Does boiling help sink driftwood?

[Guest]

I just got the perfect piece of driftwood for my 12g nanocube (which btw should be here tomorrow!!!). I put it in my 55g and it won't sink. Will time take care of it, or does boiling help?

 

[Guest]

get a piece of slate and drill a hole in the bottom, then attach the driftwood to the slate with a screw from the bottom.

 

[BillD]

Time will take care of it, but not quickly.
The common way of anchoring it is to screw a piece of slate to it. The advantage to this is that you can place it any way you want, depending on where you mount the slate. The slate doesn't need to be heavy enough to sink it, because gravel placed over the slate will hold it down until it becomes waterlogged. A stainless screw would be best, but brass or bronze also works.

 

[Guest]

So its not going to ever sink on its own? How do you drill into slate without cracking it? I have it 100% submerged right now, compared to other pieces I've tried this one is a lot less bouyant. Still, it won't stay down yet on its own. I'm going to give it a few days before I start messing with it, its so perfect right now I don't want to mess it up.

 

[An t-iasg]

Try boiling the wood -- that would probably waterlog it enough to sink it. My wood sank right away, in the soaking bucket. I boiled it to release the tannins quicker. If you don't want to drill the wood, try attaching it to a piece of slate with some fishing line. After awhile it may stay down on its own and you can remove the slate if you want.

 

[Guest]

I will try boiling it tonight for a few hours, hopefully that will work. Thanks everyone!

 

[Guest]

Actually, I know it sounds anal but I stopped bioling the driftwood. The piece is too big for even my biggest pot and I am worried that the wood on the edge of the hot pot will burn the and wreck it. I'll just keep it submerged for a while longer, and then get some slate if I have to.

 

[Jchillin]

I know exactly what you mean Tony. I have a huge piece in my 75 gal that couldn't fit into any pot. I did the slate and screw thing and it still floated a little. I used some feller stone (heavy pieces) to hold the entire thing down until it bogged down. Took a couple of weeks.

 

[severum mama]

I had a piece in my 55 gallon that wouldn't sink, so I just left a rock on top of it for a while until it finally did. It took a long time, but I didn't feel like screwing slate onto it- I wanted to keep my possibilities open for how I could arrange it. I think it took a couple of months for it to sink though.

 

[Toirtis]

Boiling can kill external nasties, but it does not waterlog the wood measurably faster than simply floating it in warm (or tank) water.

 

[Lepomis]

I typically use plexiglass to make a base to screw into my driftwood if it won't sink. I just countersink the screw head to get a nice flat surface to sit flush with the tank bottom. You can make easily a very large, thin, base to be covered with a lot of gravel.

 

[qwertie]

have you soaked it for 24 hours?? thats how I got mine to sink.