Boiling Driftwood

[mematrix]

:? Hi All. I was wondering when you boil driftwood to get it to sink. How long does it take? I v'e been boiling a piece for 4 1/2 hrs. It still floats like a cork. Jed, Elimae, Jethro, and Granny would love the bogwood soup I made LOL. Sincerely Curtis

 

[pitt420dude]

I havent heard that boiling your driftwood makes it sink. I do know it helps kill the wood and leech out much of the tannins but im not sure it affects its bouyancy. I think you either have to weight it down, or weight it down in a bucket so it gets completely waterloged.
Maybe some of the air bubbles from boiling is getting into the wood?

 

[1tankneverenuff]

Boiling does help, but it must be submerged. I simply use the piece of slate most driftwood comes with at your LFS. When purchasing the wood, look for the most porous pieces, these will sink the quickest by far. If they are simply submerged in your tank, it can take weeks or even months. But, when I have boiled I've notice it makes the process dramatically shorter.

***Note - I usually boil for 5-6 hours at a time. The more you do it, the faster they will be to sink.

 

[Felf]

bought malaysian driftwood that sank right away. i shot them off with a hose, boiled each peice for 12 hours straight(changed the water every hour), let them soak for 5 days, then shot them off again with a hose. from what i read malaysian driftwood tends to sink without a problem but the pieces i bought released tannin for about 4 months.

 

[Toirtis]

What counts for a huge amount is the type of wood it is....the heavier bog/hardwoods, such as the ironwoods, Malaysian bogwood will sink without any effort, whereas others will take a while....submerging in warm-hot water will speed up the process.

 

[Screwylui]

yup... i agree. my malaysian bog wood sank like a rock, it was pretty heavy too considering it's relatively small.


Luis

 

[mematrix]

Re to posts

Hi ya'll. Well The oieces I boiled for 3-4 hrs. I put them in my big horsetrough, sunk them with bricks to keep them under water they all have sunk now. so boiling does help speed up waterlogging quite a bit. So thanks for replies and suggestions. Oh the pieces I have are oak mesquite and a pare tree root. I lso have another piece that is for 50 ^ gal tanks is real cool looking I find my wood in some flash flood areas after a good storm the fast flowing water and debrie nocks off the bark ans sands down the wood really nice. May have some for sale will post pics of the wood later wen it is ready. Sincerely Curtis

 

[Frank_the_Tank]

I boiled my driftwood for about 12 hours total, then sunk it and weighted it for about a week before it would sink.

 

[Steven A]

I thought you boiled driftwood for around 12 - 24 hours

 

[Felf]

it's really up to you. some people just weather it outside for months or years.

 

[fambrough]

And some people don't boil it at all! Me.

Some of mine is starting to sink after one month, but none of it is on the bottom yet. Looks quite interesting and natural. And I like the tannins in the water. I think it's help keep the pH lower (good for my tetras), as well as making some of the color on the fish stand out better believe it or not.

Cheers,
Ben