? about driftwood....

[brackishwannbe]

.... this may be a repeat thread.

I been reading up on the subject of driftwood, because I'll be adding several pieces to my 75G brackish tank. Is boiling driftwood safe or does it causes the driftwood to decompse over time after putting the peice into the tank? What is better, mesquite or regular? (I'm not talking potato chips, lol) I know to soak and make sure the driftwood is clean before adding to my tank. I've read conflicting reports and would like to know what other members are using. Thanks.

 

[Orbitorly]

Hello, I recently got a big piece of driftwood for my 55 ( which lookds great). I soaked it in the tub for over a day, changed out the water out 6 times, It was hot water so no hot water won't decompose the driftwood. I also scrubed it with a brush. It's been in for about a week now and the water is a tea color but it's getting clearer

 

[wetmanNY]

One of the guys who sell driftwood on the web hopes you won't boil it, because then it'll only last for years when by rights it ought to last for decades...

My kind of driftwood thinking...

 

[tetra_girl]

Everything I've read says to boil the wood for several hours, and I was also told by the staff at Big Al's to boil my Mopane (? I think ) wood for several hours.

I know it took a good 5 hours of boiling to leach out the tannins and get the water to run clear. Didn't seem to seem to do anything else to the wood. I've only had it in the tank for 4 months but I haven't read anything on boiling accelerating decomposition.

I have read that different woods have different effects on pH though (the tannins in fresh water driftwood and bog wood will lower pH, so it is supposedly best to thoroughly boil especially bog wood to get rid of as much tannin as possible to minimize any effects on pH + not turn your aquarium water into tea ). Seems like fresh water driftwood is the easiest to handle as it has less tannins, but I have no idea about how well different woods age over time in the aquarium.

HTH

 

[TJcanada]

Everything I've read says to boil the wood for several hours, and I was also told by the staff at Big Al's to boil my Mopane (? I think ) wood for several hours.

... um I'm with wetman and the online driftwood supplier, no need to boil. Pre-soaking will only release a certian amount of "tannin" - it sometimes takes ages for certian woods to stop bleeding out. I just give what I have a quick rinse to get dust(or whatever) off and in the tank it goes - but then i like the "blackwater" look and the fish I keep prefer it as well. I just watch my pH levels...

TJ

 

[tetra_girl]

Sorry, sorry, I'm so slow at posting. When I started the post, no one had replied yet, lol.

I guess if you don't mind the tea/blackwater look, just keep an eye on the pH and don't boil.

Besides, if you actually do have a brackish water tank, the tea/blackwater look could suit your set up quite nicely and be nicer for your fish as you pointed out TJ.

I bet you boiling affects different woods differently though. Oh well, heat probably does do something to the wood regardless. I guess all that really matters is that the wood is clean.

 

[brackishwannbe]

Tanks for the replies.

The wood I have in my FW tank raised the PH .4 which gives me 8.2. The fish don't seem to mind the high PH. I would like to have the darker water look in my BW tank. I have severe hard water so the PH. should be right.

 

[latazyo]

I didn't do **** to my driftwood when I bought it, I just anchored it in there (after doing this, it woudl be MUCH easier to work with if I had presoaked it, so that it woudlnt' be so buoyant)

anyways....yes, it iwll turn teh water tea colored, but that is not harmful to the fish, it is just unsightly...but if you (like me) are going for a more natural look, the colored water looks not so bad

however, through water changes the color goes away, and it's not like it's frewquent water changes, just every now and then

and yes, you will get white **** growing on the wood, but you can either toothbrush it off, or just let the fish eat it, it's not bad for them, at least mine are doing fine and they eat it frequently

edit: I forgot you were going brackish, in which case, my brackish silver molly keeps the white stuff clean pretty well

 

[Orbitorly]

I hear driftwood is a natrual PH increaser ?

 

[OrionGirl]

Opposite--driftwood will lower your pH. Not a huge amount, usually--brings mine from 7.2 to about 6.8.