drift wood

[Zeta054]

How does everyone make their drift wood sink...do u guys attach it to a piece of slate. or let it float. or boil it? and if u boil it how long are u supposed to boil it for. plus i have a big piece so i would have to \switch sides etc.

 

[Rbishop]

We boil it to remove tannins and to kill bad bacteria. Some wood sinks immediately all by its self, like Malaysian and Mopani. Others will do it it with a long soaking.

 

[jwddboy]

For large pieces I often use a full bath with two heaters (not tank heaters, specialist ones that can reach 70deg C, however if you cannot find these then you can use tank heaters set to max. make sure if you do decide to do this that you use water heaters that are submersible - the hotter the better) I generally do two or three full baths of water over 2 or 3 days in this way.

 

[bamosherjr]

I usually just soak my water in a bucket for a three days. Change the water every day. Than I just put the driftwood in the tank. Push it down to the bottom of the tank and just put it in the rocks. Bury it as far as you can into the rocks. Thats it. Your tank will probably be a little orange for a little bit. Just change out your filter in like two weeks.

 

[Weezer]

We boil it to remove tannins and to kill bad bacteria. Some wood sinks immediately all by its self, like Malaysian and Mopani. Others will do it it with a long soaking.

Iv only used Malaysian, and alot of it, and it always sank after prepping, but you could anchor it with slate or whatever.......

 

[Easydoesit]

i have a rock on mine right now. i cant wait until i can take it off.
one of my pieces in a diff. tank came with a piece of slate attatched, but it still needs a rock or two to go over the side of the slate to prevent it from floating

 

[Notophthalmus]

If soaking isn't working, and you don't want a slate base on your driftwood, there are other options. Perhaps the simplest is to pin the driftwood down with a large rock; this may not always be feasible or attractive. You can also drill a large hole in your wood and fill it with marbles, hardware nuts, etc., then plug it up with silicone. Or just drill a hole large enough to take a big bolt; put a few nuts or washers on the bolt before screwing it in for extra mass. Repeat if needed. You can slather the exposed metal in colored 100% silicone so it's less visible. Just remember, if you use hardware, go with stainless steel so it doesn't rust.

 

[Radar]

For large pieces I use a big canning pot and flip it with every water change and biol it till the tannins tend to bleed out, most of it anyway.Some I have had to only boil for a few hours and I just bought a large piece of Mopani a few weeks ago that I had to put about 25 hours of boiling into.I have only ever had Mopani or Malaysian and it sinks right away.