Ok, so I decided that my piece of wood probably won't work out. It still floats, turns the water dark brown, and it starting to kinda fall apart. I'm sure given enough time it could be decent, but oh well. I found some rocks at the same time I got the wood, so I tested them with some muriatic acid and threw them in the tank (yes, I washed them off after testing). I just did this so it's a bit cloudy, and pay no attention to the reflection on the left - my tv is way brighter than I thought it was.
http://synthetix.org/pics/tank/1-12-05/newscape.jpg