finding driftwood for a tank

O

olwiggum

AC Members
Dec 31, 2003
18
0
0
Visit site
My parents used to get driftwood from the river for their fishtank. I asked my mom how they treated it before putting it in the tank. They usually got small pieces, so she said that they boiled them several times rinsed them vigorously before adding it to the tank. They never had any casualties from adding it as far as she remembers.
My brother found a great piece for my 30 gallon hex tank this weekend, but it is pretty big. What would you recommend that I do before adding it? Should I even risk it?

I read an article that said to put it in a large bucket or trash can and pour boiling water over it. Empty the bucket and repeat several times. It also said that adding aquarium salt would help, but to let soak it in regular tap water for a week or so after doing that.

The article also said that it will lower the ph in my tank. I never have ph issues with my water, so that's a little frustrating.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

Corey
 
I've always boiled my driftwood in a large turkey pot my mom has, for at least 5 hours. If its really large you can boil half then turn it over and boil the other half, as long as there is an overlap point.

You can try pour boiling water over it in a tub several times. Then soak

You can also soak it in a diltue bleach solution, and then soak for a looong time in clean water, changing daily.

Whatever you do, make sure you soak in water for at least a week to remove as much tannin as possible. This is what stains the water and makes the ph more acidic.

Other than that my driftwood has always kept my ph at neutral.

The carbon in your filter (if you add it), will remove the tannin from your water if there is any left.


HTH
:)
 
Not all driftwood will change water chemistry. For example, some of my driftwood is oak, so it doesn't do anything to the chemistry.

The only driftwood that I have heard having a reputation for staining water is Malaysian (bog?) wood, which is probably not what you are getting from your river.

As far as rinsing it, I just ran mine (in the tub) under completely hot water then turned the shower on. I haven't had any problems yet. Although the wood may have to be tied to a rock to weight it down.
 
It's a pretty big piece. I'm not even sure if it will fit yet. I need to measure. Either way, my mom showed me a pretty neat piece that is in her garden that she said I am welcome to. It's not as big as the one from the river. It's been there for several years and didn't just come out of the river, so it may take less work.

Thanks for all of your advice. I'll definitely do a lot of boiling/soaking to whichever (is that a word?) I use. I may also need to nail it to some slate to keep it down. I have a large rock in there already, so that would be good to put on top of the slate.
 
Be carefull of rock a lot of it will really mess up your water chemistry. I wouldn't add any calcium based rocks to a f.w. tank or any volcanic material. The only thing I know of that is gtd inert is glass and that doesn't look at all real if that's the look you're going for. I'd probably stick to the your fish store for rock or artifical rock it'll be much safer for your tank. You'll know it's never been sprayed with oil,pestacides,etc...
hope this helps
chris
 
A buddy of mine is a geologist. He told me that I had Limestone which would leave a film on my tank and harden the water.
:(

He has a bunch of quartz that he said should be ok for the tank.
Any thoughts?
 
I would say pretty much anything you get from nature should be boiled, you never know what might be crawling on it, visible or not. That incluses rocks, I got some rocks from my local river and boiled them along with a piece of driftwood and they worked out great. Another thing is when you boil bogwood, if that is what you have, it will release a lot of the tannins (colorants) in the wood that stain your water. I remember the water was a dark yellow when it was fiished boiling, but my aquarium water isnt. Quartz should be fine, it is not a soft rock, and should not deposit anything into your tank.
 
Any of your quartz, quartzite rocks will be fine in an aquarium. Granite, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, etc :D are all also fine. In my current aquarium I have gneiss, schist (both metamorphosed granite), quartz, and some saphire pieces. All but the saphire was collected by me. I just washed them and placed them in. No problems so far.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom