rockyofhockey
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2014
- Messages
- 1,532
Can you press your fingernail into it?
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Can you press your fingernail into it?
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Pressing into it is just a way to determine if it's soft or hard, soft will rot quickly, not that it won't rot if it's hard but it might take longer.
Does it float or sink when in water?
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Could I use fishing weights and tie them to the driftwood so it's sinks
Rockyofhockey _/.\_
Yes. Or tie it to a few flat rocks
Charity
It floats but I am sinking it in a cooler right now with a bunch or rocks. So it becomes heavy. If it rots will it hurt my fish?
Rockyofhockey _/.\_
I wondering if the weights were safe because I'm not sure what there made of... There gray and heavy maybe metal?
Rockyofhockey _/.\_
Rotting itself may not be harmful, but the leaching of substances, can be. There is another active thread on the same subject.
Unless it is stainless steel, I would not use it.
You could take a piece of slate, drill a hole through it and drive a stainless steel screw through it and the base of the wood. The slate would be covered by the substrate and not visible.
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It may start sinking on it's own.
The 3 common woods on the aquarium trade (Mopani, Malaysian, and manzanita) typically sink after soaking and/or boiling. With other woods it is hard to say. Depends on the type of wood and it's density.
I put some DW collected at a beach town in a small pond. 8-9 months later it was still buoyant. 1.5 years later it was at the bottom of the pond. However, it had softened up and when dried, had a chalky residue. I did not use it in the aquarium.
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Leave it submerged in the cooler for a couple of weeks or more, change the water every few days, if you don't like what you see, I wouldn't use it. Some driftwood will give you a brown tint in the water even after much rinsing and curing but patience is key.
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That might be my problem.... Where can u find each of those woods? If there sold in pet shops are they expensive?
Rockyofhockey _/.\_
Depending on how big of a piece you want, driftwood can be the most expensive part of the aquarium. Check with your LFS to see if they sell any.
Caleb
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