black cherry and white oak mostly (NY), I almost never find interesting white oak pieces though. Recently I've been interested in overturned peat bog tree roots, but that's real recent and I'll have to see how it plays out.
Thank you for reiterating the unlawful act of cutting from live trees/plants in our public land. I collect manzanita wood where I go. Manzanita wood is ideal for aquarium use. It’s disturbing for me to see those live plants that have been cut when the dried branches all around are perfectly fine for use in aquascaping. The dried, dead plants are gray in color and really brittle but once soaked in water, they get so hard, some of the larger pieces are nearly impossible to break and very difficult to cut. They’ll need a few days to become waterlogged and release its tannins. They are quite expensive in your local fish stores, especially the larger pieces. Get out there and explore and please take only what you can use. Cheers🙏
I use oak,beechwood fruit wood like apple pear plumb tree. Use Pine root once.. had no smell,so used in tank...fish died of so removed the pine wood and it definitely was giving of terpene (smell). Great looking wood effect from pine But as I say Not worth the risk.
I should have talked about that. Maybe I will do a video on it... Truthfully I don't do much beyond spraying it down with a hose and scrubbing off any loose debris like dirt and loose splinters.
in SW New Mexico I also like gathering oak for aquariums, it is a very hard wood that lasts a long time in the aquarium and also doesn't have the pine sap and pitch. At some point I will give Pinyon pine and Juniper a try w/o fungus and mold. Great video, thanks.
Thanks for dropping a comment @mountainhobbit1971 ! Are you collecting Gambel oak? I used to live in the 4 corners area, Durango, and had a ton of that growing around my neighborhood. I'm sure SW NM is a terrific area for collecting wood, that sun out there will bake all the bad stuff out of the wood.
Some of that wood has a lot of dirt, how do you prep it after collection? I only collect small enough pieces that will fit in my largest pot to boil in order to avoid that problem, but my tanks have been small so it wasnt an issue. Now im setting up a big long tank and i want like 2 foot long pieces of wood. They won't fit in my pot though, a little worried about what might hitch a ride into my tank.
I should have talked about prepping. TBH, I don't do much. If it fits in a pot, I boil it. If not, I rinse it in my driveway with the hose. As long as you are collecting dried out wood, it shouldn't be an issue. I don't think any terrestrial hitchhikers are going to make it from that wood in an aquatic setting. Might be a different story if you are collecting from an aquatic or riparian setting where aquatic parasites or whatnot have a chance to colonize the wood.
Ive found driftwood from the ocean from nearby forests to be quite good, so long as your pointers are true as well. the salt water seems to clean things out nicely so long as its sap free and baked out in the sun over time. a little soaking and good to go! found a real nice one one time but it had faint sappy smell and just wouldnt stay water logged even after drilling a ton of holes i realized it was still pretty fresh. thanks for the video!
That's awesome. I've heard that you can find some really cool driftwood along the ocean, which I'm unfortunately very far from. Do you have to soak them in freshwater long to get the salt out of it? Thanks for dropping a line!
@@freshflowaquatics ya that's a bit of a way from the ocean up there! I usually do the 'salad triple wash' to make sure I leech out any salt with hot tap water and moreso to make sure it's water logged. That said a little salt I'm not too worried considering I'm a heavy brine shrimp feeder. Definitely will still get the sugar feeding fungus in spots when it's in the tank. When reentering the hobby I made sure to do a dark start and that definitely helped mitigate things. Even still I had spots of the sugar fungus, however cherry shrimp and amanos did what they do best swiftly. Similar to a reef tank if you can wait let the micro organisms and crustaceans do their work first. But dang it can be a long wait!
That's completely fair. The first few weeks are the worst in terms of leeching, but I do notice the water has some tannins even a year down the road. I guess it doesn't bother me or the fish, but I know a lot of people do not like even the slightest hint of tannins in the water. For those people collecting wood may not be the best idea. Just out of curiosity, do store bought woods not leech as much tannins? Just harder woods that don't?
the western mountains often get intense winds and also 'micro-bursts' so that is probably why some of those trees are down. Also, after a fire the roots of some trees burn and are weaken and those trees fall down.
Like @mountainhobbit1971 said, we do get lots of fires out here. I actually talked about that and the reason so many trees had fallen but then cut it out of the video cause I figured no one would be interested in listening to me ramble about our ecosystems. That stretch that I patrol for wood was ripped up by a bulldozer to create a firebreak a few years ago when there was a massive wildfire rolling through that area. Wind storms, pine beetles, fires and even old age can account for a lot of the fallen trees out here. It's not uncommon to get strong bursts of wind for a day or half day in Northern Colorado. I've had to reinforce the fence around our home due to the wind 🤣 Also since it's such a dry and cold climate it takes ages for fallen trees to decompose, unlike a tropical rainforest. These are slow moving ecosystems up here. Thanks for taking an interest!
Thanks for sharing your experience, always good to hear what people are thinking. When you talk about risks and leeching, are you talking about tannins? Not sure how far you made it in the video, but I did talk about this towards the end. I know a lot of people are worried about pine, but I have used it for years and years without any issues. In fact, that's pretty much all I use in my aquariums.
Great job mate. Love that your proving you can use pine I always thought that it would be ok to use once dried out and your scapes look great. Amazing texture on the woods you use
@@freshflowaquaticsif pine trees are your local tree, can guarantee that your waterways are full of bits of fresh pine trees and leaves. The fish survive somehow. Nature must have a solution. I have local pine trees. I use composted pine bark alot, but I would consider trying pine wood after sensible precautions like in your video.
What kind of wood do you collect?
@@freshflowaquatics got lucky and found a old pine stump with roots still attached and a nice piece of spider wood
Maple and Oak. I'm in the Northeast. Found some intricate pieces in my backyard.
black cherry and white oak mostly (NY), I almost never find interesting white oak pieces though. Recently I've been interested in overturned peat bog tree roots, but that's real recent and I'll have to see how it plays out.
Thank you for reiterating the unlawful act of cutting from live trees/plants in our public land. I collect manzanita wood where I go. Manzanita wood is ideal for aquarium use. It’s disturbing for me to see those live plants that have been cut when the dried branches all around are perfectly fine for use in aquascaping. The dried, dead plants are gray in color and really brittle but once soaked in water, they get so hard, some of the larger pieces are nearly impossible to break and very difficult to cut. They’ll need a few days to become waterlogged and release its tannins. They are quite expensive in your local fish stores, especially the larger pieces. Get out there and explore and please take only what you can use. Cheers🙏
I use oak,beechwood fruit wood like apple pear plumb tree.
Use Pine root once.. had no smell,so used in tank...fish died of so removed the pine wood and it definitely was giving of terpene (smell).
Great looking wood effect from pine But as I say Not worth the risk.
A quality video with great tips and tricks. Your advice is solid and helpful. Nice job.
Thanks @FatherFish - always nice to get a comment from a big name in the game 😊
I would love to see a video of how you treat the wood after you collect it. That is if you treat it at all.
I should have talked about that. Maybe I will do a video on it... Truthfully I don't do much beyond spraying it down with a hose and scrubbing off any loose debris like dirt and loose splinters.
in SW New Mexico I also like gathering oak for aquariums, it is a very hard wood that lasts a long time in the aquarium and also doesn't have the pine sap and pitch. At some point I will give Pinyon pine and Juniper a try w/o fungus and mold. Great video, thanks.
Thanks for dropping a comment @mountainhobbit1971 ! Are you collecting Gambel oak? I used to live in the 4 corners area, Durango, and had a ton of that growing around my neighborhood. I'm sure SW NM is a terrific area for collecting wood, that sun out there will bake all the bad stuff out of the wood.
I went out the other day and collected driftwood and river stones for my new 60 gallon breeder
Awesome, river stones are a great touch too. What kind of wood did you collect?
Some of that wood has a lot of dirt, how do you prep it after collection?
I only collect small enough pieces that will fit in my largest pot to boil in order to avoid that problem, but my tanks have been small so it wasnt an issue. Now im setting up a big long tank and i want like 2 foot long pieces of wood. They won't fit in my pot though, a little worried about what might hitch a ride into my tank.
I should have talked about prepping. TBH, I don't do much. If it fits in a pot, I boil it. If not, I rinse it in my driveway with the hose. As long as you are collecting dried out wood, it shouldn't be an issue. I don't think any terrestrial hitchhikers are going to make it from that wood in an aquatic setting. Might be a different story if you are collecting from an aquatic or riparian setting where aquatic parasites or whatnot have a chance to colonize the wood.
Ive found driftwood from the ocean from nearby forests to be quite good, so long as your pointers are true as well. the salt water seems to clean things out nicely so long as its sap free and baked out in the sun over time. a little soaking and good to go! found a real nice one one time but it had faint sappy smell and just wouldnt stay water logged even after drilling a ton of holes i realized it was still pretty fresh. thanks for the video!
That's awesome. I've heard that you can find some really cool driftwood along the ocean, which I'm unfortunately very far from. Do you have to soak them in freshwater long to get the salt out of it? Thanks for dropping a line!
@@freshflowaquatics ya that's a bit of a way from the ocean up there! I usually do the 'salad triple wash' to make sure I leech out any salt with hot tap water and moreso to make sure it's water logged. That said a little salt I'm not too worried considering I'm a heavy brine shrimp feeder. Definitely will still get the sugar feeding fungus in spots when it's in the tank. When reentering the hobby I made sure to do a dark start and that definitely helped mitigate things. Even still I had spots of the sugar fungus, however cherry shrimp and amanos did what they do best swiftly. Similar to a reef tank if you can wait let the micro organisms and crustaceans do their work first. But dang it can be a long wait!
One of the biggest problems are those leaching tannins. I also have access to amazing hardscape but a fav aquascape still leaches after 9 months
That's completely fair. The first few weeks are the worst in terms of leeching, but I do notice the water has some tannins even a year down the road. I guess it doesn't bother me or the fish, but I know a lot of people do not like even the slightest hint of tannins in the water. For those people collecting wood may not be the best idea. Just out of curiosity, do store bought woods not leech as much tannins? Just harder woods that don't?
Looks like you're in the mountains. Why have so many trees been uprooted? We only see that from tornadoes here lol
the western mountains often get intense winds and also 'micro-bursts' so that is probably why some of those trees are down. Also, after a fire the roots of some trees burn and are weaken and those trees fall down.
All very true!
Like @mountainhobbit1971 said, we do get lots of fires out here. I actually talked about that and the reason so many trees had fallen but then cut it out of the video cause I figured no one would be interested in listening to me ramble about our ecosystems.
That stretch that I patrol for wood was ripped up by a bulldozer to create a firebreak a few years ago when there was a massive wildfire rolling through that area. Wind storms, pine beetles, fires and even old age can account for a lot of the fallen trees out here. It's not uncommon to get strong bursts of wind for a day or half day in Northern Colorado. I've had to reinforce the fence around our home due to the wind 🤣
Also since it's such a dry and cold climate it takes ages for fallen trees to decompose, unlike a tropical rainforest. These are slow moving ecosystems up here. Thanks for taking an interest!
Personal experience. Pine wood is not worth the risk. . Even old pine will leach.
Plenty other woods less risky.
Just saying.
Thanks for sharing your experience, always good to hear what people are thinking. When you talk about risks and leeching, are you talking about tannins?
Not sure how far you made it in the video, but I did talk about this towards the end. I know a lot of people are worried about pine, but I have used it for years and years without any issues. In fact, that's pretty much all I use in my aquariums.
Great job mate. Love that your proving you can use pine I always thought that it would be ok to use once dried out and your scapes look great. Amazing texture on the woods you use
@@freshflowaquaticsif pine trees are your local tree, can guarantee that your waterways are full of bits of fresh pine trees and leaves. The fish survive somehow. Nature must have a solution. I have local pine trees. I use composted pine bark alot, but I would consider trying pine wood after sensible precautions like in your video.