DRIFTWOOD FROM THE RIVER
- Thread starter waterhog
- Start date
I've soaked the driftwood for a couple of days in hot water and scrubbed with a soft brush. It will turn your water brown, but hey, those are just nutrients for the fish I guess!
Hi n' welcome to MFK .
What i would do is -
Boil it , Scrub it , boil it , check it so theres on bugs or other things on it , scrub it , soak it for about a week .
Then IMO that should be ready to go in the tank .
What i would do is -
Boil it , Scrub it , boil it , check it so theres on bugs or other things on it , scrub it , soak it for about a week .
Then IMO that should be ready to go in the tank .
If the driftwood comes from a river, it is pretty likely that it will already be waterlogged (will sink straight away when you put it into your tank) and will already have leached out most of its tannins. I would scrub it to remove any external scum, soak it in hot water to sterilise it for a couple of days, then it should be ready to add to your tank. It could turn your tank water a murky brown colour, this is just tannic and humic acids which won't harm your fish, but using activated carbon or Purigen will help to remove the colour.
If you're able to get it from a river, it probably is not waterlogged. Waterlogged wood will sink and will not float onto shore where it can easily be collected. It took about 3 months of soaking but I finally got my river dw waterlogged enough to sink. It still emits tannins, so I'm soaking until that stops before putting it into my tank.
Make sure you don't collect floating or beached wood where there are allot of boats due to the layer of gas that so often is found on the surface of the water. Other than that, boiling the wood will release the tannins and kill any nasties. I have a 10 gallon pot and outdoor propane burner that I use and have never had a problem. Rolling boil for 2 hours then scrub and rinse and then put it right in the tank. Boiling also helps make it sink.
most woods will emit tannins, some will not emit as much as others. I believe some of the more expensive malaysian stuff at stores will emit less.