copper bad?

[meow]

I bought an amazing piece of driftwood the other day, but it is the kind that floats. It is a huuuuge piece which makes it extra boant. Anyway, I ran across two heavey pieces of copper while cleaning today. I have NO idea where they came from or what they were used for but they do weigh enough to hold the driftwood down. Anyone know if this would be bad for my Balki?

Thanks!

 

[Fruitbat]

Meow....don't use the pieces of copper in your tank. Yes...copper bad!

 

[meow]

Any ideas then?

 

[Fruitbat]

I don't know how big that piece of driftwood is but if it will fit in a bucket then you should try submerging it in the bucket for a couple of weeks. Use a rock or something to weight it down in the bucket. This will accomplish a couple of things...first of all it will waterlog the driftwood so that it stays underwater...secondly it will give you a chance to leach out any tannins or other materials from the wood itself.

If it won't fit into a bucket then your options are definitely limited unless you have some other larger container you can pre-soak it in (you're not using that bathtub for a couple of weeks...are you?? LOL).

 

[madasafish]

Hehe. Copper=reactive

Did you get to redox reactions in chemistry? (As far as I got... No expert in the matter.) Copper can be quite reactive...
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It wouldn't "drift" if it sank... that's what I always tell myself when I get a floating piece of driftwood... The common cure for buoyancy is a piece or a couple of pieces of slate. You'll find that everywhere--and most ppl glue (with aquarium silicon or something equivalent and non-reactive) the wood to the slate. If you need to cut a little off the bottom of the wood to make a flatter surface, you might want to do that...

The slate should be fairly thin, but heavy enough. It should be submerged under your substrate so that it and the glue don't show.

HTH

 

[meow]

I did soak it for a day in my bathtub.. using hot water. It's a huge piece. I'd say 3' x 1.5' x 1.5'

 

[captainGregor]

Meow, you might find Scott's driftwood article beneficial for you in the Articles section of this site.

 

[madasafish]

Wow. That really is large... Is that going to fit in your tank?!

 

[LondonGman]

Anyway, I ran across two heavey pieces of copper while cleaning today. I have NO idea where they came from or what they were used for but they do weigh enough to hold the driftwood down. Anyone know if this would be bad for my Balki?

Thanks!

What type of copper piece do you have? I am not an expert on chemistry but a lot of residential and commercial plumbing are made with copper.

It is very likely that your drinking water goes through copper pipes and it is considered safe.

I supposed that like most “inert” materials you will have to have a lot of it, in certain conditions, before they before harmful to the fishes.

However please if in doubt …

 

[LondonGman]

double post canot delete this one