Wood with tree sap

**dustin0** · 12-13-2009, 12:42 AM

Well that big piece of driftwood I wrote about earlier I must have been smoking something because its an tree stump. It has tree sap Im wondering if I boil this sucker will it be safe for the water? Or will the tree sap do something to the water/fish

**sunfishman** · 12-13-2009, 12:48 AM

im not familiar with this, but if you soak it in hot water for a week or so and let it dry then soak it again it should get rid of most of the harmful stuff. green trees fall in lakes all the time, so the sap should not have a problem. what wood is it?

**dustin0** · 12-13-2009, 12:54 AM

Originally Posted by sunfishman

im not familiar with this, but if you soak it in hot water for a week or so and let it dry then soak it again it should get rid of most of the harmful stuff. green trees fall in lakes all the time, so the sap should not have a problem. what wood is it?

not sure just seems like regular wood that I see. Pine tree probably

**rich311k** · 12-13-2009, 01:00 AM

Pine is a bad choice for drift wood. The sap will cause you problems, you need to use a hardwood.

**wlepse** · 12-13-2009, 01:15 AM

From what I was finding when looking for wood, it is highly recommended to use a hardwood since they will not decompose so rapidly and cause problems with the water parameters.

**dustin0** · 12-13-2009, 01:28 AM

Originally Posted by wlepse

From what I was finding when looking for wood, it is highly recommended to use a hardwood since they will not decompose so rapidly and cause problems with the water parameters.

Alright thanks you too, driftwood is hard to find here and expensive online but I will look

**Deleted User** · 12-13-2009, 01:37 AM

If there's a LFS near you, they may have it. We've gotten some fairly cheaply at our LFS. Good luck!

**dustin0** · 12-13-2009, 02:04 AM

Originally Posted by Jill

If there's a LFS near you, they may have it. We've gotten some fairly cheaply at our LFS. Good luck!

I live in a horrible place we have one LFS and they have a 1 star rating on all review sites. The owner is rude the fish tanks are brown and you can barely see the fish. The place is cramped and its just gross.
Petco has driftwood for $30 I might have to suck it up and get that.

**Lady Hobbs** · 12-13-2009, 02:06 AM

No pine or any other soft wood. And nothing with sap ever.

**annageckos** · 12-13-2009, 02:30 AM

It doesn't have to be "drift" wood, just need to be hardwood, not soft wood. You can also get wood online fairly cheap. You can always look up hardwood species of trees and see what is in your area. Then get dead wood and soak first before putting in your tank.