Need help with driftwood I found by river! Help!

Hi,

So I decided I was gonna look for some driftwood at a local river. So I went there and under a train bridge there was a big log jam of driftwood (woohoo!). So I found some nice pieces (which I'm pretty sure are douglas fir) and I'm wondering what I should do to make them safe for my aquarium. I already scrubbed them well and they are now soaking in warm salty water in the sink. Heres what I'm planning on doing next:

- Boil them

-Put them in the oven at 350F

-Scrub and soak them again

-Sand off all the rough edges and get rid of any debris stuck in the cracks.

Does that sound good? My other question is is douglas fir safe for aquariums?

Thanks

CL

Douglas fir are not pines.

Here are some pics:







BTW...I think all the sap would be gone since they have probably been in the river for a long time since most were smooth.

CL

dwag88 said:

i dunno that stuff still looks pretty dark to me. there is going to be a LOT of tannin leaching going on there. probably gonna be a while before you can put that in your tank

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Yep....I'm boiling like crazy to get the tannins out lol The way I look at it is its a experiement and overall its cheaper then buying it from the pet store.

CL

legendaryfrog said:

wow, thats some nice driftwood you got. Your method of cleaning it sounds good

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Thanks.....I might go back for more since there was so much....and when I went I didn't have much time to look.

I'm also planning maybe to go to a different river soon to look for hard wood.

CL