Trouble sinking driftwood

[Mbrock]

I have 3 cypress knees that I got at a yard sale. They are all natural and have not had anything applied to them. The family I got them from said they were at least a 100 years old. They are 30”, 24”, and 20” high with a good wide base. I have been soaking them in a 55 gallon drum for 3 months and they still float easily. I knew that aged cypress is more difficult to sink but it’s illegal to cut cypress knees(since the 60’s) in most states so cypress knees are hard to come by that are not old. Any ideas to help get them sunk? The 2 bigger ones are bigger than I can boil.

[Autumnsky]

Welcome!

My experience is very similar.

I had very old Cypress knees in my tank and used a bag with heavy stones in it and it still didn't get water logged. Mine soaked in a kid pool for a couple months before.

So... my ideas were,
Use of course the Aquarium safe kind, silicone to affix it to a paver stone or slate. It actually sat on some paver stones to get the height I wanted and so the fish could swim under it and hide.

And you can also drill a hole in slate and use large stainless steel screws and probably silicone and drill / put the screw in the wood with the silicone too and it might take some time to cure.

With mine it seemed the wood structure inside might not hold a screw drilled in since it seemed hollowish or probably just really old, and might pull out easily.

My other idea was zip tie a bag of sand in a couple spots. I used a sand bag - bag to put the rock in and zip tied it shut. Inside were a couple heavy kinda flat river stones seen in the early post pics.

It seemed to me these would help and in a matter of time the CK wood, would soak up the water enough. But mine did not and wanted to bob and flip over sideways. Even after a year.

You can see the CK wood in post #4
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...0g-370444.html

[Mbrock]

Thank you I may try that. I finally got the smallest about 18” high and about 8 inches at the base. The top would sink and bases would float. I had to boil the base up about 6” for about 48 hours spilt in four days. It seems to have worked for one. Next week I’m going to try the biggest and see how it goes

[Autumnsky]

Sounds promising. I moved and shut down that tank so mine is a yard decoration at this point.

Post pics if you can!

[Mbrock]

They are great yard decorations. The last for pretty much ever and after the have sat in water they are even better. I want to get to big pieces for the guest bathroom. They would fit in well. My son is a photographer and has quite a few really nice alligators.

[Autumnsky]

Originally Posted by Mbrock

They are great yard decorations. The last for pretty much ever and after the have sat in water they are even better. I want to get to big pieces for the guest bathroom. They would fit in well. My son is a photographer and has quite a few really nice alligators.

So cool to hear of alligators??? Live, or taxidermy - Post some pics!!!

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f136/
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