Driftwood .............

[Anarchy]

I've recently acquired a few pieces of driftwood for my tank and i'm hoping to get a couple of things answered! Whats the best way to clean them as i know of a few people who put them straight into the tank and it turns a really piss yellow colour, normally i leave them to saok in water for a week but do i use cold water or hot? do i have to add anything? any suggestions and help with your experience is greatly appreciated
Thanks all and keep breeding those monsters......

 

[dexman1349]

I would soak all of mine for at least a week in 5 gallon (20 liter) buckets. I would change the water daily, and replace with water from the aquarium. Every time I would put fresh water back into the tank to replace the water I removed.

I just left the bucket on the floor next to the stand during this week. I doesn't really matter if you use hot or cold, as both would return to room temperature within a few hours.

 

[ziggy2]

If you can boil them you would be better off. If not, I've taken mine to the car wash and with just hot water, blast them for a while. Do not use soap. The tannins will not hurt your fish if you still have some coloration.

 

[davo]

I'd use boiling water to wash down and kill anything that might be on it... and I soak the wood for a couple of weeks. Depending on your wood/water ratio, you might have the tannings in the tank for a long time. They aren't a bad thing though... soft slightly acidic water. I don't mind the look of tannings so sometimes I don't bother soaking for that long.

 

[joey02]

boil the water befor you pour it into the bucket of hot water. that way it will open all the pours in the wood and leach the tannin alot faster. the more often you do this, the faster the tannins will leach from the wood. when i treat wood, i do this 3 times a day. with a week its usually done. boining the wood on the stove also works alot faster if the wood wwill fit in a pot.

 

[Ianab]

Boiling or using hot water will remove the excess tannins faster - soaking in cold water is fine, but it will take a while.

Easiest is to just put it in a big bucket of water, put a rock on it to make it sink and leave it there. Change the water every few days, and when the water you tip out is fairly clear and the wood is waterlogged enough to sink - then it's ready for the tank. If it's grown a bit of algae in the process my plecos love it

It will probably still leach a bit of tannin for years to come, but if you get most of it out first it's not so bad. It wont harm fish that come from blackwater environments anyway.

Cheers

Ian