Driftwood

[Brad]

can driftwood be put in a freshwater aquarium? If so, do I need to treat it in any way?

[Alf]

Yes you can put drift wood in. I have been told that it will help stablize PH. I do not know this from exp. Just heard that. As for treating it I would have to say soak it in good distilled water for two weeks before adding to tank.

[jeff gramblin]

just rinse the wood in hot hot water the hot water will kill any parasites and clean it well enough i do it alot in my 150 fresh and never had trouble soak it if you can but a good rinse will
work just fine.

[AquariumPro]

Thanks Jeff:

You should be a moderator! Good advice. I usually soak driftwood in regular tap water, with big pieces in a well-rinsed bath tub (have lost girlfriends because of this so please be considerate!), then rinse it well with boiling hot water.

[Chapy]

Hi all,

Sorry to be redundent and taging an older thread , but I do have a question. Jeff sead to soak it for a couple of days, Aquarium Pro says to soak it then rinse it. My LFS sead to rinse it till the water is clear.

The redundent thousand dollar question is:
How long do I soak it, if I saok it at all?

Thank you for letting me revive this thread, Chapy:)

[dalmationmolly]

Soaking it in water for 2 weeks alf?! Thats the most outragious thing ive ever heard. Why you merely rinse in hot water and then i would wate untill the next water change and to put it in.

After putting the new water in of course you medicate it and it would further ensure safety!!

2 weeks!! LOL ! thats the funniest danmed thing ive heard.

To Alf: You know nothing on the topic of driftwood and dried wood found outside

[hypersnowman]

I have had DRIED drift wood in a bucket for over 3 and a half weeks and I treat it with this special medication every 4 days and it still bleeds brown water!!!!

I have heard that drift wood from the lake that sinks to the bottom of the bucket can be BOILED.

The dude at the local fish store said that it is not the greatest idea to boil DRIED drift wood since it will alter the shape.

But I have checked out numerous sites and my wife who speaks Russian checked out Russian sites and they all said that it is okay to boil it. I think my introduction to tropical fish book in Japanese said the same thing. (will check on this later)

I figure they boil their drift wood because of lack of treatment powder and it's probably the most economical way to treat it. Surely using this non toxic powder is probably the best but hey when your currency has been devalued 3 or 4 time in the last 10 years, well beggars cant be choosers.....

Anyway these three pieces of wood have been in my bucket with 2.5 gallon of treated water for the last 3.5 weeks and let me tell you, I just changed water coz it looked like ice tea at Denny's.

[CrazieEddie]

You have Denny's there in Japan too? LOL

Overtime, your water will slowly return back to it's natural color. It may take several weeks or months, depending how much tannic acid the wood has. Frequent media changes (carbon) and water changes will help.

[Chapy]

Thanks every one for your inputs.
But I still am a little confused.

I thought the reasion for soaking it was to get rid of the tannin. If that is true then we are fine.

What confuses me is the talk about treatment and boiling, I thought the whole reasion for buying it at the LFS is because its safe and has already been treated. If not then whats the dif if I were to go out and find some wood and do the exact same treatment I'm doing to an already safe piece of wood?

Can you see my confusion or am I just missing it all together? Please explain Oh great ones:)

Anyways enjoy life and say hi to a stanger, Chapy

[hypersnowman]

Yep we got Denny's over here. Only they dont give you free re-fills on any thing. It's the biggest rip off. And the food sucks bad but the deserts are okay. (way too expensive though)

Well over here in Japan, they sell both treated and non treated dried out drift wood. The only difference is that one wont bleed (they say) and the other one will.

I figure if you boil it in a pressure cooking pot, you will definetly kill off all microbes. Then again a pressure cooker will run you 20 dollars or so and you wont be able to fit large size wood.

Ones from the nature are free!!! Boiling is cheap!!! The only draw back I figure is that the shape kinda sucks. The mangrove roots are more gnarly looking and probably looks a lot more professional. Hey then again if you live down south, I am sure they got those things at your local lake.

[dalmationmolly]

I am a full russian and can speack it as well
-Kuschov-

[hypersnowman]

excellent, I will try to give you links to a Russian site that has tons of information.

[CrazieEddie]

Originally posted by Chapy
Hi all,

Sorry to be redundent and taging an older thread , but I do have a question. Jeff sead to soak it for a couple of days, Aquarium Pro says to soak it then rinse it. My LFS sead to rinse it till the water is clear.

The redundent thousand dollar question is:
How long do I soak it, if I saok it at all?

Thank you for letting me revive this thread, Chapy:)

Sorry, we overlooked your post.

It depends on personal preference and the where the wood was obtained from. We normally like to keep our fishes safe, so we try to be careful with the things we put into the tanks. If I trust my LFS and they know the sources of their wood, they would know whether it was treated properly, therefore, they would let me know if it just requires boiling or rinsing. If it's unknown or newly obtained from the outdoors, then it's best to soak it in hot or boiling water for awhile to kill any bacteria. After removing it and letting it cool, you can rinse it under water and use a new plastic scrubbing sponge to scrub off any loose debris or bark from the wood.

I thought the reasion for soaking it was to get rid of the tannin. If that is true then we are fine.
Some woods release tannic acids that will discolor the water. Most of the time, it will take several weeks/months of soaking, changing water, carbon media to finally get rid of the discoloration.

What confuses me is the talk about treatment and boiling, I thought the whole reasion for buying it at the LFS is because its safe and has already been treated. If not then whats the dif if I were to go out and find some wood and do the exact same treatment I'm doing to an already safe piece of wood?
If you see the driftwood mounted on a piece of slate, them more than likely, it has already been treated and all that is required is maybe just some rinsing/soaking in water to remove any dust from it. Otherwise, you can read my answer regarding unknown or wood obtained from the outdoors regarding wood.

I hope you have a better understanding for now.

[Chapy]

Eddie,

Thank you for clearing it all up I soaked the piece of driftwood for 7 days and changed the water in the bucket every day just yesterday the water looked realy clear. A little tint but over all very good, so I felt good about it.


Just to give a little info on the piece, it is from malasia. The man in the store (which I trust because he has alot of specielties when it come to aquariums) told me to just rinse it.

At any rate it is in the aquarium and it looks "beautifull" (I say with an Australian accent) I love it the only thing is now I need to build up the back of the tank with more plants. By the time I get the look I want it will be time to move then Its all packed up and I start over again. the fun of creativity and keeping fish.

Thank you for your help hopefully it helps others to.
Chapy
:D :)

[Chapy]

Hey all,
Just finished reading an atical on another page and for driftwood this guy suggest soking, then letting it dry and coating it with a layer of non-toxic laquer.

Has any one heard of this practice or has anyone done this?
It almost seems like an oxymoron to say non-toxic laquer.

Just checking, Chapy:cool:

[CrazieEddie]

Never heard of this NOR have I heard of non-toxic lacquer. If there was, certain types of pl*cos like to eat some of the wood, so that would defeat the purpose. Besides, it would probably lose the effect of a more natural look.

[Tank Builder]

Hey everyone. I wouldn't recomend this 'non-toxic lacquer' wood. As Ed said, if youve got any sort of plecos or bristle nosed ancistrus (as I have) youll find they love to rasp on bogwood, it gives them loads of nutrients and also something to do! ;) If the wood is coated in lacquer then they can't get at the wood.
A more serious problem would be if they rasped on it so much they started to remove the lacquer. Even being non-toxic, there injesting it would not do them any good at all! Also even if you had one small area where you missed a spot, water would get in, soak the wood, get behind the lacquer and possibly cause it to peel off like onion skin. It wouldn't look good and would really mess up you tank.
I hate to be all doom and gloom :SK but I thought you might like to know.
I've got two massive pieces of bogwood in my tank, but they were already treated when I got them. (At £25 a piece I would hope so!) They've been in my tank for months now and still leak tannin. Its not extensive, so no tank of iced tea but just enough to colour the water. As has been said, it stabilised the pH at about 6.5 and has made it a more natural environment. My Angels and Ancistrus especially love it. (my Ancistrus even breed under it!:D)
Hope this helps.

[Tim Boulton]

Yeah, I've read this too. You have to we picky what varnish you choose though, I think he recommended polyurethane varnish since it will key into the wood and is stable (no nasties in the water) when it has dried properly. No more brown water! I wouldn't recommend this if you've got plecos though, they might decide to chew on it anyway. I have not tried this myself though.