# Sage Wood Safe?



## leder_of_natara (Mar 15, 2006)

I have this sage plant in my yard, and I was wondering if I could use its wood as deco in my fishtanks? I all ready have some pieces of sage wood sitting in water, and I'm skinning all the bark off. Is it safe to put in a fishtank?


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## Guest (Apr 23, 2007)

By sage I'm guessing you mean the flowering plant? It does put off quite a bit of green/yellowish oil, in addition to tannins. It's a medicinal herb, so I don't see how it would hurt the fish. I'd worry more about things on the wood and sterilizing it properly.

I personally wouldn't use it, but maybe someone else can give you more ideas.


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## leder_of_natara (Mar 15, 2006)

Ichthius said:


> *By sage I'm guessing you mean the flowering plant?* It does put off quite a bit of green/yellowish oil, in addition to tannins. It's a medicinal herb, so I don't see how it would hurt the fish. *I'd worry more about things on the wood and sterilizing it properly.*
> 
> I personally wouldn't use it, but maybe someone else can give you more ideas.


Yeah, it's the flowering plant.

I read a post from like, 2005, that says that you have to boil, bleach, and bake, several times. If I do all that, would the wood be safe?


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2007)

It's possible. I personally wouldn't recommend bleaching it though. You never know if it may seap into the aquarium. It would look interesting, though .


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

bleach is generally a good fish tank sterilizer because you can tell its gone by its scent and its effect on pH and because you can remove it with dechlor. I think it would be hard to get out of wood, so that could be what the baking is for. I wonder if you could completely seal the wood to keep the stuff in. Most driftwood needs to be soaked for a while to keep it from floating. You could immerse it in a bucket for awhile and see what happens to the water.


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## leder_of_natara (Mar 15, 2006)

emc7 said:


> bleach is generally a good fish tank sterilizer because you can tell its gone by its scent and its effect on pH and because you can remove it with dechlor. I think it would be hard to get out of wood, so that could be what the baking is for. I wonder if you could completely seal the wood to keep the stuff in. Most driftwood needs to be soaked for a while to keep it from floating. *You could immerse it in a bucket for awhile and see what happens to the water. *


Well, the bark falls off, but I'm working on removing all the bark. The water seems to turn to a slightly brown tint, but not really noticeable. The wood floats, but if it won't eventually stop floating, I plan on solving that by burying the ends into the sand that's going to be in the fishtank.


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

The wood _should_ sink over time. I have had some pieces sink after a few days, while other pieces not sink for 3 weeks.
I am not too familiar with sage, so I would keep an eye out on it to see if it rots or anything of the sort while its in water. Thats why driftwood, or wood that has been submersed for some time is usually the only thing you see for sale.

I have some driftwood in my tanks that I collected from the ocean. One piece that I have in there now was half stuck in mud, while the other few were stuck in the ice on the s****************. All I did was boil the wood three times, while soaking inbetween. Not sure if all of that was necassary or not, but I'm not one to take chances when I've got a few dollars worth of fish in the tank  
I looked at some pictures of sage online, and it seems to be more of a bush than anything. Basically just branches, right?
If so, then I dont see why soaking them in bleach diluted with some water could hurt any. I wouldn't soak it to long. The bleach will evaporate (something like that?) shortly after it is taken out, but I would still soak it for a few days.

If you could boil the wood, then I'm sure it would be safe for an aquarium. Along with soaking it before.
And if your anxious to get it in your tank, then baking might not be the best idea, for the wood would dry out and you would have to wait all over again while soaking it.  
I would go with boiling. If you could get your hands on a turker boiler, that would do the job quite well.


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## leder_of_natara (Mar 15, 2006)

Ringo said:


> *I looked at some pictures of sage online, and it seems to be more of a bush than anything. Basically just branches, right?*If so, then I dont see why soaking them in bleach diluted with some water could hurt any. I wouldn't soak it to long. The bleach will evaporate (something like that?) shortly after it is taken out, but I would still soak it for a few days.
> 
> If you could boil the wood, then I'm sure it would be safe for an aquarium. Along with soaking it before.
> And if your anxious to get it in your tank, then baking might not be the best idea, for the wood would dry out and you would have to wait all over again while soaking it.
> I would go with boiling. If you could get your hands on a turker boiler, that would do the job quite well.


To some extent, yes. There are some brances that are about 2 millimeters, to some branches being more that a centimeter in diameter!  Yeah, I think I'll boil it, than soak it fora little bit longer. 

Thanks everyone for all your help!


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