Drift wood!

[Joostrom]

Hi there! So I have found a piece of drift wood that I really like, but it's to big to fit in a pot. So what I have done was place it in a tub and filled the tub with hot water. My question is does it need to be boiling water or is hot water fine? Also how long am I soaking it for? What can I use to make it sink?

 

[Convict2161]

You can use hot water, just keep replacing the water when it turns that tea color. Those are the tannins leaching out. Just keep repeating until water it's soaking in is clear.

You can weigh it down with rocks or anything that's heavy, lay it on the wood so it's fully submerged.

It could take a while, of your worried about sinking it in the tank, I've heard of people using stainless steel screws and a piece of slate. You just bury the slate with substrate and you'll never know its there.

Good luck.

 

[Joostrom]

Thank you! Is there a way I can stop the would from flaking away in the tank over time?

 

[Convict2161]

Thank you! Is there a way I can stop the would from flaking away in the tank over time?

Hmmm... I've always scrubbed it real good before putting it into the tank. Try and get poise pieces off and then scrub again. I haven't had any pieces flake off in over a year now and I have about 6 pieces.

 

[BBradbury]

Preparing Driftwood for Tank Use

Hi there! So I have found a piece of drift wood that I really like, but it's to big to fit in a pot. So what I have done was place it in a tub and filled the tub with hot water. My question is does it need to be boiling water or is hot water fine? Also how long am I soaking it for? What can I use to make it sink?

Hello J...

Save the water and the energy to bring the water to a boil. All you need to do is rinse the piece well with a pressure nozzle attached to your garden hose and leave the piece out in the sun for a day or two. This time of year, the sun is bright enough that the rays will kill any bacteria that might be on the piece, though doubtful there's any. I also use a little standard aquarium salt dissolved in some of my tank replacement water and pour that over the piece. It will be tank ready after you do all this.

B

 

[Convict2161]

I'd still suggest soaking it to get the tannins out. Although not harmful it will turn your tank water a tea color.

I've had to soak all my DW.

 

[Joostrom]

Wow great info guys thank you do much! Would I use like a sponge to scrub it down

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Have you ID the type of DW it is? They almost all leach tannins, some more than others (i.e. Mopani vs. Malaysian). Anyway, i just boiled one that was too large to all fit in the pot so i boiled a section at a time and after an hour, i flipped the DW in the pot for another hour. I was surprised how much tannins kept leaching after the first boil, i did a second one to get more out. Plus its good to sanitize it by boiling, otherwise you can end up with nasty fungus growing on it once submerged in your tank. If you get tannins in your tank, you can clear it up by some PWC's and by adding some activated carbon to your filter.

 

[Joostrom]

I'm not sure what kind of DW it is I found it in the forest behind my house.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Perhaps someone can ID it. I've read that you need to be cautious when adding random wood to aquaria. Some can potentially be bad and leach more than just tannins.

 

[BBradbury]

Local Driftwood Pieces

I'm not sure what kind of DW it is I found it in the forest behind my house.

Hello again J...

Nut trees are the only ones that may leach tannic acid into the tank water and turn it an amber color. Some of them are Walnut, Oak and Chestnut. If you don't have those in your area, where you found the driftwood piece, you're probably safe to just rinse it well and put it in the tank.

The tannins are harmless and a few large water changes will remove them.

Just a thought.

 

[Annakhil]

This is all very good info since I just ordered a large piece for my 30g