Drift wood question

[jwh]

I have two large pieces, around 5-6' in length in a 500g, obviously I don't have a pot or stove large enough to boil them. I chucked them in the swimming pool for a week, power washed them, into the tank they went without problems other than a lot of tannin in the water. This is not harmful to fish, and clears within a month or two. I quite like tannin stained water, gives the tank a natural tropical river look.

 

[DDK]

If your lazy like me you can just make a bleach solution and leave it in a tub over night then let it fully dry out then throw it in the tank.

 

[PhysicsDude]

I put several pieces of drift wood in my tank. I put them in the bathtub and sprayed them with scalding hot water from the shower (hot water tank set to highest setting). Its not boiling, but hot enough to kill most living things. I have a detachable shower head, so I just gave each piece a good spray over, and then let them dry in the garage for a few days.

As others noted, bleaching it and boiling it will help get the tannins out of the wood, I didn't boil or bleach the wood, and it leeched tannins noticably for about 2-3 months (weekly 90% water changes), but after that no issues whatsoever.