Connecting Driftwood - DIY & concerns

freshgoby

freshgoby

AC Members
Jan 14, 2007
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I want to permanently connect two pieces of my driftwood. I am going to drill a hole through where they connect, run a dowel rod through the hole, and seal off the hole with epoxy putty. I only have a couple concerns/questions.

It is very possible the dowel rod will be open to the aquarium water. If I buy a dowel rod from HomeDepot, should I worry about chemicals that may have been used to treat the wood seeping out into the tank water? If so, what kind of dowel rod should I get?

I have been told Oatey Epoxy Putty works well in Reef aquariums (it dries grey and I want something not white - so it blends/hides with the wood better). I guess it would be fine for freshwater too. Is that a safe assumption?
 
Either stainless steel rod or long stainless steel screws I wouldn't use dowling
over the course of time it will rot-Anne
 
There won't be any problems with putting metal in the tank?
 
Not with stainless. If it's just steel or aluminum it will rust/corrode and mess some things up. Stainless will be ok though.
 
A couple more thoughts before I do this.
I'm thinking... if I use a screw, will the threads be too sharp and hurt my fish if they get too close (am I being paranoid?). Maybe I'll just put putty on the screw?
Also, If I can get one small enough I'll use a rod (2-3 inches, can I get it that small?). Or bolt the pieces of wood together (only problem with this is I'd end up using a nut right? And that's more for the putty to hide...). Thoughts?
 
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I think the rod comes in 12" sections (at most hardware stores) so a screw might be your best bet. unless the point is sticking out it should do no harm, but if you might as well putty over it to make it less conspicuous.
 
What about using silicon or aquarium putty? That way you wouldn't even need to drill, much less worry about a rod rotting/rusting...
 
Jaysn: The way the wood is I don't think aquarium putty would be strong enough (see pics). I'd rather use screws because they'd hold better. But it doesn't matter much at this point because the only 3" stainless steel screws I can find need a square drill bit (which I don't have) or are covered in paint, and the HomeDeopt and Lowe's out here don't carry the epoxy I need. It's official, Ohio sucks.

Pics: The larger view is to show you how the wood sits - the piece on the left is blocked by the watersprite (which Itried to push aside with a net) but I think you can get the idea. And the closeup view is to give you an idea of how the two pieces interlock - they do touch in two places; near the top, and right where that piece of watersprite comes up on the bottom of the pic.

woodproject1.jpg woodproject2.jpg
 
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Unless I can find the proper screws, it looks like I'm left propping the wood up the way it is.
 
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