Driftwood wont sink....

[Impulse09]

I bought a small piece of driftwood for my 10 gallon and it doesn't want to sink. I boiled it for an hour and now I have it in a five gallon bucket with a brick on top of it so it does not float.

 

[LyndaB]

I've had this happen. I just put the wood in my tank with a large rock to hold it in place. Eventually it becomes waterlogged. Some wood just takes longer than others.

 

[Jnthn932]

I've had pieces that refused to sink also. I've left quite a few in a bucket, sunk with a brick for days they still won't sink! It just depends on the wood. If you become impatient you can always buy large screws that will not rust and drill them into the bottom of the piece so they'll sink into your tank. I've known people that have attached river rocks to the driftwood with aquarium safe silicon and sank it that way. Just some ideas!

 

[jcolon]

I bought a small piece of driftwood for my 10 gallon and it doesn't want to sink. I boiled it for an hour and now I have it in a five gallon bucket with a brick on top of it so it does not float.

As LyndaB said, weigh it down with a rock for now. Not sure what brand of DW you bought, but Mopani and Malaysian DW do sink.

 

[Impulse09]

It is kind of a weird shape to weigh it down with rocks I might have to screw it to a rock that is heavy enough to weigh it down.

 

[LyndaB]

You might be surprised. I had a very awkward piece of mopani that wouldn't stay sunk and all it took was a rock laid over part of one end of it to submerge it. Now, it stays down by itself.

 

[Ozydego]

I have one peice of wood that has a huge piece of slate attached with screws... I aquired it that way, still necessary, I personally would attach the slate with silicone if I had done it

 

[Mumma.of.two]

To get a piece of wood to sink you need to expel the air and replace it with water. I learnt how to do this first time I had wood to sink. First, boil the wood for an hour. Prepare a bucket of cold water. The colder the better. Very carefully get the hot wood and plunge it into the cold water. Weigh it down. Leave it there until it cools down. Then repeat the process of boiling and cooling, until it sinks. From my understanding the wood and air expands when heated so the air escapes. When the wood is dunked into cold water it contracts and sucks in the water. Each time you do this air is expelled from deeper and deeper in the wood and replaced with water.

 

[Ozydego]

That's a very good concept and I think you are spot on with the expanding and contracting, I'll have to try it next time I have wood that won't sink

 

[mfdrookie516]

I have a piece that took 4 months to stay down on it's own... and in the short time it was out of the tank when I moved (less than 2 hours), it no longer sank.

 

[Impulse09]

This stinks, I guess I will have to figure something out

 

[Mrscbennett]

We use galvanized screws to attach a piece of slate to the bottom of the driftwood. It holds it down and the botias love to lay on the slate.