Driftwood from ocean to a freshwater tank?

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capefeartarheel

capefeartarheel

Candiru
MFK Member
Jul 28, 2007
355
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46
LMU Lab
Hello Everyone...sorry if this isnt the right topic to post under.

I have a HUGE piece of driftwood I took out of the waterway near my house about 18 months ago. It has been sitting outside on a cement patio since then and I am wondering if it would be ok to put in my tank now. Its hard but has some brittle roots extending from it that Id guess I need to break off before putting it in.

It looks (in color) like this:

driftwood_shores_gray_console_table-690x451.jpg


I know I need to scrub it and wash it down, but I wont be able to boil it. Its about 9 ft long and at the roots, about 4 ft across. I plan on cutting it to fit in a corner of my 125 and branch out across the back.

Any suggestions or no-nos that I need to know? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
If you can I would at least rinse off with hose, if you could get a large bucket, put in bath tub or get a little kiddy pool to soak in it would be best. You would be the best way to see if it will leach salt into the water, if you can soak it even if it is only part of it in something and test the salinity. Other than the salk leaching it should be ok.
 
wow, awesome piece of driftwood!
 
Sorry..I didnt give enough details.

Its been sitting on an uncovered cement patio, being rained on everytime it rains and i rotate it about once a week so that it gets hit with sun/rain/wind etc from every angle.

Do you think having sat out through 3 hurricanes and about 75-100 heavy rainstorms over the past 18 months that all the salt is out of it by now? If not, would the salt hurt that much? I was more worried about the gas/oil/etc from all the boats being in the wood more.

Thanks!
 
I would think it would be ok, I have taken drift wood from Freshwater for my tank. Lots of boats and even gas fill up station on the lake where I got mine, have had no problem with any oil/gas coming out. I think you should be good to go. If you wanted to be really sure you could just take a small piece and leave in a bucket for a while and see if you get oil residue on the top of the water. If it were me I would feel comfortable that I is clean enough for my tanks.
 
COOL PIECE OF WOOD!! You can put it in a large bucket and add Hot water and salt. Change the water everyday adding new hot water and salt. Try and rotate the wood so that as much wood as possible gets soaked. Do that for a week and you should be good to go.
 
thanks, but its over 9 ft long and at its roots, over 4 feet across. That picture isnt the piece i have, just a representation of the color of what i have and looks to be the same wood.
 
How large is the tank/pond you plan to use it in? The more water you have the less the salt will have a chance to get to a high level. I would do a couple large water changes and keep an eye on the fish, the first sigh of truble pull it out.
 
Its going in a 125. Im going to cut it to fit in the back left corner so that it goes from the top to bottom, with the roots being half buried in the sand.
 
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