DIY driftwood, how????

Kuhlifan

Kuhlifan

AC Members
Mar 28, 2007
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Ohio
I'm setting up a 20 gallon extra high, which is 20x10x24, and I want a nice tall kind of stumpy piece of driftwood with holes in it for a centerpiece. Finding that, however, is not easy. I found an amazing one on Ebay, but, of course, three days with no bids went to a million bids in the last few minutes, so it's now too expensive for my blood.

So I was thinking about looking around the local creeks and lakes for my own piece, but I want to know how to prepare it. Obviously, if people sell you driftwood, it probably came from a stream or lake somewhere. I know you should strip all the bark off, probably boil it for a few hours and then soak it for a week to get the tanins out. Is there anything else I should know?
 
Its better to look for a piece with the bark almost all the way off,look for things like rolly-pollys or critters that eat the wood,this is a good sign that it is not treated with anything or hasn't any fertilizers in it,Many of us use salt when soaking our wood.to draw out impurity's and kill anything that may reside in the wood.I use Hot water from my tap and put the wood in a insulated cooler,the heat opens the pores of the wood making it easier for the water to permeate. When soaking it important to do water changes when the water becomes dis-colored from the tanins,Some leave some of the tanins in the wood. and let it slowly leech into the water column to get it that tinted bio-tope effect.Be sure to scrub loose pieces off with a stiff bristled brush to get any looses debries off that would other wise float in your water column. I have a piece i got just this morning it is soaking right now , i will post a pic.
 
If you do a search there is a list of safe woods for the aquarium. Some woods that are especially soft will grow alot of fungus as it rots in the aquarium.
 
How much salt do you use, and what type? The process would then be to find something that already has the bark off, put it in a cooler that is filled with warm but not boiling water with salt in it, and then remove it some time later and scrub it, with a few water changes in between?

As for type of wood, wood is wood to me. I don't know if I could correctly identify what a piece of driftwood is or not.
 
Hard woods are better. The amount of salt is to be determined by the amount of water that you will soaking in,I use coarse aquarium salt for freshwater.such as API. scrub thoroughly before soaking to avoid dirt,and such,getting into your soaking water.,a light scrub after isnt a bad idea but not totally nessasary Cam if using oak leaves monitor your nitrates Very closely as the leaves will decompose and shoot them sky high.Driftwood can be practically any water logged wood,but what riiz is saying is avoid soft woods such as pine ect. as these will quickly deteriorate,and may develop fungus.
 
A cooler isnt totally nessesary but does retain the heat well,The more heat you have the faster the soaking process.If its a smaller piece you can simply boil it for a few hours with some salt.

Here is that pic mentioned Before:
Picture 003.jpg

Picture 003.jpg
 
My method is 1 tablespoon per gallon.Its only necessary for the first soak,because the wood will absorb it,so no need to add new salt with water changing,don't forget that changing the water is important or your wood will just retain the tannins.
 
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