Driftwood

[Cirean]

I was at the beach today and took home some really nice pieces of dirftwood, my question is it ok to put these in my Fresh Water tank if I soak and boil the heck out them?

[NJ Devils Fan]

If it does not have any soft pieces in it, and you do boil it for a while, it should be fine.

HTH

[latazyo]

I wish I could go to the beach....and for my driftwood I just boiled it and it was fine for me....of course I didnt' find mine on the beach, probably because I have never seen a beach or the ocean...**** ND, we don't have any beaches...alright, I'll admit it, I'm jealous

[Misskiwi67]

I'm in South Dakota, and I get my driftwood at the lake. All you gotta do is find a source, although finding driftwood that hasn't gone rot in the middle can be hard.

What happens if you add driftwood that has soft spots? Common sense tells me to avoid it, but does anyone know why???

[wetmanNY]

One of the sites selling driftwood on the web is asking you not to boil driftwood, as it makes it break down, so that it only last years when it should last decades!...

I'd soak the salt out of saltwater driftwood, but I'd be pretty secure in saying that nothing can make the transition from freshwater (wood), to saltwater, then completely drying out, then back into freshwater.

[carpguy]

After clearing it with the WetFeller, I got my driftwood from the woods. I used dead Mountain Laurel that got hung up in its live neighbors. The wood weathered itself dry in the air without rotting.

One of my favorite online resources (http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/) explains it like this:
"Bogwood hasn't rotted, because the low pH of a bog discourages fungal spores and most bacteria. 'Driftwood' from saltwater beaches has been leached in saltwater and bleached by the sun to its familiar gray. But in truth most kinds of wood that have naturally weathered for a season or so, away from contact with the earth, which would tend to rot them, can also be used in aquaria. Avoid partly-rotted wood, for the fungi at work in it depend on air, and they will die in water and be decomposed themselves, and the results can overwhelm the aquarium. "

When I was living out in Seattle we once found dozens of pieces of driftwood that were all the same: straight conical pieces 5-7 feet long, sawn off smooth at the wide end, with little worn off knobs all over them, like an assortment of gnarly oversized baseball bats. It took us about half the afternoon until we realized they were the remains of Christmas trees tossed into the Sound.