Making wood safe for my tank

[rmorse]

Hey guys,

I am currently at Ocean City, Maryland. I found a EXTREMELY nice piece of wood, and would love to put it in my fish tank as a show piece. However, if you guys say it can't go in a fish tank, I can always put it in my beardie cage.

Anyway, about the piece. How do I determine if it is safe to go in my tank? I found it on the Bay side, so it is (somewhat) fresh water. It was a fallen tree, and it is complete with the roots still on it. (This is why I want it) I found it next to the water. It was rotting a little bit, not much. It is VERY dried out. I broke the main tree part, and found ants in it. I am left with the roots and part of the tree, about 3 feet high. I tossed it into the Bay to let the ants die for about 20 minutes, then drove it home. I will post pictures tomorrow night when I get back to my main house.


My question: Is it safe for a tank? And how do I go about preparing it? I plan on powerwashing it a bit to knock of the junk, then doing a salt soak for like a month. Any help/advice would be MUCH appreciative.


Thanks!

Bobby

 

[Arthur]

I think ants can live under water for a lot longer than 20 minutes. I've heard to boil or bake the piece but it sounds like it's to big to fit in a pot or oven. You could aways have a test tank with some gold fish or something. Throw em in a large rubbermaid tote with the drift wood for a bit and if they live it's safe.

 

[rmorse]

Awesome, thanks!

Will any wood be ok in water after it is baked for parasites and other yuckies?

 

[johnuskglass]

You should really try to boil it if you can....killls everything and leeches out tannic acids that will yellow up your water. Good luck

 

[rmorse]

You should really try to boil it if you can....killls everything and leeches out tannic acids that will yellow up your water. Good luck

Oh my...I will try to figure out a way to

 

[Jory]

some people(with very large pieces of wood) soak it in a pool or other body of water for about a week.

 

[dominicolas]

I don't know what kind of wood you have but generally, the harder the wood the better, and you should usually stay away from cedar and such.