I have a fairly large piece in my 125 gallon that still floats to this day. After better then a year of being in the tank. I wait it down with two large rocks. I don't think you'll ever get all the tanins out of your wood but I hear boiling is a quick way to do that, although its usually not possible for larger pieces.
How long to keep driftwood soaking?
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wishmaster, I put my piece in an old garbage pail that we used to have in the kitchen. I boiled water in the biggest pot we had and poured it in the pail over and over untill the hold piece was covered.
Orbitorly
Out in left field...
Hey Jeremy, the big peice of driftwood I have doesnt have the thing on the bottom to hold it down. I soaked mine for 2 days and it was fine.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but each time you expose the driftwood to the air, after soaking it, doesnt that reduce the effectivness?
Try setting some gold on the slate. 18 times the density of water
Try setting some gold on the slate. 18 times the density of water
Dangerdoll
Global Moderator
Devil...
I had the same problem a few weeks ago. After soaking it for about a week though, mine still shot up like a torpedo with a mind of its own. After a lot of good suggestions from here, I went and got 3 big rocks from the lfs. I wasn't sure if the rocks would be heavy enough to hold the wood down because of it's determination but to my surprise, it only took 2 of those rocks to hold it down. You might want to try doing that since the tannis is no longer the problem for you.
good luck!
I had the same problem a few weeks ago. After soaking it for about a week though, mine still shot up like a torpedo with a mind of its own. After a lot of good suggestions from here, I went and got 3 big rocks from the lfs. I wasn't sure if the rocks would be heavy enough to hold the wood down because of it's determination but to my surprise, it only took 2 of those rocks to hold it down. You might want to try doing that since the tannis is no longer the problem for you.
good luck!
yeah, and who has spare gold nuggets laying around?
yeah, I figure trying to get rid of tannins is futile. basically, unless the thing has been soaking for 5 or 10 years, youre going to have to deal.
floating is still a problem because no matter how saturated the wood is with water, the wood particles are still less dense then water and will try to euqalize the pressure by floating a bit. if the log is totally saturated, it will stay at the bottom, it just wont sit like a rock.
just stick the thing in your tank and stick some rocks on it.
yeah, I figure trying to get rid of tannins is futile. basically, unless the thing has been soaking for 5 or 10 years, youre going to have to deal.
floating is still a problem because no matter how saturated the wood is with water, the wood particles are still less dense then water and will try to euqalize the pressure by floating a bit. if the log is totally saturated, it will stay at the bottom, it just wont sit like a rock.
just stick the thing in your tank and stick some rocks on it.
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One other thing that came to mind about waterlogging my driftwood was that I only really could weight it down with the wood having the same direction facing up. I have a strange shape to mine and couldn't get rocks to hold it down when I flipped it over to boil/soak. If you can, flip the wood over (possibly with the slate-weighted end facing up and soak it again for a while (days). This may allow the air in the log to more easily come out of some of the grain in a different direction. I have noticed that the end of the wood that I could not get facing up is the end that still wants to float. I have had this wood in my tank at least 9 months. I currently use large rocks half-covering it to weight it down enough.
I don't know if I'm making any sense to anyone else, but I do think this will work, however it may be only mildly effective.
HTH
I don't know if I'm making any sense to anyone else, but I do think this will work, however it may be only mildly effective.
HTH
