How to prepare a gigantic piece of wood?

[markot]

So I just bought a really big piece of mangrove wood (over half a meter long) for my next aquarium. Usually I cooked smaller pieces of wood, but this one is too big. I started soaking it in a big bucket. Will fish be OK if I just soak it for a few weeks?

 

[Coyne]

Pre-soaking/boiling is mainly just to leech out the tannins inside the wood. The tannins will discolor your water, but are otherwise harmless. Some have even said that tannins are an anti-fungal. So if thats true, then its actually beneficial.
Soaking/boiling also helps water log the wood so that it sinks rather than floats. If its still floating, you may need to weigh it down with something aquarium safe (a rock typically) for a few weeks until it stays down on its own.

The dark, tea-like water can be unpleasant for some people though, and it can take quite a while until its gone. I pre-soaked some driftwood for my 20 Long and its been in the aquarium for almost a year now. There is still a slight brown tint in the water.
If you're wanting to speed up this process, then Purigen in your filter seems to be the most highly praised way to go... though I dont have any personal experience with this. Ive also heard that carbon helps as well.

 

[markot]

Yes, I'm soaking it to get tannis out because I don't like yellow water. The reason I usually boiled things before using them in a tank was to make sure I killed any bacteria. But I guess that's not really needed then? Well maybe I could pour hot water over it for a peace of mind.

Anyway, I'm getting a new tank in a month, so untill then I can soak the wood. Hopefully most tannis will get out and I hope it will stop floating by then.

 

[markot]

I've been soaking it in a big bucked for 10 days now and it still wants to float. But most tannis is out I think.

 

[Mr. Nowhere]

I would fill that bucket with the hottest water you can, then add some boiling water to that. It will speed up the process to hours if you replace the hot water every hour or so. When the water stops changing your good. Well at least gives off a small amount of tannins. I usually do this to my wood for 3 or 4 hours.

Edit: this also makes the wood sink

 

[Fishperson]

Put it in a pot of boiling water so half of it is in the pot. Then later switch the wood so that the other half is boiling.

 

[DragonFish71]

If you have a fire pit in the back yard, you can always do a campfire kettle boiling over the fire pit.

Or, run it through the dishwasher, WITHOUT soap, on the hottest cycle possible.

Or, fill the clothes washer with hot water an soak it in there.

Or fill your bathtub with the hottest water you can.

Just make sure theres no soap residue in the washers first.

 

[MICEY]

the dish washer always has soap in it
the mangrove drift wood probably has a lot of salt in it so soaking it for a week or so in a bathtub would be good change the water daily
you could soak it in bleach the first day to kill anything living in it but air it out over nigh and soak it a few days to remove any bleach or dead animals

 

[markot]

I'm soaking it in a giant bucket in my backyard. I have poured hot water over it today. And weather is really hot this week, so the water in the bucket is quite warm all day long anyway.
It is much less buoyant than it was on the first day, but still won't sink.
Oh well, it's still about 3-4 weeks before I get new aquarium. Hopefully it will sink by then.

But here's another problem I have with this wood. I have brushed it a few times (every few days when I change water in the bucket actually), but tiny pieces are still coming off. Don't know what to do about that.

 

[markot]

Just a little update...
I've been soaking this wood in a bucket for 9 months now.
I've also cooked it a few times.
And it still wants to float!
What the hell

 

[zgibbs]

If you end up having tannins in your tank, buy some Purigen and place it in the filter. You will see a difference in a couple hours. It's a phenomenonal product.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Aquarium Advice mobile app