Rhodocybe

WoW! You actually think I was so careless not to fully read your post? Don't kid yourself. Aged or not I still would not use pine in a submerged or otherwise environment and just cause some locals are doing it does not mean it is now perfectly safe. I know some people in my region who use railroad ties as garden dividers and square foot gardening supports. I'm not even going to go into detail about the risk and transferring of toxins into everything. Just cause they are doing it does not mean it is perfectly safe or sane for that matter. So someone puts a type of wood or rock or soil/substrate that under normal conditions is not safe in a tank and claim that there are no "problems" means what? Fish can easily be suffering to the point that there life is shortened and the keeper thinks everything is fine. Unless everyone is a science or carbon chemistry buff the testing needed for water is out of reach for 90% of everyone who have aquariums. Even the top of the line aquarium parameter testing equipment you can buy will not show you what you are actually putting into the environment that is and will severely harm over time. Not everyone wants to spend 20-30 bucks to have his/her water tested by a state lab.

The fact that there are roughly 115 species of pine makes using the term pine kinda lame. In the south yellow is the most widespread and it is nasty fresh and dried and even dried for 2 years the gummy resin and oils are still present and placing in water reveals that. Why people think that toxic elements fully vanish if wood dries is such a spoof! White pine is much nicer and I could see people wanting to experiment with this and not knowing where your at only leaves guessing. Also Biotopes are usually defined as plants and animals living together in a uniform or so environment.

Oh, and if I wanted to be arrogant I would of gave you my biography and expertise on everything plant and dirt related. You could not think of anything better to say than to try and accuse me of arrogance after I give you a 1/10% of a little about what I do. Seriously pathetic and if you do not yet have HBP you soon will with the personality your expressing. You know these forums could actually kill a person with HBP cause they usually do not know how to not react in a normal way!

This is fun.

Have a nice day Mick!

dstrong

I will thank you and I'll end this conversation before it gets more heated.

Rhodocybe

Fair enough for all things considered and thanks for the debate. All the best in your aqua hobby.

Michael

Ocean Mang

Has anyone ever tried a Sea Grape tree?

lilobee

Very informative. Thanks.

catherine carney

Hi all--

Just a some woods to add to the list that have proven safe and durable for me:

Red Oak
Tatarian honeysuckle (cut and left outdoors over the winter to dry and cure, bark removed before adding to the tank)
Willow (roots and branches, cured over the winter before adding to the tank)

I also collect random driftwood that comes down the local creek with the spring floods, no idea what species, but so far so good.

Has anyone tried American Ironwood?? It's a tough, dense wood with an interesting gnarled growth pattern. How about Avellanus contorta (aka Harry Lauder's Walking Stick)? Apple and crabapple?

I have been unhappy when I have used Malaysian driftwood as it seems to take an inordinate amount of time to leach the tannins out of the wood for use in a tank.

Catherine

Josea

Is there some way to clean or treat driftwood found in a freshwater lake? I found several nice pieces on recent trip to Arkansas don't want to just put in tank without making sure its safe for fish.

AaronT

Soak it in a large trash can and do water changes for a few weeks. That should help leach out anything unwanted. If they are small enough you can boil them.

Josea

Thank you one of them is quite big! but the others are small.

cdorsey88

can you sanitize local driftwood that you might have found at a lake? i saw one youtube video that showed a guy boiling his wood for 2 hours. his didnt fit so he boiled both sides for 2 hours. is there another way?