[eggplantlady]

I have given up hope of finding any driftwood online that I like so I went out in our woods and picked up a piece of crepe myrtle that meets my requirements. I know that it has been down for over 1 year and I had to use a utility knife to remove the thin layer of bark. There is a thin layer in a medium shade of brown under the bark and below that it is whitish. Should I remove that brownish layer too? Is this a safe wood to use? I will do the boiling with salt and then endless soaking of water cycles if I get the 'okay'.

 

[Diana]

Crape myrtle is aquarium safe, I have used it in several tanks. Eventually Loricariads ate it all. I did not strip off the bark. Pre soaking so it would sink was easy- I did it in a garbage can.

 

[eggplantlady]

Thanks so much! The piece that I worked on is less than 1 inch in diameter so I think I'll go pick out something thicker in the hope that it will last longer. Now that I don't have to scrape off the bark it will be easy!