Bog wood help please

[steeledarren]

just bought my self a nice piece of bog wood, ii have never used it before, what is the best way to use it and prepare it, do i need to varnish it?, do i need carbon?

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

How big is it? I bought 3 pieces that were about a foot big and all i did was boil some water, place them in a 5 gallon bucket and pour the water in. I left it sit for an hour and towards the end i scrubbed them with a brush to knock off all the junk. After that i followed this guideline....boil the peices for 20 min, change the water and boil for 15 min, and finally change the water and boil for 10 min. I didnt use salt or bleach or anything like that and they sunk as soon as i placed them in the tank. I had no signifigant tinge so I just did some extra water changes and never had a problem.

 

[DragonFish71]

Depending on the size i'll either boil or run them through the dishwasher (without soap) both methods work good for cleaning, but expect some tannin leaching.

 

[steeledarren]

it is quite big, i dont have a pan big enough, and i dont have a dishwasher, any ideas, would pouring boiling water over it be any good?

 

[mfdrookie516]

got a pressure washer?

 

[steeledarren]

yeah, got one for washing the car haha,

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Pressure washing will do a great job of getting all the junk out and kinda smoothing the look. There are two other options....fill the bathtub up with hot water and pour boiling water or get one of those rubbermade garbage cans and fill that with hot water.

 

[steeledarren]

that sounds like a good idea, ill pick one of those up today, i heard that it can get fungus stuff on it, not sure the proper name for it, but is this safe?

 

[meegosh]

Typically driftwood/bog wood will grow some white fungus on it after it is first added to the tank. It will go away with time and is completely harmless. Some fish will actually pick at it.

As far as your carbon question... If the wood leaches tannins into the water (makes your water look like tea) then you can run some activated carbon to clear up the water. Even after 8+ hours of boiling my piece of malaysian driftwood, and 3 weeks of soaking - it still leached tannins.

 

[steeledarren]

so did you end up putting carbon in yours? or try something else, i have tried scrubbing it but alot of little bits keep breaking off. was worried that i might end up with none left lol, i have it soaking in a big bucket right now

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I had carbon in it for about 10 days, changing the water every 2 days and it worked out for me. The key is letting it soak with hot water and then changing the water frequently so its not sitting in the excess tannin too long.

 

[steeledarren]

thankyou, i will try that, did you put carbon in your filter or tank, will changing it in the morning before i go to work, thaen when i get in and again when i go to bed be ok

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I just had the inserts that already have carbon. I had done this right before making the switch to a non carbon aquaclear, but with that being said i would just go and buy a regular insert (assuming you have that kind of filter) and let it run for about 2 weeks and then when your doing your regular water changes then just take out the carbon. What kind of filter are you running?

 

[steeledarren]

an aquaone cf 1200 cannister filter

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Ok, so you should be able to put a carbon patch in there and remove it with ease. You should have no problems then. Id love to see a pic when your finished.

 

[steeledarren]

yeah, i will post a pic when done, gonna add some java fern and java moss to it