Are standard Twigs safe for Aquarium Use?

[waylon101]

I have been reading up on this for a while. I would LOVE to cover the sand bed of my Blackwater 55 Gallon with smaller twigs. I looked this up a while back ago and saw many warnings at doing this. Recently I saw a video by ADU Aquascaping in which he used smaller twigs that he found for one of scapes. I was then reading some archived threads on other forums and one spoke on the long process of curing large pieces of driftwood but then mentioned that smaller twigs are just required to be on the approved list of aquarium safe wood (oak, maple ect), have its bark stripped and boiled for a good time, and it would be fine for aquarium use. Any thoughts or experience? Here is picture of an example I found (I would not put the leaves in the tank as they did) http://s268.photobucket.com/user/AnLoki/media/Picture346.jpg.html .

[AmazonJoe]

Yep no problem I have twigs as well as leaves (live oak) in my blackwater tank. I grabbed from my front yard lol.

Just make sure where ever you gather them from is free from spraying herbicides,pesticides etc..

And its a good idea to boil them if your worried about contaminants but I did not boil mine just FYI

[waylon101]

Yep no problem I have twigs as well as leaves (live oak) in my blackwater tank. I grabbed from my front yard lol.

Just make sure where ever you gather them from is free from spraying herbicides,pesticides etc..

And its a good idea to boil them if your worried about contaminants but I did not boil mine just FYI

any suggestions on removing the bark quickly?

[waylon101]

also I am afraid what I thought was oak may be something else. I boiled the sticks and then made a peel from the bark and it felt very sticky.

[Rocksor]

also I am afraid what I thought was oak may be something else. I boiled the sticks and then made a peel from the bark and it felt very sticky.

It must a a hard wood, and thoroughly dried, like months.

Sticky is not a good sign.

[Slaphppy7]

Agreed, sounds like a resinous wood if it's sticky.

Even with certain hardwoods, "twigs", depending on their size, may not last long submerged to begin with, and may make a bigger mess than they are worth the trouble of..

[madagascariensis]

The average twigs from local trees may degrade quite rapidly. I suggest looking into manzanita branches.
Extremely hard and durable and come already debarked and cured. Good aquarium stores may have it. I would avoid branches sold for other (decorative) purposes as they might be treated and are also more expensive (higher grade?). The branches are quite thin and you could saw them down further too.
As already hinted they aren't exactly cheap though, so you could use regular branches to see if you like how it looks first.

[AmazonJoe]

The twigs like mentioned should be hardwood be very careful with your I'd of whatever wood you collect. Some saps/resin can be deadly to your fish
I do have some experience under my belt so I knew what to look for/stay away from.

Even though its $$$ starting with wood from a trusted supplier is a way to gain experience with driftwood in tanks.

Back to collectin in the field.
Best option really is to find wood that has been naturally submerged for some time and is waterlogged and ready to go.

What I do is leave them to sun bake for several days weeks even depending on size of wood.

For dead wood that has fallen off a tree I still sun bake for several days or weeks to sterilize and also make sure its completely dead. If so the bark should come off very easily. For the bark that doesn't I just take sand paper to it or chip it off with flat head screw driver or something equivalent.

[AmazonJoe]

Now that I think of it I have access to tons of naturally submerged wood. I could ship some I'm sure. You would just need to pay for the shipping costs :)

[waylon101]

Now that I think of it I have access to tons of naturally submerged wood. I could ship some I'm sure. You would just need to pay for the shipping costs :)

Maybe after the holidays! That would be great!

[Slaphppy7]

Very nice of you, Joe

[AmazonJoe]

Maybe after the holidays! That would be great!
Just let me know what shape and size your looking for I know you mentioned twigs but I have all kinds.

[AmazonJoe]

Very nice of you, Joe

What can I say I'm down for the cause

[waylon101]

This is why I love AC :D

[mac]

I know A lot of people think small twigs ton of work because they degrade over time. But for the looks and a slight amount of extra work in cleaning over a few months it's totally worth the natural look.

When I go hunting for them, I look around lakes and river banks for dead trees that have either sunk or fallen in the river. Trees which are dead and water logged. Anal of and make sure it has a small amount of hard wood it it. The only part which is harder, is a basic field under standing of types of dead trees and what to not touch.

Some Google work, and a bit of research in a tree guide book will fix that. Also saves a lot of money on trying find decent twigs ect from a lps or lfs.

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