Prepping manzanita wood

I bought a beautiful piece of manzanita wood from the LFS yesterday. I have never had real wood in my aquarium before so this will be a first. I understand this one has less leaching of tannins than other woods. So last night, I put it in a big tote full of water as I understand it helps to soak it for a week to get it waterlogged to not float and to get the few tannins out. Well, the weight of the water caused the tote to spring a leak so it didn't soak after all! HA!

Can I soak it in my bathtub for a week? If it does leach tannins, will it stain the bathtub? If not, will it damage the jets if I soak it in a jacuzzi tub (but don't turn them on of course) as that tub it deeper than a normal bathtub? Or should I soak it in the normal bathtub which is less deep but doesn't have jacuzzi jets?

Any advice on how to safely prepare it for the aquarium and for the bathtub is appreciated!

 

If by jacuzzi tub you mean a typical outdoor hot tub than you shouldn't use that because they
often have chlorine and other chemicals in it.

 

If the piece is too big for boiling, you don’t want tannins, and you don’t want to soak it for several weeks, I would personally just get some Seachem Purigen and add it to your filter and add the wood straight in. Purigen removes tannins from the water and is probably the most effective way to get rid of them. If not, then the bathtub should work. It may take several weeks though, but it won’t stain the bathtub as far as I am aware.

 

Personally I would just add it to the tank till it sinks then set it up how you want it. Tannins are a good thing. They will eventually go away with water changes.

 

My main concern if soaking in a bath tub or Jacuzzi would be, what have these been cleaned with. Cleaning product residue could cause problems down the road.

 

If by jacuzzi tub you mean a typical outdoor hot tub than you shouldn't use that because they
often have chlorine and other chemicals in it.

Thanks! Not big outside kind. Just a bathtub with jets.

If the piece is too big for boiling, you don’t want tannins, and you don’t want to soak it for several weeks, I would personally just get some Seachem Purigen and add it to your filter and add the wood straight in. Purigen removes tannins from the water and is probably the most effective way to get rid of them. If not, then the bathtub should work. It may take several weeks though, but it won’t stain the bathtub as far as I am aware.

thanks! I actually did purchase purigen as a final step. I guess it could also be a first step.

My main concern if soaking in a bath tub or Jacuzzi would be, what have these been cleaned with. Cleaning product residue could cause problems down the road.

Good point. I think it is frequently cleaned with bleach and vinegar. May be a bad think if it soaked into the wood.

 

Good point. I think it is frequently cleaned with bleach and vinegar. May be a bad think if it soaked into the wood.

If it has only been bleach and vinegar there may not be a problem. It depends on the kind of bleach used. It seems it is getting harder to get bleach without something else added to it. I've always trusted that I can clean my tank decor with bleach and then just rinse and then soak in water with extra water conditioner added. Today I don't trust the bleach not to have something else added to it. It seems like all of it these days is concentrated, splashless or have some type of fragrance added to it.

If these have been cleaned with some of the so called bleach we find today I don't think I would be comfortable soaking something for my tanks in either of them. It may be better to soak it in your tank and just deal with the possible tannin's. (once the cycle is complete)