sinking drift wood?
- Thread starter crook
- Start date
once again Colesea's driftwood post comes in handy, can someone just archive this?? Anyway, here it is:
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