New tank and driftwood

[J@ke]

Hey all i have some very fun news. I got a free 38 gallon tank a few days ago, but my big question is that I will be going on vacation to the ocean soon and was wanting to know if i found driftwood could it be used in my tank. I know I would need to boil it but would this remove the salts from it? And, if it does how long would I need to boil it to make it safe for use. (it will be in a freshwater tank with goldfish)

 

[Ashlea]

I wouldn't. You never know what could be on there.

 

[Mturner615]

I wouldn't take "wild" driftwood either because there could be microbacteria and organisms that could harm your fish on them. There could even be oil residue from oil or other chemicals that wasn't properly disposed.

Although it can get expensive, buying it from you LFS is a LOT safer.

 

[OrangeCones]

My LFS takes 'wild' driftwood from the local river, scrubs it with a stiff brush, bolts it to a piece of slate, and that's it. They do the same for wood they sell for repitiles except minus the slate. Nothing special about their process, its no 'safer' than collecting your own if you do it right.

I've never had a problem collecting wood (both from saltwater and from local freshwater rivers) and adding it to a tank. I will boil it at a minimum and if it won't sink (I do planted tanks so don't like to use slate since it takes up too much 'root space'), I'll boil it and soak it till it does. This also releases the tannins.

I don't mind the wood coloring the water some, but if it gets too much, carbon and water changes will remove it.