240g DIY driftwood and decoration help.

[lunker65]

i got my new 240 set up about a week ago. still a little cloudy as you can see. My real question is, I went fishing down on the potomac last weekend and found some drift wood that i thought would look good in my tank. my question is, how should i treat this. do you think that because i collected it this tie of year that the cooties that could have been inside are not there due to the water just starting to warm up from winter? what other ideas do yall have for decorating this tank?

 

[hereticlosmorte]

just a bit of honesty from my past experience with driftwood pieces that were washed, dried, treated, etc.
if they have bark on them, apparently they will not do in a tank. someone please correct me if i'm wrong.

that being said, the long piece you have in the first pic or two, is how my piece looked, texture wise, bark etc. when i put it into my tank after boiling, washing, cleaning, drying etc, it went all soggy and the bark started sloughing off of it and quickly the whole piece was turning to mush.

long story short, upon introducing, a whole buttload of my fish died off, especially my blue phantom pleco and sailfin common pleco that i'd had for 6 years+. when i pulled it out, the piece reeked to high hell. after a water change and keeping it out, no more fish died in that tank, till i broke it down.

i wouldn't trust that one tbh,
i look for pieces like beachwood personally, harder looking pieces, no give to them if squeezed.

 

[lunker65]

yea the rotting thing is what makes me nervous about the whole thing. i grabbed these two pieces because they had been floating around in the river for a while. the thing i dont know is what kind of wood they are. all the pieces are pretty solid and are kinda heave for there size.

 

[hereticlosmorte]

best advice i could say, is take a little piece off of the long textured one, boil it, and put it in a small tank alone to see if it starts to rot or not. might give you an indication without endangering any of your fish.

 

[hereticlosmorte]

if it gets really soggy/squishy feeling, i personally wouldn't use it.

 

[lunker65]

that is kinda what i was thinking. however, i wont be able to boil the rest of the log as it is too big. it wont even fit in a bathtub. it is a good 7 feet long or more. do you see this as a big problem?

 

[hereticlosmorte]

you could always cut it up into pieces and reattach it after

 

[lunker65]

i may need to trim a little off anywat to be able to get it in the tank. would be a good sample piece.

 

[rmkblades]

Nice tank...what are its dimensions? 8x2x2?

 

[lunker65]

Nice tank...what are its dimensions? 8x2x2?

thanks! its a work in process. yes an 8x2x2