driftwood safety and leaching
- Thread starter Lee
- Start date
leaching - isn't that the tannins (sp?) being released from the wood? Can't that continue for some time? Might just have to have a tea colored tank which is not all that bad a thing.
similar topic/ question if I may add. A friend of mine has a nice looking piece of driftwood - quite large. he keeps having mites climb to the top of the driftwood supposedly from inside the driftwoood. He's frozen the sucker when it was absolutely freezing cold this past winter. He's burned mites off as they appear. Any suggestions for him? And yes, it's not me. I would die for a piece of driftwood like he has. ;-)
similar topic/ question if I may add. A friend of mine has a nice looking piece of driftwood - quite large. he keeps having mites climb to the top of the driftwood supposedly from inside the driftwoood. He's frozen the sucker when it was absolutely freezing cold this past winter. He's burned mites off as they appear. Any suggestions for him? And yes, it's not me. I would die for a piece of driftwood like he has. ;-)
Depending upon the thickness of your hunk of wood would depend upon how much leaches out of it. The bigger the hunk of wood, the more that will leach out.
For the mites, soak the wood in a 9parts water 1 part bleach solution overnight. Bleach kills =everything=. After the bleach soaking, soak the wood in dechlorinator water, adding liberal amounts of whatever dechlorinator you use, and let soak for a good two to three days with daily water changes.
Tea colored water in a tank is not bad. Continually changing out the carbon in your filter will help remove it, and frequent water changes will keep the color dilute.
Wood usually recommended to stay away from are softwoods (aka pines), ceadar, willow, and witchhazel. The last three have toxins that if they leach into the water could kill your fish.
~~Colesea
For the mites, soak the wood in a 9parts water 1 part bleach solution overnight. Bleach kills =everything=. After the bleach soaking, soak the wood in dechlorinator water, adding liberal amounts of whatever dechlorinator you use, and let soak for a good two to three days with daily water changes.
Tea colored water in a tank is not bad. Continually changing out the carbon in your filter will help remove it, and frequent water changes will keep the color dilute.
Wood usually recommended to stay away from are softwoods (aka pines), ceadar, willow, and witchhazel. The last three have toxins that if they leach into the water could kill your fish.
~~Colesea
Yew wood is also toxic. In fact the entire bush is a bad to put into your tank.
I use wood I find on the beach. Yes the real driftwood kind leached by the ocean, debarked by wave action, and baked in the hot sun. After such treatment I can't identify the species anymore (I'm not that good in my tree ID!), but I find it is usually pretty safe after a week's worth of soaking.
~~Colesea
I use wood I find on the beach. Yes the real driftwood kind leached by the ocean, debarked by wave action, and baked in the hot sun. After such treatment I can't identify the species anymore (I'm not that good in my tree ID!), but I find it is usually pretty safe after a week's worth of soaking.
~~Colesea
There is another driftwood discussion going on at http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?threadid=11082
You might find it useful. I certainly found out some things about driftwood *blushes in embarassment*
If all else fails, I guess the lfs or an online supplier can sell you some real driftwood, if you aren't near an ocean.
You might find it useful. I certainly found out some things about driftwood *blushes in embarassment*
If all else fails, I guess the lfs or an online supplier can sell you some real driftwood, if you aren't near an ocean.
