Help Me!! I have a problem with driftwood

[billyboy4891]

I recently purchased a large piece of driftwood for my 59 gal corner tank.
I bought it at a pet store but can`t get it to sink.I`ve had it in water in my bath tub for a day and a half and it doesn`t seem to get any better.
My wife wants her tub back.I have a large piece of slate on the bottom but still not working.How long does it take? am i just impatient? Anyone have any tricks?

 

[i3k]

How big is the piece and what kind of driftwood? Get one of those 12gal. plastic trash cans and use it to soak your driftwood for a few weeks. You'll want the tannins out of that wood and this will take a while. You'll have to change the water in the bucket/trash can every day pretty much.

 

[herp_mommy]

Some driftwood can take up to 6 months. Only thing you can do is wait, or add more slate

 

[Jill]

Does boiling help speed it up at all? We've been boiling our driftwood off and on for days for LONG periods of time. It still makes water brown pretty quickly. Slate speeds it up? Did not know that.

 

[herp_mommy]

Slate just helps it sink. Boiling the wood will also help. Just like tea, the hotter the water, the more tannins will leech out.

 

[Jill]

Ahhh....okay....gotcha. Thanks.

Just read up on our driftwood....it's Mopani which apparently takes FOREVER to finish leeching. Ugh....I'm boiling it again now.

 

[happygirl65]

I used to weigh mine down in the tank for several weeks before they would stay dwn on their own. I wedged it between two large rocks, one holding it down on weither end.

 

[i3k]

Ahhh....okay....gotcha. Thanks.

Just read up on our driftwood....it's Mopani which apparently takes FOREVER to finish leeching. Ugh....I'm boiling it again now.

Yes it does. I have a medium sized Mopani piece that I've had for 4+ months now. Still leaching. But the water is definitely less yellow with every water change. It probably will take 6-8 months for it to stop leaching.

 

[McLumpy]

I purchased a piece of Mopani driftwood from Petco and had no problem getting it to sink after soaking it for a about 10 days. It doesn't leach many tannins either as my water is really clear. So, either I got really lucky or I did something right.

I never boiled it because, well, I didn't have a pot big enough. lol Nor did I use slate. Instead, I placed the driftwood in an average-sized plastic bucket, (the wood just barely fit), and filled it w/ extemely hot water from the tap. I did this twice a day, (once in the morning and again at night), for a total of 10 days. On the 11th day, I scrubbed the exterior w/ a new toothbrush, soaked it again, then placed it in the tank. By the 12th day, my Pleco didn't want to leave his new home!

Billyboy: I'm sure that if you give it time, it will waterlog and you will have a nice addition for your tank. Unfortunately, with your driftwood being too large for a bucket, your only option is the tub.

 

[ejaramillo01]

Just let me add something here, some times the leach color even looks nice in the tank, I added mine 2 months ago, still leaches a little, less every PWC, but I truly believe that the tank with the light was looking cool with the tannis color,