Driftwood

[Trainer_Ruby_]

I got a real nice piece of driftwood from a lake by my house and want to use it. So far I've boiled it half an hour on both sides and I'm soaking it in a bucket till it sinks. Is there anything else I should do?


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[ImACoolguy]

I got a real nice piece of driftwood from a lake by my house and want to use it. So far I've boiled it half an hour on both sides and I'm soaking it in a bucket till it sinks. Is there anything else I should do?


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If you want to be extra careful you can sun dry it. That will kill any parasites that boiling has not. It also might leach some tannins.

Tannins are harmless to your tank and actually are used to make "blackwater" tanks, but many people don't like the stained look. Carbon helped me to remove some of my tannins.

There is also a possibility it will start to get a white goo all over it. This is just bacteria from the wood it's harmless, some people use a gravel vacuum to clean it off, others like myself gently take it out of the tank and scrub it off with tank water. As stated it's harmless it just looks horrendous.


Caleb

~10g tiger barbs
~45g ick problems/loach and 5 tetras left.
~75g going to be African cichlids

 

[Mattfinn]

Yeah just boil it for a few hours and it should be right to go straight in. You will probably get the fungus no matter what which will go as stated in above post.

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

I added a piece of African wood that I bout at the store and it turned the water a-little brown. That won't be harmful correct? And will the driftwood make it darker? Cause I'm really digging the look of it


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[ianocappuccino]

Drift wood when not steeped in water before being put into the tank readers tannins! It will eventually clear after w/c but is not harmful to the tank whatsoever! I agree with the look, it gives it a real Amazon look


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[Mattfinn]

Funny enough your fish will dig it too...well my rams love it

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

Yeah I've noticed my black kuhlis are more active today


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[ImACoolguy]

Yeah I've noticed my black kuhlis are more active today


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Fish enjoy it. IMO it looks bad though


Caleb

~10g tiger barbs
~45g ick problems/loach and 5 tetras left.
~75g going to be African cichlids

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

Any idea how long it'll take a piece like this to sink?


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[Fresh2o]

Any idea how long it'll take a piece like this to sink?

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That's hard to say. If it was the usual Mopani, manzanita, or Malaysian DW, then maybe a few day (or hours). With stuff from the wild...not sure. I once had a branchy type of DW that floated for about 8-9 months outdoors in a small pond. That was after a few boilings.


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[Mattfinn]

Yeah it completely depends on the wood. I boiled hard wood logs that I used as caves for about 8 hours all up. It was an Aussie native with deep red colouring so the intense boil was necessary. They sunk straight away for me