shoreline driftwood?

[earthworms]

I have a question about driftwood. I am coming to an end on my fishless cycled tank and I have been looking for ornaments and such for this 29 gallon tank. I seem to never find what I want and if I do, it's way to expensive. My question is, can I go walk along the shore and find a piece of freshwater driftwood and use it in my tank? The tank will have fish and a few plants. Lets say it's possible to use the driftwood. Will a meticulous cleaning and boiling clean all the organisms off of it? Perhaps a bad idea to start with?

My 29 gallon that is almost done cycling has snails, zooplankton and midges from this lake. I put them in to have something to watch while it cycles.

Thanks for our help

 

[Xzap]

Here's what I've done in the past.
Make sure it is driftwood from a lake if possible, the longer it's been in there, the better.

Pressure wash it. Boil it, if you can.

Soak it in a tub of water for 30 days or so to let it leach out the brown stuff (tannin I think it's called). Once it goes in the tank, it will still probably leach for a few months, but it's harmless.

Keep it weighted down while your soaking it to help get it water logged. If it won't sink on it's on, you'll have to anchor it with a piece of slate.

Thx,

Dave

 

[Guest]

some types of driftwood take a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time to get water logged and stop releasing tannins, but taht doesn't mean they aren't ok, the tannic acid is harmless.
Everything Xzap said is pretty much right, scrub it down really good to remove loose junk, boil it if you can, if you can't boil it you can sterilize it with a bleach solution and then rinse in dechlorinator before putting it in your tank. THe slate is a good idea as well as you can put rocks and gravel on the slate to help hold it down. You can also get like a big plastic garbage can or something to soak it in if you don't want to soak it in your bathtub. Or you can soak it in your sink if its small enough.. Just remember to change the wtaer until it stops leaching tannins.

 

[FawnN]

I would be more concerned about the little critters living in it. Boilng it would be the best way to insure you don't introduce anything to your tank, especially after all the hard work you did to cycle it.

 

[mr funktastic]

i have used peices of drift wood from lakes and they were fine. i only picked up the stuff that was like super dried out. then just boiled it and threw it in my tank. i am using more of a branch like peice of driftwood compared to a big hunk of it. didnt affect my water in anyway or form

 

[earthworms]

Thanks for all of your advice. Looks like my wife and I will have to make a date to go walking along the beach in the next few days. I think this way I can take my time and find the piece I want to use. Also, it's not costing me anything which we all know these tanks add up in money.

Again, thank you for your help. Now I wait for my tank to compete it's cycle.

 

[Guest]

thats the best part is saving the money because its so expensive to buy driftwood. I have found a few small pieces but nothing really big enough for my aquarium yet... i need to go visit the springs again! LOL