I have been thinking of putting some driftwood in one of my tanks, but instead of buying it from the store, I was wondering if I could use willow which grows like crazy in my back yard. Would it be considered a hard wood? Because soft wood like pine isn't safe to put in an aquarium, I have heard that it deteriorates faster in water. There are other types of trees that grow here, should I consider using something other than willow?

Do you have to let the wood completely dry out before curing it? I know that to cure it before putting it in the tank you have to remove all of the bark and boil it for several hours, then soak it in another container for a couple of weeks or months to waterlog it and to remove the tannic acid, also during that process the water should be replaced when it becomes dark.

Dose anyone have any tips?

You were talking about weeping willow or something smiilar right? If so, I can tell you that I have often seen willows planted along the banks of ponds and lakes. Some even had pondfish thriving in them. There might be a chance that willow is indeed usable in an aquarium but it would have to be completely dried, boiled for a while (and even frozen for a few days after). These temp extremes will surely kill anything that is alive and harmful in or on the wood. Your description on how to leach out any tannins that may be present is the right on the money too.

All in all, this will be a risk. It might even be a good idea to try a small chunk of treated willow in a ten gallon tank with some danios, minnows or guppies. If they seem to thrive with the wood in their environment, I think it would be considered safe enough. But, the process of sterilizing, curing and testing will take months, if not a year or more from the time the wood was cut from the tree. In the long run, buying driftwood that is known to be safe is much, much easier and less time consuming. Unless youve got your eye on a particularly nice looking chunk of tree, i'd go with storebought varieties.

Hope this helps!

*oops*

I wish that they were weeping willows, but the willows I am talking about are something like Black willow and Scouler's willow, I am not sure if that's exactly what they are but they are similar. I thought that it would be a neat project to do over the summer, but if it really is that difficult to make the wood safe to use in the tank I will consider buying some from the pet store. The fish I was thinking of keeping in the tank were neon tetras or tiger barbs.