Drift wood in tanks...

[Beno78]

Hi everybody...

I have just recently set up my aquarium, and I am currently going through cycling, which all seems to be going well! I set the tank up yesterday, and have seen the cloudy water being produced, which I think means I have a bacteria bloom going on! So far so good!

Anyways, my question is regarding drift wood. My tank is a freshwater, 240 litre, (80gal) and I am currently using artificial plants. My local beach is a very good source of drift wood, and I am wondering if I can use drift wood found along the beach, in my tank. I am assuming som sort of soaking is required...and the fact its from a salt water environment, is not a major issue?

Any help would be most appreciated...

Thanks,

Beno

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I'm not sure (this is mostly a bump), but I would say scrub it really good to get any surface gunkies off and then maybe you could boil it if it is small enough. Usually with driftwood you have to soak it to get the tannins out and to waterlog it so it sinks - if it's been in the ocean, both of those things should have happened already. I don't know if soaking it in freshwater might help get residual saltiness out of it, but it could also kill off any saltwater buggies that are hiding in it. I also know that you can bake rocks/sand in the oven at a low temperature to kill stuff in it, not sure if you can do that with wood as well.

 

[emmanuelchavez]

Definitely boil it to kill any potential bacteria / diseases / nasties.

 

[zzz22zzz]

do u biol it just liek you boil noodles or anything ?

 

[emmanuelchavez]

do u biol it just liek you boil noodles or anything ?

Yup, boil it like you would anything else.........
I haven't been able to do that since most of my driftwood was too big for the pots... so I boil a bunch of water, and add that into a container big enough to hold the wood... then cover it, so the heat won't escape too quickly....


I may need to borrow one of my grandma's 'industrial' sized pots from her restaurant to boil my last piece of driftwood