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british wood

stemag

stemag

Member
Joined
3 Apr 2013
Messages
58
hi all any one know of a link or list of british wood that we can use in our tanks i have scoured this site but dont seem to find one thanks
 
think you need to definitely avoid any pines, also i think i read somewhere that beech is a no no as it uses chemical warfare to kill off other plants, willow is also thought to be a bit iffy but i'm fairly sure stuff like oaks, sycamore etc are safe
 
Hi
Only thing about the wood you collect in the UK is..... it takes ages to sink.
Manzinatia wood will sink in a few days...and doesn't seem to get as much white bacteria growing on it when fully submerged.
hoggie
 
there is more but i cant remember them all
apple
oak
beech
 
hogan, it depends on the wood you collect... i recently went and collected some dry dead oak and some bits from a boggy area, they have started to sink fine, and im going to use them about a 2 weeks after collecting. as for types of wood oak is good, and any none sappy hard wood, iv used apple in my shrimp tank before (freshly cut) without a problem, it did have a little white stuff on to start, but that syphoned off and never came back. but id say oaks your best and safest bet
 
Hi Mike
Your correct in saying that it depends on the wood and the area from which you collect it from.Boggy area probabley means its been well soaked with moiture at one time or other.
Most wood collecting scapers on here have collected UK wood and found it diffuclt to get it to sink.
I was just mentioning there is no comparision between Manzy woods sinking properties and UK wood...until someone finds something simliar....or better.
Heather as been used in Aquascapes also.
Anyway happy hunting gang.
Cheers
hoggie
 
true it does depend where you collect it from, but if you look in boggy places near oak trees then your likely to find some.:), iv got a little stream by me, i took a walk up it and found a tree (dead of course) just an idea if your hunting, go to a place of water to find some
 
i was thinking of taking some oak up to one of the moors
not to far from where i live and thinking about burying it
for a year do you think it would works i know bog wood
takes millions of years but dead oak for a year what do you
think
 
thanks guys the sinking part is not much of a issue i can tie it to a rock or something think i will look for some oak, apple , beach and have a play around i dont need it for a while so i have a bit of time to experiment thanks
 
beach leaves can be used in the fish tank as leaf litter
 
far be it from me to disagree as i'm new to this and certainly no botanist but here is a snippet... this is taken off t' interweb so obv may or may not be correct
but the more info the op has the better his chance of making an informed decision

Beech (Fagus sylvatica) may be one the species of tree that have allelopathic properties in their leaf litter. Some trees like Walnut (Juglans regia) have been shown to have chemical compounds within their leaves that are toxic to other plants.
 
i have seen it used in fish tanks we are talking dried out wood
 
I have elder in my tank, doesn't sink all that quickly and does leech tannins at a rate of knots, but it looks lovely.

Also use apple and pear. Willow floats and breaks down far too easily for my liking, but the fish don't seem bothered by it.
 
just done some checking and beech is safe
but i am not sure about willow as that is were
aspirin comes from salicylic acid
 
ye ive heard willow is a no no i put a peice in my pond last year that looked dead it now has roots and leaves lol
 
i believe willow also has anti bacterial properties so probably wouldnt do the filter much good... fascinating subject ud a thowt as they say round 'ere. think if I put any wood in my tank I'll stick to the industry standard ones bogwood, mopani etc
 
I tend to be a bit gung ho about using found wood - have personally tried oak, beech, blackthorn (de-thorned), heather, spruce and even ivy and they've all been fine. Make sure it's old and dry and properly dead and you're unlikely to go wrong with most stuff. As a disclaimer though I'd always have a bit of a google for a particular species before using it, but I only normally take notice of people with first hand experience (wood suitability seems to be one of those many subjects where a lot of aquarium 'lore' gets passed on parrot fashion without a whole of evidence to back it up).
 
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