Awesome driftwood, safe for tank? Identify plz?

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newdreamz

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Oct 18, 2008
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My brother brought me over an awesome looking HUGE piece of driftwood. It would be perfect for my cichlid tank with all its knooks and crannys.

Not sure what type of wood it is or if its safe? It was way to big to put in my tank so we cut it in half basically. If i can use it, i would have to plit it a couple times to acutally get it in my tank due to the size of the center support in my tank.

Here are some pics of the wood, all input welcome!:1zhelp:

P1180726 (2).JPG P1180729 (2).JPG P1180724 (2).JPG P1180732 (2).JPG
 
THat is awsome driftwood. As far as I know, any driftwood is ok for short-term use but will rot in time. If you would like to preserve it, you can seal it. I am not an expert in this area so you might want to look up how to seal the wood.
 
I have read different posts about cedar and pine being harmfull. Im thinking this piece is cedar???? some people say they use cedar and dont have any problems.

I would love to be able to seal it, that is a good idea! Wonder if it was sealed, it would be safe?

Now how and what would be safe to seal it with?
 
It would probubly be a good idea for you to research the leaf pattern and find out what species of wood that is and then research aquarium safe suitability. It takes a while to prepare if you cant boil about 3-6 months in the water while it goes through it stinking, rotting fungus stage.

I lucked out big time after going about it the wrong way and found out that the yard tree trunk I invested so much time into soaking outside is in fact hardwood called Basswood which makes some of the best driftwood. So good in fact that it is used to make wooden air stones. Basswood is 90% of what we have in our neighborhood as ornamental young trees and in high wind season about 10% are downed, cut up and trashed. I plan to offer free stump removal in the future and start soaking them in child pools. The young tree trunk below is from a young Basswood tree.
DoubleGiants004.jpg
 
would be nice if i could see a leaf pattern, however this is driftwood he found that had floated up the river and got left behind from the water rising.

Im looking into like froglover mentioned about sealing it. During my research i have seen many posts on many forums about sealing with epoxy.


anyone have experience with using epoxy for something like this?
 
I suppose epoxy is an option an option. If so why not go ahead and stain it also and put some color into it, might as well.

Personally I would go take a look and see if I or a local can ID the root type or perhaps you can take it to a local tree expert guy at nursery or arbor society expert, or maybe just attach a pic-email to one. At least then youll know and maybe can use it naturally.
 
I'm by no means an expert but I used to chop A LOT of firewood (even used to go to old logging areas with my uncle to get firewood when I was younger) and my guess is that is either Douglas Fir or Cedar. I'm leaning more towards Doug Fir. Which I don't think would make good driftwood because it's a soft wood unless somehow treated so it wouldn't rot.
 
The root pattern and shape remind me of redcedar, but it doesn't have the brightly colored heartwood. Telling us what part of the world you are in will help narrow it down. If you're in western NA then thorpbrian's suggestion of Douglas fir seems likely to me.
 
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