming he was talking about dried wood

 

[freerunner416]

was just checking that...

But ALL UK wood is okay yeah?

 

[Sharpy1987]

hmmm i'm not sure. If a wood is not used to spending large amounts of time in the water, it will eventually rot.

Wood that grows in marsh's/bogs should be fine

but i'm no expert. I could be totally wrong

 

[fluttermoth]

Most wood is safe, but no evergreen stuff, or, I've been told, ash.

It does need to be long dead, if it's not to release loads of old sap, which makes a mess of your water.

 

[#1 Fish Fan]

It would need to be dead for quite a while for you to be able to use it in your fish tank.

 

[freerunner416]

brilliant thank you

 

[DrRob]

Most hardwood (apart from ash apparently, and I've got loads of that sadly) is good. Most softwoods will both break down very quickly and tends to have annoying sap. Easy way to tell the difference is if it drops it's leaves in winter it's hardwood, if not it's softwood (although I'm sure there are exceptions to this).

Long dead stuff that's been preserved such as bog woods it doesn't really matter which.

Remember to remove the bark.

 

[#1 Fish Fan]

I couldn't agree more DrRob!

 

[coolie]

Some of the LFS around here are starting to stock vine root which is much more environmentally friendly than than the bog wood quietly ripped out of the environment in Malaysia.

 

[Boromir]

You'll be fine with Beech, Oak, Sycamore/Maple and Hawthorn. try and pick the dead/dry branches or cut during winter.

 

[freerunner416]

thank you