Lake Drfitwood

[kurzo]

I have some lake driftwood that has been in my garden for about 3 years.

I have just purchased a new 25 gal tank and have not put any fish in it yet. Would I be able to clean it up and boil this for 4-8 hours and put it in my tank?

 

[rich311k]

I don't see why not. As long as you give it a good scrubbing and boiling. What kind of wood is it?

 

[kurzo]

good question - it is most likely a softwood - I would guess it to be spruce or poplar

 

[Thaiboxer]

Wow! Do you need to boil it for that long? I would think that a 10 minute boil would kill off anything living on it.

I'm new to this, but am really interested in the answer as well.

 

[JRagg]

The boiling is both to kill off what's in it and to release the tannins from the wood. If you don't boil or soak before putting it in your tank you'll have an aquarium that looks like iced tea in a couple weeks.

 

[newfound77951]

The boiling will also help it sink....if it's been outside in the air that long it'll float like a champ. I just put a piece of lake driftwood in my tank, mine was too big to boil so I just poured boiling water over it many times and also soaked it in very hot tap water for a long time.

If it does leach tannins they won't hurt your fish, it'll just discolor the water, and some fresh activated carbon will help remove the color.

 

[kurzo]

Great - thanks for the help guys