[emkbass]

Good afternoon,
I am new to this forum but not so much to freshwater fish keeping.
I do have a question though.
One of the tanks that I have is a 55g community tank (planted) I am adding a piece of wood to the tank today that I have had for almost a year sitting in the garage. This is a pc of cedar limb that has been dead for who knows how long. I actuall got it at a lake I was visiting. I have added real wood pcs before but this is quite a large piece. I have burned it (I always burn wood prior to putting in a tank. Not to the point of charcoal but rather lightly with a torch ro remove any dried alge, spiders, bugs, etc.) I torched the wood about 6 months ago and am just now getting ready to add it.
Being a large piece, I was wondering about any impacts there might be on my tank. I have never had any water parameters change when adding smaller pieces (except for softening of the water)
Ideas??
thanks
Eric

[small fry]

Welcome to TFK!

I don't deal with wood, but if you aren't sure if it is ok, alot of members boil their wood, then take the bark off.

[emkbass]

Would be kinda hard to boil the piece it is just under 4' long and wouldn't fit in anything here (except the bath tub lol) No bark, has been dead for quite some time (years)

[small fry]

Sounds good to me! (not that that means much talking about wood lol)

[Byron]

Eric, never use cedar (or any coniferous) wood in an aquarium. Never.

The wood being soft will decay much quicker. The "sap" is toxic. Only hardwood should be used in a fish tank, and after it is made reasonably safe as you know.

And welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum.

Byron.

[emkbass]

Originally Posted by Byron

Eric, never use cedar (or any coniferous) wood in an aquarium. Never.

The wood being soft will decay much quicker. The "sap" is toxic. Only hardwood should be used in a fish tank, and after it is made reasonably safe as you know.

And welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum.

Byron.

Um.........I think you may have been mis-informed.
Cedar is more rot proof than most all hard wood. There is NO sap in this wood. it is very hard and has been dead for (I'm guessing) 30 years. I got this piece from a lake that was build 40 years ago. the tree was flooded when the lake was built. It took about 30 minutes to break it off. Then it sat in my garage for about 6 months before I torched it.
I would never have added cedar if it had any trace of sap in it.
The only part of this piece that is left is the "hear wood" of the limb. all of the sap wood (blonde) is long gone.
I put it in the tank today and it looks awsome.
Cedar is one of the most resiliant wood species out there. That's one of the reasons that it has been used for years in applications where water is present. I was concerned only due to it's size.
Here's a picture.
Using granite rocks to hold it down until it becomes water loged line the smaller one in there....should take about 3 months then I'll be able to remove the rocks and place them elsewhere.
new.jpg

[emkbass]

Byron,
I just looked at "your tanks"
Very nice set ups.
I wish I would have used smaller gravel on my 55g setup like you have.
Looks good. What is the wood in your tank? the one that looks like roots?

[Byron]

Originally Posted by emkbass

Byron,
I just looked at "your tanks"
Very nice set ups.
I wish I would have used smaller gravel on my 55g setup like you have.
Looks good. What is the wood in your tank? the one that looks like roots?

Thank you.

On the cedar, I tried it once, fortunately in an amphibian tank without fish. The wood came from under water in a lake. It was terrible at falling apart. And the "sap" I should more correctly have called resin, is toxic (didn't know that then). I also bought a large piece of what I believe was cedar (from the reddish colour and smell--I live in an area of NA covered in cedars) and had that in my 115g until I discovered that it was killing the fish off. Last, having so much cedar around us here, it is very common in fences and patio decks. But if not treated, it rots apart very fast. I would not treat wood going into an aquarium.

The wood I use is I believe mangrove root or similar. It is black, very heavy [I believe some call it iron wood] so it sinks immediately even if put in "dry", and resists rotting a long time. All the wood in my tanks is this type, with one exception; the branch in the 33g SE Asian pond, that is that African Mopani wood that is pale on one side (or more). It is very bad for tannins, takes a while to get waterlogged to sink, and is prone to a white fungus which can kill fish. There were a couple of threads over the past year about this fungus issue. This is the only piece I've ever had, so I had no idea about all this previously; I will never buy more of it.

Byron.

[emkbass]

I do appreciate the info!! I will watch closely to see if I have any problems.
I will also look into the mangrove root. Very cool looking! Now I want to set up another tank after seeing your planted tanks. Mine are pretty plain after seeing yours. Of course I may just change out one of the ones that I already have here. Not much room for another one. I already have 9 tanks in the house now. Water changes take about an hour. Guess I'm kinda ate up with it.
This is the first time that I have looked at Freshwater setups on line, and this is the first time for me on a FW forum. Lots of cool stuff here.
(of course I would never put treated anything in the tank)

Thanks again!!!!!