How Safe Is Decor Used From The Wild?

Check out your local rockyard & Landscape companies. The different types of rock are already separated, with a huge selection. It's usually very inexpensive.
I bought over 200 lbs. Of Texas Holey Rock for 20 - 25 cents per lb. From a couple rockyards near me.

 

I’ve never had an issue with collecting my own rocks, wood, substrate. Most will say boil it/bleach it but I have never personally done either. For wood I would remove the bark and wash it with a hose, for rocks just wash off dirt.

Collect from a clean location and you won’t have a problem.

 

Don’t collect rocks that contain sulfides if you are doing a reef and don’t collect rocks that contain carbonates if you don’t want kH/dkH affected in freshwater. To test this, scratch the rock so it creates a bit of powder or a fresh surface and drop vinegar on it. If you can see or hear a fizz don’t use it as it contains carbonates. If you can’t even scratch the rock or create a powder then it’s safe to use as you likely have a quartz/feldspar rich rock. Sandstones, mudstones, shales, volcanic rocks all make great freshwater decor. Pretty much any rock that has gone through prograde metamorphism will be safe to use (ex. Marble from limestone, slate from mudstone/shale).

For sticks collect the dead ones (not green). The sticks will release tannins and may lower pH momentarily but won’t harm inhabitants. Will be back to normal after a few water changes.

 

With woods no soft woods like pine, only hard woods like oak, maple etc......

 

Just make sure that the wood is from dead hardwood tree's also suggest not collecting items from area where fertilizer was put down.

 

Softwood is still fine to use if it is dead. It has to be truly dead though. You don’t want it to be rotting, if you find a pine stump in the lake I would use it without question. Just let it dry off in the sun.

The problem with softwoods is they do release chemicals when alive that can be harmful and they break down faster than hardwood.

There is little supporting evidence to support the negative impact of softwoods on organisms within an isolated system such as a fish tank. It has been one of those past down “don’t do’s” in the aquarium hobby.

 

I put it in a tub and soak in boiling water. I do the vinegar test on rocks.

 

If there’s a bunch of bugs on the piece I usually pour boiling water over top before blasting with hose/pressure washer. Anything I miss becomes a nice snack for the fish in the tank.