who needs to pay high prices for driftwood in LFS when it's free in the local lake - longest piece about 36".
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Coming soon to a tank near me...
- Thread starter Somonas
- Start date
Somonas:
I've held the same opinion, just make sure you bleach/boil the heck out of it (yeah big pieces can't be boiled) I also like to let mine sit in a bucket for 3-4 weeks with daily w/cs and lots of filtration through fresh carbon.
Be really careful with the stuff south of ottawa, we have a cottage on mazinaw lake (aka bon echo park) where the mercury content in the lake is pretty high... Gotta be VERY careful to make sure you're not introducing bad stuffs into the tank.
Other headache is a lot of the wood out there is pine/birch both are bad in the tank (I get a lot of white pine up here, definitely not good in the tank).
I've held the same opinion, just make sure you bleach/boil the heck out of it (yeah big pieces can't be boiled) I also like to let mine sit in a bucket for 3-4 weeks with daily w/cs and lots of filtration through fresh carbon.
Be really careful with the stuff south of ottawa, we have a cottage on mazinaw lake (aka bon echo park) where the mercury content in the lake is pretty high... Gotta be VERY careful to make sure you're not introducing bad stuffs into the tank.
Other headache is a lot of the wood out there is pine/birch both are bad in the tank (I get a lot of white pine up here, definitely not good in the tank).
I don't think boiling it is needed. I typically just leave my driftwood to sit in buckets of water exposed to the sun for a week or so. I perform water changes regularily to the bucket and wipe the wood clean from slime and algae when needed.
Before I add it my display tanks I do a PH and water clarity test by filling the bucket with fresh clean water (no chlorine). Check the PH of the bucket before you add the driftwood and then 24 hours after. It is important to remove the bucket from the sun at this point. If the water looks clear enough and the PH does not change dramatically I then add it to my tanks.
Before I add it my display tanks I do a PH and water clarity test by filling the bucket with fresh clean water (no chlorine). Check the PH of the bucket before you add the driftwood and then 24 hours after. It is important to remove the bucket from the sun at this point. If the water looks clear enough and the PH does not change dramatically I then add it to my tanks.
AndyL, the lake was Belmont lake just west of Crowe Lake (north of highway 7 in Marmora)... never did think about the mercury content. I have some driftwood in tanks from a lake farther up near Bancroft and it's been fine for a year.
interesting comment about the white pine. and birch, I did make it a point to look up where I got the wood, and I saw oak, ash and maple.. and pine or spruce... but it is highly unlikely that the trees directly above are responsible for the driftwood below..
it will be quite hard to boil or soak a 3 foot log. perhaps I'll get a large rubbermaid and just bleach them for awhile. They are out baking on the balcony and will be for a couple weeks anyway.
interesting comment about the white pine. and birch, I did make it a point to look up where I got the wood, and I saw oak, ash and maple.. and pine or spruce... but it is highly unlikely that the trees directly above are responsible for the driftwood below..
it will be quite hard to boil or soak a 3 foot log. perhaps I'll get a large rubbermaid and just bleach them for awhile. They are out baking on the balcony and will be for a couple weeks anyway.
Here's the complete guide posted by Colesea-super fish:
Stay away from softwoods (aka pines), and stick with hardwoods (Maple, sycamore, apple, cherry, poplar, etc). Don't do willow or witchhazel. Willow and witchhazel can be posion. Make sure you select dry wood, not green (aka fresh, still alive wood) or totally rotten apart wood.
It is perfectly okay to pull driftwood from the ocean, I do all the time, being as how I don't live near any freshwater lakes, but have 24 hour access to some of the best beaches. Any salt residue in the wood will be removed during the curing process.
Whether from the ocean or from the lakes, the best way to cure driftwood is to first take off all the bark. Usually wood found on the beach is already removed of bark, which is why I like it so much. You can remove the bark by peeling it off or with a good chisle. After getting all the bark removed, scrub the wood under some running water with a good, stiff brush. This can be done in a bathtub or under the hose outside. Scrubbing the wood will get off dirt and other organic particles.
Next, depending upon the size of the wood you find, you can soak it in a 5 gallon bucket (I like ten gallon plastic garbage pails because I can get a lot more bigger pieces into them<G> ) of a 10% bleach solution. That's one part bleach for nine parts water. Regular water is fine, and it does not have to be hot. Mix the bleach solution completely, and soak your wood for 24 hrs. This will ensure that anything living on the wood, parasites or fungus, is completely dead.
After your soak in bleach, you are going to rinse and scrub your wood again, and do so vigorously. Then you will wash out your bucket and use it to soak your wood again. This time you will add libral amounts of tap water conditioner (aka water dechlorinator) to your water, and soak your wood for a week, changing the water daily. After this phase is when I usually stick the wood in my tanks.
You may notice that the water you pour out of your buckets has been turned yellow or tea colored. This is because of chemicals known as tannins that are in all plants (it is what gives tea its color). These tannins will also turn the water in your tank yellow. Some people prefer to soak their wood with daily water changes until all the yellow color is gone, and this may take up to four weeks depending upon the thickness and size of your wood piece. Some people like the tannin color in their tanks, and use the wood anyway. Carbon in the filters will help speed up tannin removal from your tank, and the carbon should be changed daily during this process for maximum effeciency. Tannins in low concentrations will not hurt your fish, but high levels of tannins can cause your tank to turn acidic, so it is recommended that you monitor your water chemistry carefully and do water changes as necessary to keep your pH stable when adding tanic wood to your tank.
Some people also prefer to bake their wood, drying it out completely either in the sun or in the oven. I do not know what temperature settings you would use to dry wood in your oven and not have spotanious combustion. Of course drying wood in the sun depends upon the humidity of your region.
Also, other people will recommend siliconing the wood to slate or other rocks to weigh it down so it sinks. If using silicon, you must wait a week before placing the piece in your tank so that the silicon dries completely. Other people will simply let the wood soak up water during the rinsing part, or let it sit in a seperate bucket until it no longer floats before placing it in their tank. Never pile anything on top of a still floating piece of wood. The wood may come dislodged, knocking over things that could damage your tank or fish.
Hope this covers all the bases for you.
~~Colesea
Stay away from softwoods (aka pines), and stick with hardwoods (Maple, sycamore, apple, cherry, poplar, etc). Don't do willow or witchhazel. Willow and witchhazel can be posion. Make sure you select dry wood, not green (aka fresh, still alive wood) or totally rotten apart wood.
It is perfectly okay to pull driftwood from the ocean, I do all the time, being as how I don't live near any freshwater lakes, but have 24 hour access to some of the best beaches. Any salt residue in the wood will be removed during the curing process.
Whether from the ocean or from the lakes, the best way to cure driftwood is to first take off all the bark. Usually wood found on the beach is already removed of bark, which is why I like it so much. You can remove the bark by peeling it off or with a good chisle. After getting all the bark removed, scrub the wood under some running water with a good, stiff brush. This can be done in a bathtub or under the hose outside. Scrubbing the wood will get off dirt and other organic particles.
Next, depending upon the size of the wood you find, you can soak it in a 5 gallon bucket (I like ten gallon plastic garbage pails because I can get a lot more bigger pieces into them<G> ) of a 10% bleach solution. That's one part bleach for nine parts water. Regular water is fine, and it does not have to be hot. Mix the bleach solution completely, and soak your wood for 24 hrs. This will ensure that anything living on the wood, parasites or fungus, is completely dead.
After your soak in bleach, you are going to rinse and scrub your wood again, and do so vigorously. Then you will wash out your bucket and use it to soak your wood again. This time you will add libral amounts of tap water conditioner (aka water dechlorinator) to your water, and soak your wood for a week, changing the water daily. After this phase is when I usually stick the wood in my tanks.
You may notice that the water you pour out of your buckets has been turned yellow or tea colored. This is because of chemicals known as tannins that are in all plants (it is what gives tea its color). These tannins will also turn the water in your tank yellow. Some people prefer to soak their wood with daily water changes until all the yellow color is gone, and this may take up to four weeks depending upon the thickness and size of your wood piece. Some people like the tannin color in their tanks, and use the wood anyway. Carbon in the filters will help speed up tannin removal from your tank, and the carbon should be changed daily during this process for maximum effeciency. Tannins in low concentrations will not hurt your fish, but high levels of tannins can cause your tank to turn acidic, so it is recommended that you monitor your water chemistry carefully and do water changes as necessary to keep your pH stable when adding tanic wood to your tank.
Some people also prefer to bake their wood, drying it out completely either in the sun or in the oven. I do not know what temperature settings you would use to dry wood in your oven and not have spotanious combustion. Of course drying wood in the sun depends upon the humidity of your region.
Also, other people will recommend siliconing the wood to slate or other rocks to weigh it down so it sinks. If using silicon, you must wait a week before placing the piece in your tank so that the silicon dries completely. Other people will simply let the wood soak up water during the rinsing part, or let it sit in a seperate bucket until it no longer floats before placing it in their tank. Never pile anything on top of a still floating piece of wood. The wood may come dislodged, knocking over things that could damage your tank or fish.
Hope this covers all the bases for you.
~~Colesea
You can get a good idea how much salt is leaching from it every time you add it to a new batch of freshwater. You can see the salt haze coming from the wood. I repeat this proccess untill this is no longer visible. As far as impact on kh and dh my water is so hard here it is difficult to read the impact. PH will also vary depending on type of wood and amount of water. Best thing to do is test the water like I mentioned. My PH levels are high 7.6 - 7.8 and I only use small pieces so the effects on my tanks are very little.
What size tank are you putting it in? How big is the piece?
What size tank are you putting it in? How big is the piece?
These two posts are sooooo funny as they are on page 2 without much context.
Luca says "I'm about to do it at the local beach, i think it will feel a little suspect!" and then Somonas says, "my wood is still baking on the balcony. I haven't had a chance to go out and turn it over yet."
Or maybe it's b/c it's 5 something in the morning and I couldn't sleep so I'm up earlier than usual but this tickled my funny bone. Somonas, go turn your wood over please.
Luca says "I'm about to do it at the local beach, i think it will feel a little suspect!" and then Somonas says, "my wood is still baking on the balcony. I haven't had a chance to go out and turn it over yet."
Or maybe it's b/c it's 5 something in the morning and I couldn't sleep so I'm up earlier than usual but this tickled my funny bone. Somonas, go turn your wood over please.