Looking for driftwood

[John-Solo]

Hi I have a 30 gal freshwater tank with 2 small live plants. I would like to add more plants and a nice piece of driftwood as the center piece but Im having trouble finding some, none of my LFS have driftwood. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[NativeTank7]

Look on lake sides or ponds. Go swimming with some goggles if you have to I found mine fishing

 

[John-Solo]

the closest place I can thing of is the Potomac river in Washington DC and that place nasty! If I get a peace from there what is the best way to make sure its safe to put in my tank?

 

[Fresh2o]

the closest place I can thing of is the Potomac river in Washington DC and that place nasty! If I get a peace from there what is the best way to make sure its safe to put in my tank?

Go west a few miles to Centreville Aquarium and peruse the Malaysian DW there. Prices go from $6.99 - $19.99 for small to large pieces. I boiled a small and medium piece for 15 minutes twice to remove tannins and they both sink like rocks. I tied moss to them and placed them on my shrimp tank (pics in profile albums).
I got SW
Of my moss from there and some shrimp last week.

 

[John-Solo]

Ok cool! Iv herd of that place I dont think there far from me. Ill look them up and take a trip. so boiling the wood is a good way to kill contaminants?

 

[Fresh2o]

Ok cool! Iv herd of that place I dont think there far from me. Ill look them up and take a trip. so boiling the wood is a good way to kill contaminants?

They are located on route 29 and route 28 near a bowling alley and CVS. A little pricey but they have stuff the you would normally find online as opposed to the Petsmart/Petcos.
Yes, boiling kills any pests, helps releases tannins an allows water to soak in so it does not float in your tank.

 

[Fresh2o]

Another place to look is Marshall's department store. They sometimes carry Manzanita DW (often used as wedding decor). Even after boiling several times i found that it tends to float. I used stainless steel screws to mount it on a small piece of slate.

 

[Coel]

I found a bunch on eBay search "Malaysian driftwood". The seller is Ohio and they post it wysiwyg.

 

[Fresh2o]

Also, the local Petcos usually carry Mopani DW. Don't get the grapewood sold in the reptile/terrarium section. It supposedly does not have a long lifespan (will rot) in water.

 

[John-Solo]

Awesome! Ill check all those out. I went by the petco but they only had small pieces. Ill take a look at the other suggestions, hopefully Ill find a nice piece.

 

[Dreamroper]

Awesome! Ill check all those out. I went by the petco but they only had small pieces. Ill take a look at the other suggestions, hopefully Ill find a nice piece.

I bought some sand blasted manzanita driftwood from a website called Blooms & Branches. They were very reasonable and after soaking for just 3 days, it leaked no tannins into my water at all. I liked the look much better than the driftwood that I had originally bought at my LFS. I guess they use this kind of wood a lot in center pieces, but you can buy different sizes and nothing was broken when it arrived even with all of the delicate branches.

 

[John-Solo]

hey guys, I went to Centerville Aquariums and they had a great selection and i found a perfect piece of driftwood for my tank for a good price! thanks a lot!

 

[PockX]

Aquabid also has alot of people on there that sell DW that they have/found.

 

[Fresh2o]

hey guys, I went to Centerville Aquariums and they had a great selection and i found a perfect piece of driftwood for my tank for a good price! thanks a lot!

Thats great! Post a pic when you get a chance. Unlike a lot of things in that store, DW is pretty inexpensive there. The shop owner will look for whatever you are looking for (e.g. Shrimp) and call you when it shows up.

If you are looking for a good deal on EcoComplete or other CaribSea products, Go to Petco in Fairfax - Greenbriar shopping center. $9 for a 20 lb bag of EcoComplete! Crazy.

 

[John-Solo]

hey there iv got a picture of my tank, I made a movie to but Im having trouble uploading it here. you can find it on youtube under "30 gallon freshwater aquarium" John1Solo.

hope you like it!

 

[Fresh2o]

hey there iv got a picture of my tank, I made a movie to but Im having trouble uploading it here. you can find it on youtube under "30 gallon freshwater aquarium" John1Solo. hope you like it!

That's a nice piece of DW in there. If you get some moss, tie a few small clumps onto it. Last year I bought moss (Christmas? Java?) from Centreville Aquarium and tied it to a chunk of Malaysian DW (got a baseball size of moss for about $3).

What is with the kinked line?

 

[John-Solo]

Iv got a ball of java moss Iv just gota get some twine or something to secure it. I didnt even notice the line in the back there when I took the pic (Ill post a new one later). that was the air line I had it out of the way and kinked so it wouldnt blow allover the place when i had it out. I decided to remove the hole thing till I figure out something new to do with it.

 

[Fresh2o]

Iv got a ball of java moss Iv just gota get some twine or something to secure it. I didnt even notice the line in the back there when I took the pic (Ill post a new one later). that was the air line I had it out of the way and kinked so it wouldnt blow allover the place when i had it out. I decided to remove the hole thing till I figure out something new to do with it.

Some folks use string (non-cotton); I use very fine fishing line for securing moss.

 

[John-Solo]

Duh! I dont even know why I didnt think of using fishing line, thanks. Iv got some in my garage... Ill tie some down when iv got a min and post a new pic. do you know anything about getting new plants to root in? I got all those plants from a friends tank. he cut most of them from the plants in his tank and said that the stocks will grow new roots.