Driftwood cloud.

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JamesShall

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jan 26, 2004
Messages
52
Location
Southern California
How long does this last for? I put in a large (maybe 24" long) log of african driftwood that I bought from drsfostersmith recenty. I soaked in in treated water for about 4 days and moved it to the tank. It floated for about 4 more days and only turned the water light red- nothing special.

I boiled the log for about 10 minutes, but only half of it fit in the pot at a time. Some more red came out of it, but still nothing special.

I changed out my filters and added fresh carbon to the media basket. Then, I put that back in my tank with a big rock on it. It's been 3 days and I had to do a partial water change yesterday because I could hardly see my fish!

How long does the cloud last if I just let it go without water changes?
 
Depends on what is causing the cloud. If it is bacterial feeding off something on the wood...could be awhile, although I would wonder if it isn't an algae bloom from the increased organics. Have you tried a water clarifier?
 
If you mean the tannins leaching from the wood, this could take a long while to completely leach out. If you do not like this effect (blackwater effect, some fish like this) then soak the wood until it no longer stains the water. When I do this I change the water every day, sometimes twice, and just wait it out. I got some swahala wood recently and it took only about a week before the tannins were gone, and this wood sinks immediately when you put it in the water.

There is some debate about this, but boiling will tend to alter the cellular structure of the wood and possibly contribute to fungal outbreaks (white stuff growing on the wood, not harmful to fish) and I find that plain old soaking in UN-treated water is the best. After I am done, then I soak another day in dechlorinated water. I think the miniscule amounts of chlorine in the tap water help to kill bacteria that might be present on the wood.

There is an article here (click button, top of page) about treating driftwood, which might be helpful, though it is a different approach to my own.
 
If the wood was free of mould then I say let it ride!I have added lots of driftwood (both from the Pacific Ocean and mountain streams) to no ill effect on any of my tanks.My Ameca Splenden species tank depends on it.That being said,I do not recommend it for African Cyclids.They generally need harder water and the wood tends to lower hardness.The brownish tinge goes away over time.Keep the wood completely submersed. :wink:
 
Thanks BrotherD!

About how long did that brownish tinge hang out for in your experience?

I have a big rock on the log right now. It's staying at the bottom! I tried taking the rock off 2 days ago during a water change and it started to float a little so I have to wait and see what happens when I try it again today or tomorrow.

The brownish hue got pretty bad for me. My tank is about 3 feet wide and when I looked though it I could hardly see out the other side! AFter the water change it seems a lot less murky.[/quote]
 
Well,the stuff I added was a lot smaller than yours.My biggest pieces were about 12 to 14 inches and were already waterlogged.If the piece you put in was dry it could take a long time to absorb enough water to stay submeged but it will happen.Don't worry to much about the color for a while as it will take its own sweet time to dissapear.Stick with regular water changes and you will be ok.Once the color is gone your tank will look soooo cool! 8)
 
Ok - I'll keep up with the water changes. I have no idea how long this is going to take and it's kind of anoying. The log I got seemed really dry. It's nice though with a good ammount of holes and hiding places. My red tail shark loves it :)

I did a water change yesterday to cleat out the murky water a bit. That makes it about 1 week of being fully submerged with about another week of floating on top before that. I lifted the rock off the wood and it floated right up to the top :(

I guess I will wait anothe week to see what's up.

I obtained another free tank (looks like a 15 gal) this week so I have other things on my mind for the moment. I need to clean it up for a QT so I can get more fish!!!
 
It may take more than another week, so don't be discouraged. I have seen driftwood that would float for months and months, and never seemed to want to sink. Those make great platforms for turtles :wink:

I would just keep something on it, or drill holes and attach a piece of slate or something to the bottom so it will stay down.
 
If this can help you, I bought a pieve of Driftwood, let it soak for 5 days with 2 water changes/day.

It was not improving, so I boiled it for 8 hours, changing water every 2 hours. After 2 hours of boiling the water was so red you couldn't see the bottom of the container. After the third water change it started to improve a lot. When I first started to boil it (after 5 days of soaking), you could see bubbles coming out of the wood on a constant basis.

Not only did this take out the color and kill bacteria, but it also removed all the air from the wood. It sinks very well now and the tank is clear.

Thanks
Eric
 
It seems as though mine is SLOWLY taking on water. I changed out some tank water 3 days ago and lifted the rock off the wood while I was in there. It floated up to the surface, but it was much easier to push back to the bottom compared to last time. I think it's going to take about a month more at this rate.

The cloud has mellowed out. The water is just tinted now and not taken over by the red cloud.
 
I was wondering.. if you need to water log something and you have a big enough pot, couldn't you use a pressure cooker? would that work?
 
Well, the driftwood is still floating if I take the rock off it. The water is still colored as well. It's got a yellow look to it.

It's been over a month now. :(
 
Just checked again- log still floats. Check out my water too - BLAH!
4413u3.JPG


Here's before the driftwood
4413AQ_flash-med.jpg



I don't want to add any decoration until this yellow water stops. I don't think it's algae becuase I don't see it growing on anything. The water is just that color - YUCK!
 
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