# using oak



## Nick16 (26 Jun 2012)

hi all, 

being i live in the country side and have some lovely trees in my garden.. i thought about sourcing some of my own wood. 

ive been looking at oak, as its nice and hard and ive heard is safe to use (anyone shed some light on it?)

ive collected some pieces that are 'dead' (i dont like using that word, as they cant be totally dead unless the tree is dead) 

but they are dry, and not green inside. (im happy to take a photo) 

they were collected carefully off the tree as i dont want anything from the floor which has started rotting and can contain fungal stuff.. 
i have given them a scrub to remove debris and the slight green covering of algae on the outside. 

i plan to leave them to sit and dry for a couple months in a shed, and then soak them for a further month or two prior to us in a big bin. (some pieces are 4 foot long) with some water changes to keep it clean. 

is this ok? what do you chaps rekon..? 

im certainly not spending £40 for a piece of wood in the shop, you must be daft!


----------



## Gfish (26 Jun 2012)

You've little to worry about with oak and most hardwoods. Getting them to sink is about the toughest part of the process. I left the bark on and put a few ottos and a clown pleco in the tank. There was a bit of stuff coming through the bark for a while but that's gone now and I'm about 8 months in with all looking well. 
Chuck it in a wheelie bin or pond or bathtub full of water. Once it's soaked give a quick scrub then get to work with your aquascaping 

Good luck.


----------



## Nick16 (27 Jun 2012)

excellent... 

ive taken the bark off mine for ease. 

ive always wanted to do a tank with denisonii barbs, rainbows etc... (it may not be planted) 
and having some lovely lumps of wood is my chance now i think. 

maybe a few months down the line yet!


----------



## awtong (27 Jun 2012)

Nick16 said:
			
		

> excellent...
> 
> ive taken the bark off mine for ease.
> 
> ...



This sounds great I love Denisonii's but they require serious swimming room!  What size of tank are you planning?  Once they get big and get the green and gold colouration they are hard to beat.  I have 3 and the biggest is now pushing over 10cm.  Below is a pic of one of my slightly smaller ones.






Andy


----------



## Nick16 (3 Jul 2012)

i have a 4x2x2 (450l) which should be big enough. i had rainbows in there before. 
filtration is fine, flow is fine


----------



## awtong (3 Jul 2012)

Sounds good and they will patrol every inch of it once they get bigger!  

Look forward to pics etc.  Will you be starting a journal?

Andy


----------



## Aqua sobriquet (4 Jul 2012)

Sooner or later the bark will come off. If it does start to while you're prepping it, help it on it's way. lots of folks reckon it will sink quicker if you can put it in hot water every now and then. I guess the heat helps to open the fibres letting the water in a bit quicker?


----------

