if you can't tell what type of wood it was originaly it's fine chances are it's been so thouroughly leached out and such that it wont make any difference what so ever in your tankDan Feller;3895729; said:On the subject of driftwood, are there certain species that need to be avoided? I have heard that you should only use hardwood species, but I don't know if there is any truth to that. Conifers are a lot more resinous to begin with, but I wonder how much is left after the wood has soaked for years.
The reason I'm asking is because I am thinking about adding some wood to my tank. The flood control reservoirs around here are full of Douglas Fir stumps (with some nice roots attached) that have been underwater for forty to fifty years. The reservoirs are drawn down right now, so there is tons (literally) of white-bleached driftwood for the taking. There may be some hardwood stumps, but it can be hard to tell once all the bark is gone.
Currently boiling my driftwood...
- Thread starter vivaladonald
- Start date
I used a wire BBQ grill brush on the wood I gather from the mountains. let it soak for about a week, hit it with the brush and take off any rotten or soft parts, then use this stuff, similar to a scotchbrite pad, but basically its just nylon steel wool. scrape it down as much as I can then repeat once to make sure I get it all.
The goop should go away on its own, as long as its the normal white goop and not from using the wrong kind of wood.
Where did you get the wood from?
The goop should go away on its own, as long as its the normal white goop and not from using the wrong kind of wood.
Where did you get the wood from?
You guys are all making me nervous about the wood I used. I found a nice big stump on the beach that had obviously been in the water for a long time before it got washed up and sat for a long time. It had some very small patches of bark left (less than 1 in. sq.) that I scraped off. I cut sections of root off and siliconed it to the back wall of the tank so it looks like its growing thru the wall, looks awesome, but I didn't do any major cleaning... Should I be worried?
vivaladonald;3900847; said:
That could be the issue... I normally boil new pieces for at least a few hours. I'm testing a few other methods in a new thread if anyone's interested, but boiling for several hours is still the best way.
