Driftwood anchoring

Dangerdoll

Dangerdoll

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Aug 27, 2002
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I bought a piece of driftwood from my lfs last week and am having the worst time keping it down. I let it soak for 4 days and tried putting it in the tank. It just won't stay down no matter what. It is attached to a square of slate yet the substrate isn't holding it down....still torpedoing towards the top.Are there any anchoring techniques to use? Should I remove it from the tank for more soaking? And if that's the case, is there anything I can do to chill the buoyance out quicker? So far I've done nothing but let it soak in a large container of water. It's too big to boil but should I have used scalding water?
 
The one thing I've heard about boiling is that the hot air expands, is forced out, and then as everything cools water is pulled in to replace it. I'm not sure scalding water will do the trick, because the trick is really heating up the air pockets in the interior. They sould eventually saturate on their own.

I kept a decent size piece down for a while with a few not terribly big rocks. Even after a few weeks it would float back up when they were removed. The driftwood I have now is long and thin and siliconed down to 12x12 ceramic floor tiles covered with sand and some rocks. Doesn't even think about floating, but its long and thin, not much volume. Is there any way you could get couple of rock anchors on to the slate, at least until it can soak through?
 
I have a piece of wood in my tank that's been in there for at least 6 months. I boiled it when I first got it, then just kind of leaned a large rock onto it. This worked pretty good. I STILL can't get this piece of wood to stay down alone. I can't believe it! I now just have a large river rock leaned on it. Looks natural enough and doesn't cause a problem unless I mess with the rock. I would have just removed the wood, but it's way too cool to get rid of. It has a naturally formed cave within itself and my Jack Dempsey loves this thing. I just deal with using the rock to anchor it.
 
Get a 3/16" masonry drill bit and drill through a peice of slate heavy enough to anchor down the driftwood. Go to a good building supply store and by a #10 or #12 size stainless steel screw long enough to go through the slate and 1.5" into the driftwood.
 
wow guys, thanks for all the great ideas. The reason I couldn't boil it is because they don't make pots big enough (except maybe at a soup kitchen, hehehe.....no access to one of those ;) Carpguy, it's more bulkier than slender so that may not work in this instance. But I will try the stone idea, hopefully I'll have a little more luck with that. I'm trying to keep a natural look to it so maybe it'll work out just like yours did Sumpin'.......... Wetman, your idea sounds good as well, I might have to try a few of these things and if all else fails, I'm following you Matak ;)

thanks again everyone...... :D
 
Mataks idea sounds very good. However, since it is already attached to a piece of slate, tou could go to home depot, get another piece of slate (~$1.99 for a square foot) and just silicone it to the other piece of slate. That might be easier, especially if you don't have a drill.:)
 
I've got a piece of driftwood in my tank that's been in there almost 2 years that still wont stay down on it's own, though not nearly as bad as it used to be. I just hold it down with stones.
 
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