Ohio River Driftwood

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C

CrohnieBoy

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Jan 21, 2003
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Has anyone used any driftwood from the Ohio River (Northern KY area)?

I want to add a piece of driftwood to my tank, but I haven't found the piece I want yet. I was thinking about searching the Ohio river banks since the water level has receded.

I was just curious if there would be any problems with that.

Thanks
 
C

ChilDawg

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Dec 26, 2002
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You would have to treat the driftwood and quarantine it for around a month before adding it to your tank, and, even then, I would recommend buying a piece or two from your LFS before you use probably-contaminated stuff which you collected in the field.
 
beviking

beviking

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Feb 16, 2002
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If you boiled the stuff to remove the tannins anyway, you would be sterilizing it too. I would suggest boiling it and letting it soak for a week, changing the de-chlorinated water every other day. As long as it's hardwood (not pine or other sappy woods) you should be o.k..
You may want others advice, I'm not a driftwood expert ;) I did do the above with a piece that has been in my tank for a month now with no ill effects...yet.:)
 
W

wetmanNY

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I'm no expert either, but boiling wood always seems extreme and unwieldy to me. Bacteria are our friends!

Why not soak the wood in saltwater for a few days, the put it in a couple of changes of freshwater? No parasites could survive that, particularly if you let the surface dry out in between.

Make sure it's well weathered, with all the sap well leached out of it

psst! take small saw with you: sometimes a great piece is just part of a larger piece. You'll disguise the sawn edge...
 
C

CrohnieBoy

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Jan 21, 2003
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REPLY:ALL

Thank you all for your replies.

ChilDawg: I have been and continue to look at LFSes for driftwood. I just haven't found the perfect piece yet. I don't want one of the manufactured ones, I want to be different. So I keep checking the LFSes and online and am thinking about expanding my search to the river banks. But thanks for the tips. :)
 
C

ChilDawg

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Dec 26, 2002
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Okay, then. And I will admit that I am wrong in saying that you could not put stuff from nature into your tank, but I would recommend intense sterilization as said above.

Best of luck in finding a good piece!

Matthew
 
W

wetmanNY

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Hey, it's all stuff from nature, Matthew!

Seriously, after the spring spates have abated, that's the moment in the year for all of us to hunt for driftwood. You do have to be cautious not to use wood from polluted waters. Streams are probably safer than rivers, generally speaking. But rivers have better snags.
 
beviking

beviking

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wetman, you must put some mileage on your vehicle looking for a non-polluted water source!:p :)
 
A

Alex

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Feb 10, 2003
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Just my opinion.. With the amount of river traffic on the Ohio River I would not use driftwood from there for an aquarium. Way to many pollutants in the Ohio River, especially the hydrocarbon based ones.

Alex
 
beviking

beviking

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Wouldn't boiling polluted driftwood remove some pollutants? At least more so than salt would, right?:rolleyes:
 
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