driftwood cleaning

[maxima423]

so my first piece came today, its about 10inches long or so, i boiled it for 1hr, changed the water and boiled it again and again for a total of 3hrs. i was wondering what other method i could do to remove the tannings?

 

[mommytron]

soak it in a bath tub or in a bucket and change the water out frequently. depending on what kind of wood it is, you may not be able to get all the tannins out for years to come. in that case filter carbon helps to remove tannins in the water, and other filter media like filter floss will help.

 

[maxima423]

its this kind of driftwood

Amazon.com: Driftwood - Mangrove - 9 1/4 in. x 6 in. x 3 1/4 in.: Kitchen & Dining

^_^, im going to soak it now and change it every 2-3 hrs



RESIN is what kind of driftwood it is

 

[HN1]

Do not boil it.

I hate to say this... but I think that is fake. Resin is the material.

The good news is that it shouldn't contain any tannins.

 

[MartinBlank]

Yes, Resin is a material (i.e. not wood). If your driftwood is "resin" that it is replica driftwood.

for instance my tacky castle in my 10g and my tacky pirate ship in my 75 are both made of Resin.

On the plus side, if it is made of resin, it certainly won't leach any tanins into your water. I do not know how it will handle boiling though.

 

[maxima423]

oh **** okay ty for the help ^_^ going to add it into my tank now after it drys ^_^ CHEERS

 

[maxima423]

okay, the next driftwood that will arrive next week is malaysian, how do i clean it or do i even have too?

 

[MartinBlank]

I would probably boil it (as it may have some bad stuff on it).

Also, mal driftwood is a very dark wood that will leech a lot of tannins in your water. Some people like the Tea water look, others don't. If you don't just soak it in a bucket and change the water for a week or two...

 

[maxima423]

i sort of like the tea looking water, my gravel already makes the water look green, ill have some pics in a day or two, my camera is finally coming back to me =] but how dark is dark??? because from the pictures, it looks pretty light

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00025YUW2/ref=oss_product

and about the tannings, what happens if i dont clean it >___> i read that it might lower ph, is that true?

maybe thats just from the pictures >___> well ill figure it out tyty

 

[MartinBlank]

I currently have 2 pieces of Malaysian driftwood soaking.and at first they turned the water VERY dark. Of course this is only about 3-4 gallons of water, so in a larger tank it might be tolerable. You could always put them in your tank and then use water changes to lessen the dark color if you want to... but it might take a lot of water changes

And yes tannins will lower your PH regardless if you clean the wood or not. You are never going to get all the tannins out of a piece of wood, I am just hoping to get enough out of mine that it doesn't drastically change my water color in between my weekly PWC's. But even then I am assuming my PH will be lowered a bit.

 

[mommytron]

you can also use filter carbon in your filter to reduce the brown of the tannins. just make sure to replace the carbon every couple of weeks. i found that my malaysian driftwood didn't turn the water nearly as dark as the mopani. the mopani driftwood i had makes the water sooo red. soak the malaysian for a day or two, then you can decide if it's too dark or not. if it's too dark just soak it for a week or two, frequently changing out the water (the more water you soak it in the better. i guess using a bathtub works well.)

 

[maxima423]

oh alright, well mine is a 20g high, it will prob be pretty dark as well, i am planning to boil it for 2hrs twice and soak it for 2-3days, that should be enough and i found a great page on also How to Prepare, Cure, and Place Driftwater in your Freshwater Aquarium

really helpful =] and i need to lower my ph anyways, its reading 7.6 for me, hopefully it will bring it down to neutral

 

[maxima423]

yay, i ordered my DW 3 days ago, got shipped on the 12th and it just arrived like 1hr ago!!! wooooo, going to soak for 2-3 days and boil on the 4th and soak it again on the last day =]

 

[Gail]

I have a driftwood question, I use to have a piece of driftwood in my tank, but I didn't like the color it made my water, so I took it out and put it on the shelf. I'd like to put it back into my tank, but I believe my daughter may have gotten some Pledge on it while dusting the shelf. Should I boil the heck out of it and then add it to my tank, or throw the driftwood away and get a new piece?
gail

 

[maxima423]

well what i would do if that happened was, wash it like heck for a week or two, and let it soak, thats just me though =] and the reason it changed the water in your tank is most likely because of the tannins

also read this http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=16+2250&aid=3319 it helps a lot

 

[Gail]

Doctors, Foster & Smith, that's the Rhinelander connection. Ever bought anything from them?

 

[maxima423]

no i have never bought anything from them, i just found that article searching on methods cleaning driftwood

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I have a driftwood question, I use to have a piece of driftwood in my tank, but I didn't like the color it made my water, so I took it out and put it on the shelf. I'd like to put it back into my tank, but I believe my daughter may have gotten some Pledge on it while dusting the shelf. Should I boil the heck out of it and then add it to my tank, or throw the driftwood away and get a new piece?
gail

I would avoid putting anything in your tank that has come into contact with chemicals, just my opinion though.

 

[DragonFish71]

Doctors, Foster & Smith, that's the Rhinelander connection. Ever bought anything from them?

I order from them quite often, just got my newest order Thursday. All in all I'm very pleased with them.

 

[krap101]

I have a driftwood question, I use to have a piece of driftwood in my tank, but I didn't like the color it made my water, so I took it out and put it on the shelf. I'd like to put it back into my tank, but I believe my daughter may have gotten some Pledge on it while dusting the shelf. Should I boil the heck out of it and then add it to my tank, or throw the driftwood away and get a new piece?
gail

Since driftwood is kind of absorbent (since it sinks eventually), the pledge may have already gotten to the core of the wood (it's kind of why activewear kind of smells and you can't get it out. The lipids soak into the center of the polyester fiber, and bacteria starts to grow, and since polyester is hydrophobic, it's hard to get inside) I'd toss it.