# Cedar question



## FishyBusiness (Jan 24, 2012)

So I am getting the 20 gallon and have just got a piece of driftwood ready for it. Its probably 12 inches or more long and is Cedar. I am boiling it now. Will this work with guppies. My tap comes out ph 6.8. Im planting my aquarium with Java, Hornwort and Wisteria.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

DO NOT PUT CEDAR IN YOUR AQUARIUM !!!!

cedar will release toxins in the water and kill the fish...at least this has been my experience...
stay away from conifers or pines and other woods that tend to be oily..such as walnut..
right now almost all of my wood is either mopani...malaysian..cypress or oak....and a couple of other unknown dicidous species..


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

With your PH I would question the long term health of guppies who need alkaline water. Plants and driftwood will likely lower the PH further.


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## FishyBusiness (Jan 24, 2012)

I'm going to go with the fake driftwood.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

You can buy mopani wood at Petsmart for a reasonable price.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Cedar is toxic even to humans. A pH of 6.8 is too low for guppies.


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## FishyBusiness (Jan 24, 2012)

The best pH for keeping guppies is pH 6.6 to 6.8. 

Directly copied from an online care guide on guppies. I try to do my research lol.


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

FishyBusiness said:


> The best pH for keeping guppies is pH 6.6 to 6.8.
> 
> Directly copied from an online care guide on guppies. I try to do my research lol.


Erm.. sorry thats just wrong. Guppies, and all livebearers should have alkaline water.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Guppies can live in a number of conditions. The prefer HARD water, not alkaline water. So a low to neutral pH is ok, as long as the water is hard. Typically hard water has a very high pH. If you can do it, they prefer a neutral pH of 6.8 to 7.2. Any lower than that, and you just don't have enough total dissolved solids in your water really. 

Remember, take anything you find online with a grain of salt, and more than 3 supporting sources to back it up. If you really did your research, you would find a lot of sites contradict that, and many of them will include that pH in a range that goes much higher. 

LiveAquaria is a good place to start, if you are looking for the minimum requirements for a fish. They list guppies as 5.5 to 8.0, which is a really broad range. A guppy would likely survive in those conditions, but if you keep it on the higher side, they will be more likely to breed and less prone to disease.


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## PostShawn (Dec 22, 2009)

My LFS has great deals on mopani as does Petsmart. Petsmart usually has the ones with the tags as most big retail store items are and my LFS seem to get it in bulk. It's a really cool looking wood, my plecos love it and it doesn't take long to make it "safe". I mean safe in the terms of making the water no all brown. I usually soak mine in a bucket for about 2-4 days changing the water 1-2 times a day and filling with hot water. Then it's ready to go. I put it in the tank and never had bad results. No brown water or anything.


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## FishyBusiness (Jan 24, 2012)

I found a piece of driftwood in my parents yard I had forgot they had. It has been outside in their yard for like 15-20 years. Cutting off a piece we did not smell anything, no cedar, pine or any kind of sap odor. My dad thinks it may be oak. It has a light dusting of green algae on the outside which I will sand off. It will not fit in a pot to boil but will fit in my new 30 gallon. 

Any suggestions?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Boil water in a tea kettle and pour it over it outside (but watch your feet) or in the tub.


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## FishyBusiness (Jan 24, 2012)

How many times should I do that? Will it be safe? The green stuff may be moss...its green and flakey.


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

That is lichens, a symbiotic fungi/algae organism. Just boil it. 

I'm not one to but much importance on pH. IMO guppies will do just fine at a pH of 6.8. Most tank bred fish do well in a pretty variable pH range.


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## Guest (Feb 14, 2012)

First of all I don't think that cedar is toxic to humans, otherwise people would be getting sick with all the cedar that is around in the US. I love the smell of cedar. I have had things of cedar for years and I have had no problems. Of course I have never used it in my fish tanks, and I will probably never will.


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## FishyBusiness (Jan 24, 2012)

I added some photos of the driftwood I think is Oak. Can someone verify that or give me an idea?


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

Angelclown said:


> First of all I don't think that cedar is toxic to humans, otherwise people would be getting sick with all the cedar that is around in the US. I love the smell of cedar. I have had things of cedar for years and I have had no problems. Of course I have never used it in my fish tanks, and I will probably never will.


So you've never heard that cedar and pine shavings can be very harmful to both humans and small animals? Maybe you've never kept small rodents, so you wouldn't know, but those shavings are strongly recommended against because they can cause respiratory infections and eventually will kill an animal if it's in an enclosed space with them too long. Humans that work with those woods are often more prone to asthma and cancer in their respiratory systems. 

Sealed, finished, or treated wood items (or trees themselves) of those species are harmful because you're not breathing in microscopic bits of them, as with shavings and their dust. But to suggest that they are not harmful at all is somewhat ignorant and truth can be easily seen with a quick google search.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Ask any woodworker and he'll tell you quick that special precautions must be taken when working with cedar, as it's sawdust is very dangerous.
Cedar smells so strongly because it's full of oil. That oil leaches out of wood underwater, turning that water brown in record time and killing pretty much anything in it. The very reason cedar is used to make trunks & chests is that it's toxicity makes for fine insect & mold repellant.


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## Guest (Feb 15, 2012)

hXcChic22 said:


> So you've never heard that cedar and pine shavings can be very harmful to both humans and small animals? Maybe you've never kept small rodents, so you wouldn't know, but those shavings are strongly recommended against because they can cause respiratory infections and eventually will kill an animal if it's in an enclosed space with them too long. Humans that work with those woods are often more prone to asthma and cancer in their respiratory systems.
> 
> Sealed, finished, or treated wood items (or trees themselves) of those species are harmful because you're not breathing in microscopic bits of them, as with shavings and their dust. But to suggest that they are not harmful at all is somewhat ignorant and truth can be easily seen with a quick google search.


I actually have two rabbits and I will never use cedar with them, because I have read that it is very toxic to them. Pine, kiln dried, is okay to use with small animals; but if it isn't kiln dried then it is very toxic to small animals.

I didn't know that about wood workers being more prone to respiratory problems. Learn something new every day.

But yeah I have small animals and I know about the cedar being toxic to them. But kiln dried pine is safe for small animals.


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