Drift wood cureing????

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sailing_derrick

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 21, 2007
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South Africa
I'm getting a new tank for my Oscars and Clown Knives... I want to make it look as natural as possible. Drift wood from my local fish store is really expensiv cause it has allready been cured. i can get uncured drift wood for real cheap, so my question is:confused::confused::confused: Can i thow it in my swiming pool to leach all the tannins etc out of will the chlorine be a problem, i ask cause i dont have anywhere to cure it till my tank arrives:confused::confused::confused:
 
Will it fit in your oven? If so you could put it in there for a couple hours on like 200...I've done this, then I soak it in a tub of salt water for a while, scrub it really good and soak in freshwater for a while...scrubbing it again after. Or you could put it in the bath tub...pour boiling water over it...I add salt to mine to, the salt will help draw out impurities, I heard someone suggest peroxide before...but I don't know what the ratio was for it, so I wont really comment on that. If you do the salt water, I suggest then soaking it and scrubbing it in fresh water after to remove the salt.
 
I take mine scrub it we'll and put it in a plastic tub like the ones you get at wall mart fill it with boiling water if you took it out of a lake and its really nasty then you can add a small amount of bleach to the water but if its from a store or has been dried out then soaking it in salt water works then drain the water and soak it in fresh water a few time and scrubbing it to remove all of the soft layer on the out side then it should be ready if you used bleach just be sure you can't smell any at all then add it to your tank if its a new tank then its a good idea to add a goldfish or somethin cheap to try it out and see if its okay but should be fine
 
Oh, something I thought of that makes cleaning all the soft bark or crud off...after I soaked it for a while, I ran down to the car wash with it, and used the power hose...it takes all the stuff off, easy and quickly...then brought it home and scrubbed it down good, and soaked some more!
 
I actually don't recommend boiling the driftwood because it reduces the time that it last in the tank. I've heard that boiling the wood could denature the proteins and your wood will not last as long.
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/aquascaping/wood.shtml
Honestly I think that the best way to make wood ready for the tank is by Letting it dry out ,best in hot dry summers, then clean it or pressure wash it, and then soak it to release any tannins(if any) and waterlog it so it sinks. That's how i've done it for my wood kinda similar to what others have said.
 
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