Driftwood question

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TheJT

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jul 11, 2011
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Location
Hopkinsville, KY
Ok. This weekend I had to take my kids to Green Bay, WI For them to go back to their mom. While there, I decided to go to the bay and locate some driftwood. I grabbed a couple of nice well worn pieces and brought them home. My question is how long will it take them to get waterlogged and sink? Not sure what type of wood they are. The middle of the big piece has red wood inside of it.
 
You should really put those pieces in boiling water and let them soak a few times. Taking pieces of wood from lakes or the ocean can transfer a lot of different deseases and/or different bacteria, and you want to get a lot of the tannins out before you put it in your tank.

The amount of time it takes to sink really depends on how big the pieces are, and what type of wood it is. I have a few medium sized pieces of manzanita driftwood, and they took about 2 and a half weeks to drop. I've found the best way to get them to sink is to hold them completely under water some how. You can try screwing it to pieces of slate, hold them down with rocks, or pin them all underwater on top of each other (thats what I did).
 
Wow. This piece is like 3.5 feet long boiling it is not gonna be an option lol. I can't tell what kind of wood it is. My guess is cedar. It has a white outer wood with a red wood in the middle.
 
if it will fit, the dishwasher is an ok substitute to boiling. just run it through several times
 
TheJT said:
Wow. This piece is like 3.5 feet long boiling it is not gonna be an option lol. I can't tell what kind of wood it is. My guess is cedar. It has a white outer wood with a red wood in the middle.

I've herd from multiple people that cedar is not good for aquariums. It has something to do with the oils it releases in the water, or something like that. I would stay away from it and try to find something else
 
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