# grape vine wood



## mattwood (25 Sep 2012)

hi,

im new to the forum but have been playing around with scaping for a couple of years.

I saw for sale some grape vine wood in my lfs. has anyone used this previously and is it safe?

thanks in advance.

Matt


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## Ady34 (25 Sep 2012)

Hi there and welcome to the forum.
I used vine/grape wood in my signature 'Dragons Crypt' journal and was told it would be aquarium safe. After initial soaking and expected fungal blooms died back all seemed fine, however after about 10 months it began to grow another unsightly fungus which I presume was from decomposing wood. When I removed the wood it's structure had softened so I would advise against it long term as in my experience it eventually rots. If your planning a shorter term project then it will probably be ok. There was an article in pfk about wood types and they also suggested this not to be a good choice. Perhaps look at redmoor root for a similar twisty look.
Cheerio
Ady


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## Morgan Freeman (25 Sep 2012)

It will rot eventually, even in high humidity terrariums it will rot.


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## mattwood (26 Sep 2012)

thanks guys, i think thats swayed my decision. i will see if i can find that PFK article aswell.

cheers for the advice so far.

Matt


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## Ady34 (26 Sep 2012)

mattwood said:
			
		

> thanks guys, i think thats swayed my decision. i will see if i can find that PFK article aswell.
> 
> cheers for the advice so far.
> 
> Matt


Hi, 
It's in the July 2012 edition issue 8 p.66 in an article called 'what you need to know about tank decoration'
PFK Quote: "Vivarium wood, such as grapevine, is too soft for aquarium use and will rapidly rot. In fact, for this reason, all softwoods are to be avoided."
Cheerio
Ady


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## Simon Day (19 Oct 2014)

Has anyone had any recent positive experience using vine wood? I am about to start a new 90cm tank and large (and really interestingly shaped) sandblasted bits are relatively cheap compared to alternatives. Various internet threads say it rots quickly (i.e. less than 12 months) …… but is this a bad thing assuming it does not then degrade into any nasty toxins etc? Any positive (or negative) real experience with this would be appreciated.


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## Lindy (21 Oct 2014)

I brought some back from france this summer. It was well dried and the soft heart wood had been removed by termites. I soaked it for weeks and then put in my tank. The tank clouded immediately but I left it thinking it would clear. After a few days the smell was dreadfull and the tank was still cloudy. I gave up and took it out.

I get all my wood from the ebay seller gre0044 and it is excellent value for money. He combines postage and posts quickly.


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## drodgers (21 Oct 2014)

Ive the done the same it looked good for several months only to grow a white fungus.


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## Simon Day (21 Oct 2014)

Thank you guys for the posts on this. I will give vine wood a miss ..... I should have realised that the words 'relatively cheap' and 'aquascaping' don't often appear in the same sentence !!!! Pity, as the vine wood shapes are exactly what I was looking for. I will give eBay man a go.


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