On a walk with the dog noticed in a local wood tree surgeons trimming Hawthorn trees, wood looks quite dense and some pieces quite nice gnarly looking, not found a lot of info mentioned excpt for the usual oak, beech etc suitability for aquariums?
Paraguay There is one major question which would be practically impossible to answer correctly. Do you know if the tree has been treated with any chemicals that could be dangerous for your tank? Is the timber 100% safe to use by that I mean does it release a toxin that is dangerous for your tank I would always recommend only buy wood from your LFS. Keith
Its a remote location and pretty sure no chemicals or pesticdes are used and I have several pieces of oak and leaves from that location without any issue.But your quite right Keith best to be cautious when looking for wood in the wild . Got lots of wood purchased over the years ,plenty of bogwood and azalea wood and a bit from free oak from woods. I havent actually taken any of the hawthorn but the larger pieces have a nice texture
Paraguay The only problem with collecting wood "if" it's no good it could easily wipe out a tank extremely fast. Keith
Done a bit more researching( was a bit lazy)and it is a safe wood for aquarium use if the source is ok
I wiil go back see what there is, nice problem I have loads of oak branches in the garage still not used, when out with the dog will often seee something and just add to the collection
Cant beat Tims collection most wood I see with that much character is manmade ,this done by a wood artist who is invited by groundwork trust to carve old remnants for kids at summer holidays with plenty of activities and learning fun activities. Looks like these artists get about a bit
I know the Peak District reasonably well, having lived next door in Notts for a while, but haven't ventured that far north in to the Dark Peak very much that I can recall. Either way a beautiful and sometimes mysterious place steeped in history.
It is Tim. My son has lots of weekends away in part you describe, the Dark Peak is a real contrast but has a certain sense of the wild, I have photos,some images somewhere try to upload but am away for a week later today