Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Can I sink logs in my pond?

Brand new to Pond Boss--awesome site. I have an oak tree (shingle leaf oak) that has died on my property and I would like to put parts of it in my 1 acre pond to use as structure. I have heard that doing this can create problems and possibly poison the water. Is this true and what is your experience with this? Thanks in advance.

I'll leave your question to the experts but welcome to pond boss

Howdy, N&Cpond.

Trees in ponds leach various amounts of tannin which can cause water quality problems. Some species of oak are the very worst (I've no idea about your shingle leaf oak).

2 ideas:

1) Place some of the cut tree in a bucket of pond water; this can give you an idea of how much tannin your oak will produce in your water. If it turns black overnight, I'd rethink it. If there's no change in water color in a week, I'd probably go ahead.

2) Letting the wood dry out as it ages has been reported to notably reduce the amount of tannin it can leach into a pond. Supposedly even a couple of months can make a major difference. (This is for fresh cut trees and maybe it's not pertinent for a tree which has died.)

Visible amounts of tannin do not necessarily cause problems. Better info probably on the way. (Hey, Guvnor!)

You just about said it all Theo.

Tannins are extremely deadly to fish and to anything else. Like Theo says, cut a chunk and test it with natural pond water( no chlorination). Since it died on its own, I expect it is safe but I wouldn't consider taking a chance.

Thanks guys. I will probably just put in some other type structure.

I think one of the main points of sinking logs in ponds is the number of logs and the volume of water. As mentioned fresh vs dead or aged logs probably make a big difference in amount of leachate from the logs. A relatively small amount of leachate in over one acre of water will have minimal impact on the entire water body. Lots of logs in a small 0.3 ac pond would cause more problems than if placed in a 2 acre pond. I have placed numerous amounts of aged logs and coarse brush in a 0.75 acre pond with no visible leachate. I think more tannins usually come from leaves vs dead large woody material. Tree bark probably contributes sgnificantly more tannins than woody material without bark.

N&Cpond forgive me if this takes the tread off track but I would like to ask the guys a somewhat related question.

Do all fresh cut woods leach tannin or just oaks?
Mesquite is easy for me to get where I live, is there danger with this wood? Also I assume wooden pallets from the feedstore are made of Oak? is there danger with tannin there? But as Bill said, it makes sense that it has more to do with the volume or water and number of logs. thanks.

IIRC tannin is in all wood/trees/leaves/bark to varying levels, oaks have more tannin than most other trees, and some particular oak species have a whole lot.

My pond has a tint that I think is from tannins. Much of the watershed is wooded/lowland and the water has always has a brown tint, even when clarity is good. I do have about a dozen stumps in a 1/3 acre pond which are mostly gum and poplar.

I've been wondering if the tint isn't beneficial is some ways, like in limiting light penetration.