Driftwood and local rocks

[Greg Maugeri]

hi i have had some driftwood soaking for 6 days so far and one piece has yet to sink what should i do about it? and i have recently collected some local rocks from my park and i was wondering what i should do before putting them into my tank? i have scrubed them with a tooth brush and i plan on soaking them in hot water any other suggestions?

[Molino]

Not too sure about the driftwood, but if the rocks were from a city park, there's a good chance they've been sprayed with pesticides/fertilizers. That could be risky for your fish.

I got some rocks for my aquarium from a lake. Only certain types of rocks will be ok. Some rocks release metals and/or may raise the PH. Granite and slate, amoung others should be ok.

[echurray]

Greg, You should be OK on the rocks after cleaning them well.

Before you go too far cleaning the rocks, Take some white vinegar and put some on the rocks. If it starts to bubble then the rocks will dissolve in your tank water and change the water chemistry. Not Good:)

If the do not react to the vinegar then soak them and then dump the water and resoak; do this multiple times. This should rid them of any fertilizer residue.

Good Luck

Ed

Edit: Should have added, it may take months for the wood to sink!! Try boiling it, if you have a pot big enough! Or you may have to weight it down withs a large rock when you put it in your tank. Just be careful that the rock doesn't fall off your wood and break your tank!!:eek: :eek:

[NJ Devils Fan]

Put the wood in the tank and put a heave rock of some sort on it and leave it for a few days.

[Orbitorly]

The rocks you got from the park will hurt and kill the fish if you expose them to it. Rinse the rock out side and then boil it for 45 mins to get rid of any nasties it might have on it :)

Good Luck!

[NJ Devils Fan]

Yea, boiling the rocks would be good, can't go wrong with boiling most things, 'cept fish. ;)

[Greg Maugeri]

thanks but i didnt get the rocks from the city but i will boil them and do the vinager thing.....as for the driftwood will boiling it speed up the proccess?

[NJ Devils Fan]

Boiling will leach out the tannins faster. When you put the wood in water, it will turn the water a tea color. To prevent this from happening to your tank, you leave te wood soaking in a large bin or bath tub for a long time until the water stops turning tea color. To speed this up, you boil it. For my wood, I put it in an old garbage pail. I got the biggest pot we had, filled it with water and boiled it. Then, I dumped it in the pail. Kept doing it until the wood was covered up. You might have to put something on the wood to keep it down in the pail. Leave it for a few hours, like do it at night, then again in the morning, so it has time to soak. Then, do it again, and if still the tea color, do it again. Then, you can put it in your tank with something heavy by the base to keep it from floating up. If you have a pot the is big enough to fit the wood, then you can just boil it right in there.

[carpguy]

Boiling the wood will cause the air inside the wood to expand. This will force a good bit of it out of the wood. When it cools the shrinking air will suck water into the wood, speeding up the waterlogging process.

In my first tank I used silicone to attach wood to ceramic tiles and used the natural weight of the substrate to hold everything down, worked great except that the biggest piece has detached. Still sunk, but a little out of position (Its a kind of elaborate driftwood setup, hopefully will have pics tonight).

On the newly setup tank I used epoxy to do the same thing. Seems very firm, but it hasn't stood the test of time yet.

I collected an ungodly number of rocks from a nearby park (woods, not groomed area) and they're fine. Scrubbed in hot water. No soap!! Soap residue can be a killer. Some have suggested bleach and a good rinse, but that seemed excessive to me. The vinegar test is to check for limestone or something else that might alter your pH/KH. Leaving some rocks in some water for a few days and then testing for changes is another way to check its possible effects.

Collecting from one area can help give the aquascaping a nice unity if you want a naturalistic look.

[Gumby7]

FWIW here are some things I've done with collected materials:

Rocks - Scrub with stiff scrub brush. Soak in 1:20 bleach solution to kill any parasites. Rinse well. (I only select granite and other relatively inert rocks).

Gravel - Wash. Bake in oven. (In hindsight bleach would be easier).

Wood - Wire brushed to remove loose bits. Cursory wash. Plunked in tank and watched fish turn belly up.

Be very careful with wood. I'd suggest testing it with one (1) fish before subjecting the whole tank to it.

Gumby

[Faramir]

Rocks from a terrestrial environment I just give a good scrub to. I can't imagine what could be on them that would act as a pathogen in an aquatic environment.

Rocks from a stream I would sterilise in some way. You can get very good sterilisers, chlorine or sodium metabisulphite based, from home brewing and winemaking shops. The latter is toxic to higher life forms only in larger amounts; you even add the stuff to wine to sterilise it in the form of tablets. I would suggest that sodium metabisulphite and citric acid (warning - don't breathe in the fumes unless you need a really good cough) would make a good steriliser for rocks and gravel. Easily rinses off.

Wood I buy from the LFS. I've never had problems with LFS bogwood floating, or indeed any other problems with it. I quite like the colour and believe that the tannic acid is good for the plants and the sort of fish I keep in tanks containing bogwood.