Wood in tanks

[UP UP AND GUPPY]

Okay I was wondering if I can get a peice of wood from my local creek and put it in my tank after boiling it? How long should I boil it?

 

[Igor The Cat]

well it depends on the type of wood, but in general boiling is nessacary untill the water boils clean and the wood is no longer releaseing tannins, sadly this useally results in soft wood desinegrating

cheers

-Java

 

[SANND]

You don't need to boil it. All I ever do is let the wood dry out completely - this will kill anything that was living on it. Then I soak it in a bucket till it sinks. This will get out some of the tannins for you. They eventually stop leaking so that it's noticable.

 

[UP UP AND GUPPY]

Okay so this is what I am gathering:

Option #1
Clean off wood
Boil until it does not release tannins
Let it sit til it sinks

Option #2
Let wood dry out
Put in a bucket of water
Let tannins leech out
Let sit till it sinks

Okay what would be a safer way? Now would Cory Cats like the wood? Should I try and get something they can hind under when my Betta Gets Mad?

 

[SANND]

Neither method is safer than the other that I"m aware of (I"m sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong...) I've heard that a lot of tannins in your tank will drop the pH but I've not witnessed that. Might be because I do weekly wc though. Oh, I forgot to mention in my previous post...use a wire brush and scrape the wood to get the loose peices off after it drys.

The reason I don't boil is because the only pot I have big enough to do that is my turkey fryer and I"m not lighting up the propane burner just to boil wood. lol

 

[Igor The Cat]

ive found that boiling tends to be faster though, beacuse at one time you are killing off the present organisms, getting the tannins out, AND waterlogging the wood.

and yes Tannins will lower your ph, that is why most of amazonia has very acidic water.

cheers

-Java

 

[UP UP AND GUPPY]

how long do you think it will take with boiling the wood?

 

[UP UP AND GUPPY]

I am going today but how long does it take?

 

[SANND]

You're repeating yourself sweets! lol

Well, to kill bacteria I think you're supposed to boil for at least 10 mins? Or that's what DCWASA tells us to do with our tap water...

As for how long it takes to get the tannins out...who knows. You just have to boil it while, dump the water and boil again to see if tannins are still coming out. Sorry!

 

[UP UP AND GUPPY]

Okay thanks. My friend told me it was a bad idea to put wood from a creek in the tank. Why is that?

 

[bala_aquarium]

bugs in the wood?i dont know lots of people have done it.does he/she know that you where going to clean it/boil it then put it in?

 

[Igor The Cat]

i would boil it for at least 1 hour, and after that until the tannins are gone, like i said in my first post.

cheers

-Java

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I generally go with boiling for 15 minutes. Also, another idea is to pour a whole small bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide 3% into a bucket of warm water, soak the driftwood in it for 15-20 minutes, then take out, rinse off, and do a quick boil. The HP will also kill off any organisms as well as algae. Don't need to get the large bottle of HP, one of the small bottles is more than enough. And the driftwood will bubble like mad as it's soaking.

Also to note, for those who don't know, the Hydrogen Peroxide will just turn to water within 15-20 minutes anyways, so you don't need to do a thorough rinsing. Just enough to get some of the crud off the driftwood, then give it a quick 5 min boil. And if it sinks, you don't even need to boil it after the HP treatment, just rinse and go straight to the tank.

 

[UP UP AND GUPPY]

I told him that I was going to clean it and boil it but he said it was a bad idea.