"make" my own driftwood?

[MDDad]

We recently had a tree cut down. Digging around afterwards, I found a couple roots that would make really cool looking driftwood. The tree was a sugar maple if that matters.

Can I 'make' that tree root into acceptable driftwood for a 29 gallon freshwater tank? No fish yet, I just started cycling it.

How would I ensure that it will sink properly, not fall apart, etc?

 

[Delapool]

The only piece of advice I have been told is to use dry'ish wood. Not sure why.

 

[NickNaylor]

I've done a little reading on this but will admit that I haven't tried it myself. Take what I say with a grain of salt.

Most sources that I've read generally recommend not creating your own driftwood. It's a somewhat long process to make sure the wood works properly. From what I've read:

- You will need to soak the wood for a very long time (people suggest boiling over several days) to ensure that it becomes waterlogged and will actually sink once you add it to the tank.

- You need to be aware of the fact that DIY driftwood may come with contaminants. There are various ways to address this; most people seem to recommend soaking in a dilute bleach solution to kill everything that might be in the wood before adding it to the aquarium. Obviously this can be problematic in and of itself if you don't thoroughly rinse the wood since bleach may be leached into the aquarium once you add it, which is no good for critters.

- You may have a wood which is not particularly durable underwater, predisposing it to rotting relatively quickly and requiring removal. That would obviously suck to spend all of this time preparing a piece of wood only to have to remove it in a few months time.

Just some things to keep in mind. In spite of these potential problems, people seem to do it. Just Google DIY driftwood and you can find more information. However, it doesn't seem to be as simple as "find a piece of wood that looks pretty and add to tank."

Best of luck.

 

[Delapool]

I seem to run only 50:50 on collected pieces of wood staying in the tank. Store pieces are fine but dry wood I find often gets fungus. Maybe curing your own would solve that.