Newbie Driftwood questions

[shaunakadub]

Hey guys and gals,

Few questions on driftwood. I've been looking around and it seems a little confusing to me what exactly I should be buying? Its mostly for my pleco, so I'm not sure if there is different types of driftwood that I could buy for him.

Also, is it better to buy it online? Or should i be able to find some at petco (I belive I saw some, but it looked kind of fake, so I didn't purchase it.) If someone does think its better to buy online, what companies should I look at?

Thanks for the help

 

[Genral72]

Either way you buy it you will need to boil it. Just wanted to make sure you knew that. I collect my own driftwood and have had no problems. If you would like to know how to prepare your own driftwood Private message me. As far as what is the best for a pleco I don't know.

 

[shaunakadub]

Yeap, i've done a lot of reading out how to prepare (boil, change water, boil, change water, soak in bucket for a few weeks, ect.)

I've heard different types of wood have different amounts of tannins, which is why I am looking to see what online stores have low tannins. I don't really want my water color to change to much, althought a little couldn't hurt.

 

[Hound]

To be honest I've never purchased driftwood online or at petco / petsmart / walmart etc. I have seen some nice stuff online I would like to have, but I don't want to pay for shipping. There is one lfs nearby me that sells driftwood. They have some tagged stuff starting at like $5 arranged by size and type of wood. They also sell some driftwood in their bins of rock that is sold by the pound. My recent bin purchase is an 'L' shaped piece roughly 8" x 8" x 5" tall with lots of open space. Cost me $6.40. I haven't started prepping it for my tank yet, but normally I boil it once. Soak it for a week. Boil a second time. Then soak it for another week before puting it in my tank. Even doing all that I will still get some tannins leaching in at first, but it can't be as bad as just dropping it in the tank from the start.