wood in aquarium

Question
Hello and good day,
I have recently upsized my tank to a 150 gallon and have been looking into decor for this tank. at the moment i use one of those plastic printed image type backgrounds and have started to build up a wall of lava rock.
I have a few pieces of mopani wood although what i ideally want is a tree trunk in the tank with the roots coming down into the substrate. trying to locate a suitable piece of bog wood big enough has been like trying to find hens teeth. What i am wanting to know is there any way i can use an old tree stump that was pulled many years ago from a local forest. as it happens i have one that apears to have a little amount of rot that could be cut out.
as good as the internet is there is little information on this. some people have said to boil it, varnish it with polyurethane varnish, boil in vinegar, salt bath it.. the list goes on but no-one i have spoken to has actually done any of the things they suggest.

im stuck between 2 options. one is to boil the wood for a long as possible hopefully in the region of 24 hrs to kill off anything still living and assuming it sinks put it in the tank where hopefully it wont rot and give me grief. the other option is to boil it again for same reason, but let it dry out probably hve to core it so i can add sand or gravel to weight it down, varnish it and then put it in the tank.. both options have there problems but its which to go with..

the idea of the wood rotting and causing water problems but i dont know what kind  or the stump that constantly wants to float and has a coat of varnish that some fish might not like the taste of and subsequently die..

any ideas for a way forward?


Answer
Hey dude,

well good question you have there, i have never experimented with a tree out of the forrest, me personally i wouldnt want to put anything in to my tank that could potentially end all my fish lives.... it's always a risky thing putting stuff in your tank that is not supposed to be there.

When people ask me this question all i can say is.. trial and error.. i could answer this question twice with a result goin both ways..

if your really wanting to do this..  would say boil it for like 6 hours.. 24 hours is overkill but again wouldn't hurt at all.. i'm not a expert in bogwood reconditioning and dont really know anyone who is... I dont think that is a real big threat.. aslong as you boil it.. and get all the bacteria and bad stuff out of it... good luck finding a pot big enough lol.as long as it sinks after you've done all this work is the best thing...

i cant give you a strait answer i'm sorry.. this is somthing you gotta do trial and error. just boil it and then stick it in.. i'm sure nothing terriable will come out of it.. but dont quote me on that

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