Ugh, not another Driftwood question... :-P

[AquaJoe]

I must admit, when it comes to driftwood I am a total NEWBIE. I recently collected a few nice pieces from the shore of Cape Breton island, which is in the atlantic ocean. I don't think there is MUCH pollution in the water but I decided to soak my driftwood anyway just for precaution. In the initial soaking I added about 4 TBS to a bath tub filled with hot water and let it soak for about 12 hours. For the second soaking I filled the tub with hot water and added no bleach. After both soakings the water was not noticeably yellow at all. There is a bit of sand and dirt in the water but nothing too serious..

That said, here are my questions:
-How many more times should I soak the wood? (please factor in that I used bleach the initial soaking)
-Why is the water I am soaking it in not tainted after a 12 hour soak?
-Should I sand the wood down for a moe estheticly appealing look?
-What the heck are those little square tiles called that are commonly used to anchor driftwood? Any pointers as to how to attatch them?

Thanks in advance

Joe

 

[greenmaji]

Im not sure how many more times you should soak it.. Take in consideration it is from the ocean though..
You got these from the ocean... Im guessing that might be why they dont taint the water
I dont see why you couldnt sand down a surface but I would think the natural surface would look good..
The stone they use to anchor driftwood is called slate
HTH

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I've been soaking mine for about 3 weeks now. But then again, I didn't bleach it. Are the pieces small enough that you can boil them? If so, I'd boil it for about an hour, twice. just as a precaution and to release some of the tannins (if there are any).

 

[Meredith]

I found a great piece of wood that I boiled and soaked for months and it never sunk. It now has giant holes drilled out underneath because I got the great idea to put some non leaded weights inside to keep it down. It STILL wont sink. My next step is slate

 

[AquaJoe]

Slate, check Thank you very much! So far I have soaked the wood for an additional 24 hours in plain old tap water and am allowing it to dry out before the next soaking. This, of course, is in addition to the soaking I have already done; mentioned in my initial post. Still, no brown color to the water and it looks like there are no hitchhikers so I'm laughing

I plan on soaking/drying these pieces at least three of four more times before I finally sand down any sharp edges and add whichever piece to the aquarium. I have several pieces and haven't decided which to use yet.

I was thinking about making this a regular habit.... Collecting driftwood and treating it I mean. Is there much of a market for it on AA or EBay that anyone is aware of? I may or may not have some pieces available in the not so distant future. If anyone is interested and wants a piece that is very large please feel free to PM me and we can talk about it. I'll find the piece you want, treat it and ship it at a negotiable rate

Thanks so much for your help everyone, I really appreciate it. As usual, you're the best

Joe

 

[AquaJoe]

I could have sworn i started this thread in the "General Discussion" forum. Was it moved? Is there a way to tell if/when a post has been moved to a different forum? I just want to know for my future references

Joe