'Safe' Woods and ones to avoid

[rcarter1991]

I see quite a few tanks with live bamboo growing out of them, i have a plantpot type thing outside that is full of sand and water with bamboo growing out of it, i top it up with fish water, but ive never tested the water for nitrates

[TropicalFishForums]

[Isy]

I wanted to give my experiences on hazel and grapevine.
The neighbours had cut their hazel (the curly hazel), the twigs looked great so I thought I´d give it a go. I let the branches/twigs dry for I think it was a week or two, peeled the bark off them and then I put them in the oven for a while, until they were nice and crunchy, yum!
...Just kidding, they just got a bit darker. 
Looked quite nice, with some darker bits here and there. But after "roasting" they become quite brittle, especially when dry, so be carefull arranging them!
(I advise anyone trying to roast hazel to open the windows, it smelled quite a bit)

It looked great and I experienced no issues with it, just the mosses I tried to grow on it didn´t really attach. It took a very long time for them to attach to the wood and I´m not quite sure why.

I had the hazel in a arrangement with grape vine (shop bought, then washed and soaked, as it floated at first). The grapevine did have some bits of bark on it that were hard to remove beforehand (little holes were the branches had been). Those spots did develop some white fluff later on, which was quickly eaten by my snails. Unlike the hazel the moss on the grapevine did attach much easier. Seemed to me like that wood was much softer after soaking.

My setup didnt exist for that long, unfortunately, so I can´t say much to the longevity of grape vine or hazel in a tank. But from my experiences I can say both were (in my case) safe to use in a tank with Red Bee shrimp, snails and lots of plants.

(Although I feel I have to add that might not always the case with grape vine. There were a couple of people in my German forum that had experienced losses (specifically shrimp) after adding grape vine to their layout. It was argued that might not have been because of the wood itself, but remaining traces of pesticides.)

[Seacrow]

Any thoughts on buddleia or elderberry?
I've stuck some bits in a bucket and will check water parameters in a week or so.

[Briganti]

Buddleia rots very quickly.

[plankton]

So does elder.

[jackiemcg34]

hiya, found this post now that I looked with my eyes open... wondering about feeding bramble leaves to my shrimp or fish for that matter? thnaks guys

[Ru55ell]

Great thread   as bog wood can be pretty expensive and I was wondering what other woods I could use and how to prepare it.   In the 'Safe' list of woods on the first page/post does anyone know which ones last the longest in your tank (ie. doesn't rot away) as the bits of bog wood I have bought in the past last for years.

[Ru55ell]

oops . I also meant to ask which ones Rot away quickly , as didn't want to go through the process of cleaning and soaking it, for it to rot away 2 months later.. ,

[plankton]

Hardwoods, like oak, would be the best to use.

[Welsh neil]

Great thread,always wondering about safe wood to use,up the mountains where I live there are loads of Hawthorn and it look's pretty good,(shape wise)for tanks,I'll take the dogs up and have a look today for some nice pieces and boil um up