[cichjman]

I am new to this forum and hope you might be able to help me. First off, I just purchased on Friday a new 75 gallon tank for freshwater cichlids. I took a 3 year hiatus from doing the aquarium thing and decided I needed to start this hobby up again.

I have attached pics of my tank with the wood I have in it now. It is currently going through the cycling process. I was wondering if anyone knew what type of wood that is in my tank? I am assuming it is driftwood but wanted to make sure. Also, is that type of wood good to have in my tank? I was thinking of getting more wood but wanted to make sure I did it right. Any suggestions on good types of wood?

Any advice you have would be great. I feel like I have a beginners knowledge with this stuff so I want to ask you experts how to not make a mistake where I end up killing off my fish.

 

[PlantedRich]

Getting an ID on the species is nearly impossible in many cases once the leaves, bark, and most of the normal ways to ID are gone.

For me this gets much easier when I don't worry the species of wood. I find all the wood that I have used are much the same when it is FULLY dried. Tannins and sap are closely related and I feel any harm to the fish is also related to this. Odds are good that your wood is safe as it looks well beyond having any sap left. Some woods that keep sap and tannins are cedar and walnut but even those are totally safe when only the cellulose is left.

Finding the dry stuff takes some looking and checking. Tannin and sap are often found in the first layer under the bark so if bark is still there, I reject the wood. Feel for a lighter weight than normal for that size wood as the water/sap are heavy. Look for wood that looks old. It does have a definite "look" to it.
Once you have that old gnarly looking, light wood, you can get a look inside by cutting a piece off if you want to be really sure. If the wood is pretty uniform color all the way through, you can be sure the moisture is gone. Wood dries from outside to in so if you cut a piece and the inside looks different than the outer layers, the inside is not done drying. Some color around knots is expected as they do dry slower.
Note the color on this big old hunk of cedar?

This is a link to wood that I collect and use or sell.
http://s990.photobucket.com/user/Pfunmo/library/fish/wood?sort=3&page=2

 

[cgorges]

Looks to me like it might be Malaysian Driftwood. Where did you get it? I have some in 75 gal community tank, The only issue I've had is tannins discoloring the water. Not a problem for the fish, in fact its good for them, just a bit unsightly. I keep a bit of carbon in my filter and that keeps the water more clear.