Driftwood

[Iceturf]

I've got a sort of maple tree (characterized by 'helicopter' seeds) in my backyard and I understand maple is a hardwood; does anyone know how maple would do in the aquarium? I understand your supposed to boil the wood first, what does this do? Just for killing off bacteria?

[jvision]

The boiling will also leach out a lot of the tannins and help it to sink.

[JLake]

you can also get it baked!

in the oven as well

[Baos]

be careful as wood oil will be toxic to your inhabitants. You will know it's there by a strong wood smell.

[Sam Chicklets]

In all likelihood you would have a Manitoba Maple. And although it's classed as a hardwood it is fairly soft like Poplars are.

[Boom]

Nick is correct, in Edmonton, all we have are Manitoba Maple's also known as soft maple. On the hardwood scale, it is relatively soft. I have worked with it quite a bit in my woodworking.

I'm not sure I would recommend it to put in a fish tank though. First, it will just float, as it's not drift wood. Second, you have no idea what type of critters, chemicals, and / or other harmful stuff that might be in the wood.

You could boil it, which will help with that and tannins, although maple isn't very high in tannins to start with. Baking it will likely just dry it out too much and it will crack and splinter on you if it gets too dry.

If you decide to go for it, let us know how it works out for you.

Boom :boom:

[Crystal]

I did it once with an interesting branch from a Manitoba maple.

Peeled off all of the bark while it was fresh. I boiled it well, let it dry on the deck (very hot, +40 in summer, no rain beneath eaves-troughs) for a couple of weeks. Then put it in the oven for 1-2 hours (after we had finished baking cookies, we simply turned the heat off and left the door shut). Put it in the tank and used a stone to keep it submerged for about 3-4 weeks until it was water logged. The wood discolored slightly after a while, and it has an interesting color/pattern to it. Anything beneath the gravel wanted to rot, and the water soaked wood was always fairly soft like it was trying to rot, so use caution. Plecos loved it though - eventually I had to remove it as it looked like a well chewed dog's bone...

Ensure you boil and bake it well - it does have some toxins; several horses on a farm near here ate some leaves and twigs from branch that fell too close to the fence and died.

The dogwood branches I used did better, though it was a pain in the rump to de-bark and boil them.

Edited April 16, 2010 by Crystal

[Iceturf]

Hey, thanks for the comments everyone. Nick, your ID appears to be correct, it looks like a Manitoba Maple. And based upon your experience Crystal, I think I'll be better off finding some (more) Manzanita wood rather than risking my tank.

Edited April 17, 2010 by Iceturf

[Iceturf]

Nick is correct, in Edmonton, all we have are Manitoba Maple's also known as soft maple. On the hardwood scale, it is relatively soft. I have worked with it quite a bit in my woodworking.

I'm not sure I would recommend it to put in a fish tank though. First, it will just float, as it's not drift wood. Second, you have no idea what type of critters, chemicals, and / or other harmful stuff that might be in the wood.

You could boil it, which will help with that and tannins, although maple isn't very high in tannins to start with. Baking it will likely just dry it out too much and it will crack and splinter on you if it gets too dry.

If you decide to go for it, let us know how it works out for you.

Boom :boom:

I'd like to think that the backyard has been pretty free of toxic stuff, but good point you bring up.

Edited April 17, 2010 by Iceturf