Oh wow. I didn't know it was this easy. But it can't be from a tree, right? Has to be dead? I can always give it a once over with a palm sander then powerwash it.
Collecting Wild Driftwood...
- Thread starter Steveo McNello
- Start date
Oh wow. I didn't know it was this easy. But it can't be from a tree, right? Has to be dead? I can always give it a once over with a palm sander then powerwash it.
nah..i wouldn't take anything alive ..iv never done it..always found stuff already on the ground or in the water..I guess you could but i would recommend curing it out though letting it die and dry maybe...but like i said iv tried right from the tree.
hope you find what you are looking for!
I found a nice piece, well I hooked it fishing a stream and brought it off the bottom. I let it dry 100% in the sun to kill any water nasties, and then I stuck it in my hot tub with hot salt water to kill anything else off. Haven't had any problems with it, besides getting it to sink which I just put rocks on it.
I went to my friends house today, and he's got tons of forest behind his house. I found a few large pieces of tree that were dead and unattached with no bark, but were hard as a rock. I couldn't press my nail into it as suggested earlier. These are the ones I'm looking for correct? Let it dry, sand it, powerwash it, waterlog it?
When i had my piranha tank, i collected lots of driftwood and i boiled the small ones in a large stock pot. for the larger ones, just got a barrel and filled with water placed driftwood in the barrel and made a fire around it and let it boil for a long while.
I know there is at least one other guy on here that has done it the same way.
After that i had no problems with parasites or anything for that matter even though i pulled most of it from the missouri river about 10 miles from my house which is nasty lol.
One advantage to boiling is that it removes more tanins more quickly so you dont color your water so bad when you put it in the tank.
I know there is at least one other guy on here that has done it the same way.
After that i had no problems with parasites or anything for that matter even though i pulled most of it from the missouri river about 10 miles from my house which is nasty lol.
One advantage to boiling is that it removes more tanins more quickly so you dont color your water so bad when you put it in the tank.
Well I have no means of boiling it but am I in the ballpark with the pieces im seeking? lol
I'll post a pic of anything I collect tomorrow. Can anybody else reconfirm what I'm looking for? (best wood wise I mean)
To my knowledge it sounds like the ones you are looking at will prob be ok, but if you cant boil them i would make certain that you dry them very well.
I have never used any without boiling, but it would stand to reason that if it was dried all the way through then water organisms would die and probably be safe. Just make sure you monitor your PH for a while after adding wood as it can sometimes alter it some.
Also without boiling it will probably color your water more but that doesnt hurt most firsh from my understanding.
I have never used any without boiling, but it would stand to reason that if it was dried all the way through then water organisms would die and probably be safe. Just make sure you monitor your PH for a while after adding wood as it can sometimes alter it some.
Also without boiling it will probably color your water more but that doesnt hurt most firsh from my understanding.
I have used driftwood I collected without boiling. Just let it dry out completely scrub it down and spray it off, then submerge it. I have not had any problems doing it this way.
