Cleaning driftwood (large pieces)

[Garbro]

So how do you guys clean your large pieces of found driftwood? Too big for a trash can and my oven... Going to soak as much as I can and tie it down in my tank after it's clean. As for cleaning it though.

 

[FallenAngel]

What are the dimensions on it?


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[Garbro]

I wish I could measure but I'm not at home tonight. I'd say in the realm of 42"x14" and then my second piece is probably 18" x 14"

 

[FallenAngel]

I've never had to clean pieces rhat


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[FallenAngel]

I've never had to clean pieces rhat


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Sorry, I pressed reply before I was done. Would you be able to soak it in the bathtub by chance?


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[BBradbury]

Prepping Large Driftwood Pieces

So how do you guys clean your large pieces of found driftwood? Too big for a trash can and my oven... Going to soak as much as I can and tie it down in my tank after it's clean. As for cleaning it though.

Hello Garb...

The larger pieces I used, I rinsed well with a pressure nozzle attached to the garden hose. The water pressure cleaned off all the little pieces of wood and whatever else was on it. I just left the piece out in the sun for a few hours and put it into the tank. I weighed it down with some rocks I found with the driftwood.

I've never boiled or cooked a piece. The chances of there being some sort of bacteria or parasite on the piece after it's been rinsed and out in the sun is slim to none. Seems like a lot of unnecessary work to me, but you're the boss.

B

 

[Garbro]

Alright cool. It was sitting out in the sun when I found it. A beach was cleared at a lake that I go to and it was in a stack for firewood. It's soaking right now so if there's not any tannins I'll weight it down and put it in today. Carbon removes tannis right?


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[gilpi]

A power washer works wonders

 

[BBradbury]

Tannins in Driftwood

Alright cool. It was sitting out in the sun when I found it. A beach was cleared at a lake that I go to and it was in a stack for firewood. It's soaking right now so if there's not any tannins I'll weight it down and put it in today. Carbon removes tannis right?


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Hello again Garb...

Never noticed tannic acid leached from local pieces of driftwood. That's not the case with the stuff you get at the pet store. Carbon (chemical medium) will remove the amber color somewhat. But, the standard water change does a much better job, for me. The tannic acid is harmless. Might lower the pH of the water a bit, but nothing to worry about. Just change out the tank water.

B

 

[PA Pat]

I live near a river and found a cool knot. I used a wire brush and a scrub brush. It really brought out the grain and created a nice dark/light contrast on the piece. I left it in the sun and rinsed it a few times.

 

[SFAquariums1]

Hello again Garb...



Never noticed tannic acid leached from local pieces of driftwood. That's not the case with the stuff you get at the pet store. Carbon (chemical medium) will remove the amber color somewhat. But, the standard water change does a much better job, for me. The tannic acid is harmless. Might lower the pH of the water a bit, but nothing to worry about. Just change out the tank water.



B

Tanins are a defensive mechanism in trees/ wood that counteract bacteria and fungal infections. To say that tannic acid is not leaked from local driftwood is incorrect. The longer a piece soaks in water, the more tanins are released. This means that you are probably less likely to have a large amount of tanins leak into your tank with a piece of driftwood that you find waterlogged, than a piece lying on the beach, dried up.

IMO and what I do with driftwood (you've got some pretty large pieces would love to see a pic!)

Power wash the piece of wood to get the excess debris off. Fill up your bathtub with as hot of water as you can get, weight it down and let it soak until the water is cold, at that point I decide whether to heat the water up again, or put it right in the tank based on the color of the bath water.


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[Garbro]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I decided to power wash it real well and throw it in. I knew the piece had been sitting in the sun for 2-3 or more months so I'm not worried about water borne creepy crawlies. Had to cut it down but here it is before I put it in and then after. Excuse the giant rock leaning on it to weigh it down, that's there until it's waterlogged enough to stay under on its own.


The piece on the left goes in next (if there's room) but it will need to be disinfected and cleaned extra well because it was partially submerged and partially burnt as well.





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[SFAquariums1]

Tht looks awesome! Just so you know sometimes even if you let wood soak it will not stay sunk. I have a piece in 1 of my tanks that's smaller than that and it's been in the tank over 1 year, and it still won't stay logged down without weight. I've now drilled through a piece of slate and secured that to the driftwood so you can't tell.


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[Garbro]

Thanks!my favorite part about it is the part about it being free hah! I have the slate in mind if it doesn't stay submerged. Is that pretty easy to do?


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[SFAquariums1]

I'm a pretty handy person, so yeah. I do this quite often so I bought a rock drill bit and a hammer drill (makes things go quicker). If it's a larger piece of wood I may do 2 anchor points. You just drill through the center of the slate (or any relatively flat rock that's heavy enough to hold wood down) I then put a bolt and washer through the rock and screw it into the base of the driftwood.

There are many other ways to do it, that's just how I do it. Make sure your using a type of bolt that won't rust


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