I was wondering has anybody ever use drift wood from a out side fresh water creek or lake, if so did it work an how much cleaning you had to do to it.
Driftwood from creek or lake
- Thread starter BOREEK
- Start date
Yes I bought a big cheap plastic container from walmart and then soaked the driftwood in Seasalt (you can also use Kosher salt) and water for 3 days; after that I rinsed it off in a kiddie pool of rainwater and let if dry in the sun.....my Green Sunfish loved it.BOREEK;4784949;4784949 said:
i went to creek today in my spare time an saw some nice ones, but is there certain kind of trees you should not use or if its close to the water it should be ok.
they had nice size rocks there to. i have use creek rocks before and they work well for free all differnt sizes
We not just wash it. You need to make sure of two things.
1. Kill any living thing in the wood. Boiling usually works. If it's too big to boil you can boil one end and then the other. Some people use bleach but many don't want to chance the bleach getting in the tank in the end and killing your fish. Some people actually use vinegar. And some just poor the boiling water over it if it's too big for a pot.
2. You want to remove the tannins. Not everyone minds the tannins getting in the tank. But it will make the tank look dirty for up to a couple weeks or so. To not make the tank look so dirty soak the wood in a tub, container, pool, whatever for 3 days. Many people change the water every 24 hours just to see the progress of getting the dirt out. After the first day it should be very dirty. Then less the next day after a water change and even less the next.
After that you are ready to add the wood to the tank. There are many ways of prepping the wood. I'm sure it's been discussed here so you can search for that or on google. Or the tips in this thread should do you just fine. I'm going to go this weekend so I can't wait to see what I come up with. Good luck with yours.
1. Kill any living thing in the wood. Boiling usually works. If it's too big to boil you can boil one end and then the other. Some people use bleach but many don't want to chance the bleach getting in the tank in the end and killing your fish. Some people actually use vinegar. And some just poor the boiling water over it if it's too big for a pot.
2. You want to remove the tannins. Not everyone minds the tannins getting in the tank. But it will make the tank look dirty for up to a couple weeks or so. To not make the tank look so dirty soak the wood in a tub, container, pool, whatever for 3 days. Many people change the water every 24 hours just to see the progress of getting the dirt out. After the first day it should be very dirty. Then less the next day after a water change and even less the next.
After that you are ready to add the wood to the tank. There are many ways of prepping the wood. I'm sure it's been discussed here so you can search for that or on google. Or the tips in this thread should do you just fine. I'm going to go this weekend so I can't wait to see what I come up with. Good luck with yours.
BOREEK;4784990; said:
If the wood is well aged and weathered, it should be OK no matter what kind of tree it came from. Fresher wood from certain trees may be toxic. Check for any soft or rotten spots before adding to tank. I don't sterilize my driftwood, since fish parasites live on fish, not wood. A soak is a good idea, though, as it will help leach out any chemical contaminants from the water source. Don't use wood from heavily polluted waters.