Drift wood

[Big C]

I found a nice piece of drift wood in a lake last week when I was camping in Northern Ontario.

It is too long to boil it... how can I treat it to make sure it is safe to put in my tank?

Thank you!

 

[Reefmonkey]

If you can't boil it, you could soak it in several changes of water, and also treat it with some kind of broad spectrum biocide (before you soak it).

 

[WaterPond]

get a rubbermaid container that is the appropriaste size for the peice of wood, anchor it down some how so it doesnt float(drilling to a peice of slate works well) then pur boiling water over top of it. Keep doing that for a while, I also like to take a clean scrub brush to it to get all the dirt of out the cracks.

 

[rich311k]

Put it in a large tub and poor boiling water over it. I would soak it for a week at least after the boiling water treatment.

 

[Big C]

I'll try this method. Thank you.

How do I know when is safe to put in the tank? I'd hate to have fish casualties caused by my tank aesthetic preferences!

 

[Menagerie]

How do I know when is safe to put in the tank?

Rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse and rinse again! My husband has cleaned many pieces of drift wood in the bathtub using a very dilute bleach solution and a scrub brush. It looked like a lot of work If you're not comfortable with bleach, I still recommend the scrub brush to break off any particles and it will allow the boiling water to better penetrate the wood.

 

[Sicklid]

Bleach is fine, bleach breaks down after time from sunlight and just plain air or water contact, so a few rinses and it will be fine... Then as a follow up, you can get a cheap water de-chlorinator and soak it in that afterward if you are really scared (bleach scares people!) I usually slam it hard with a good salt water soak; since it came from a fresh water lake (right?) the organisms that live on it now will mostly implode from the heavy salt dose, just make sure whatever method, you rinse it well. Also wire brush the loose garbage off of it first.

 

[newfound77951]

All good ideas; I would add that if/when you let it soak for a week or two, test the pH and other parameters (GH and KH as well as nitrate and ammonia). If it's not affecting these in the bucket, then it shouldn't affect them in your tank!

 

[Big C]

Awesome! I'll get going right now. Thanks a lot!