I was out in our concrete canoe today and spotted some old cypress lying on the bank. I hopped out and grabbed it. It appears to have little/no evidence of bugs eating it or any rot. What should I do to get it ready for my tank? Boiling will be tough to accomplish since I live in a small apartment with an even smaller kitchen. Should I treat it with anything? I know I need to soak it before trying to put it in the tank. Any experience with this sort of thing?
DIY Driftwood
- Thread starter KYeasting
- Start date
Soak it in a mild bleach solution in the sink or bathtub, then rinse thoroughly and soak in water with a big dose of dechlorinator (this will neutralize the bleach). Then it's ready! It may still float; you can solve this by bolting a piece of slate to the bottom, then burying the slate beneath your substrate.
Beware that it may leach for quite some time. I had a really cool piece but sold it because I hated the yellow water.
The wood i just bought for my new tank coming...
as soon as i got home ran to the bath put some warm water in and scrubbed the two pieces of wood and the water was sooo brown you couldnt see anything...
replaced the water and scrubbed again and again and so on...
put it in a tub and covered both pieces with boiling water and left it over night!
came down in the morning/Afternoon and the water was still brown...
hope i can get most of it away before i set up my new tank!
as soon as i got home ran to the bath put some warm water in and scrubbed the two pieces of wood and the water was sooo brown you couldnt see anything...
replaced the water and scrubbed again and again and so on...
put it in a tub and covered both pieces with boiling water and left it over night!
came down in the morning/Afternoon and the water was still brown...
hope i can get most of it away before i set up my new tank!
no matter what you do cypres will leach tanisjust look at the water you got it from is it brown or redish color?
Well, I pulled it from the Hillsborough River.... not exactly the cleanest body of water around. It runs straight through Tampa. If someone can tell me how to post a picture I will gladly throw up a picture of my "mighty piece of wood."