Driftwood from local lake?

[Noobsteve]

Ok so we are setting up a new tank, it's a 100 gallon. We got a piece of driftwood from a near by lake. We are in texas and with the drought we are finding some pretty cool pieces.

First I pressure washed it several times.

Its so big I had to put it in a kids pool, I've had to bowl water and just keep dumping it on it and let it set in the pool with the really hot water. I then turned it over repeated the process, did this two times took me a while. Pressure washed it again let it dry.

Now I've been soaking it in just water treated with prime and a small powerhead to keep the water moving. I've soaked it about 2-3 weeks so far but the water isn't changing color at all no tannins.

Just wondering if this is a sign of not a safe log?

Anyone in Texas are use driftwood from a lake near them?

[brewmaster15]

Ive done similar in the past. The problem is that all wood is not suitable as driftwood in the tank.Certain woods are better than others at not decomposing when saturated with water. Some woods will rott and as they do they give off harmful gasses and bacterias.

Ive used some beautiful pieces of lake and river wood that turned into stinking rotten messes in my tank.

hth,
al

[Noobsteve]

I'm new here can't post a picture of the wood, It don't seem to be rotting and I believe where we found the log it was underwater for a while.