Driftwood

[bigbadfish711]

So this morning I went out to the local river and searched for some nice looking driftwood. I searched and searched I finally found two pieces that I liked. There was an abondance of straight pieces, but I wanted some with a little more character. I found these.



This will be the first time I have attempted to create my own driftwood.
I first washed off the dirt useing a stiff brush and hot water. Then I ran them both through the dish washer. I now have the wood soaking in a tub of bleach water. About 30 gallons of water and about a gallon of bleach. I will leave the wood in the bleach water for about 2 days. Then I will continue to rinse and soak the wood in clean water. I want to soak long enough to remove most of the Tannis. I know it will take time, but I am willing to do the work and put in the time.



I am planing on putting at least one of the pieces in my 55 gallon up and coming plant tank. The piece that is kinda like a small stump with roots. It has a hole at the base. I think it would be great for a nice piece of Java Fern.

I will post updates on the driftwoods progress.
Any suggestions welcome

 

[bigbadfish711]

Well I am all done with the driftwood. I decided not to use the larger piece. I soaked the wood for 2 weeks. Changing the water every 3 days with fresh hot water. I did not see very much discoloration from the tannis, but I think it may have been because the wood was very light colored when I found it. It was a very well weather piece. I have ordered some new plants for the tank that should be here by mid next week.
So let me know what you guys think.

 

[mcsnapper1]

It looks good. Do you know what kind of wood it is? I have some really nice looking cedar burls I'd like to put in my 135, but I couldn't get anyone to respond to my thread to know if cedar is safe for my tank.

 

[bigbadfish711]

It looks good. Do you know what kind of wood it is? I have some really nice looking cedar burls I'd like to put in my 135, but I couldn't get anyone to respond to my thread to know if cedar is safe for my tank.

I would not recommend using ceder in you tank. Ceder and pine will have alot more sap that could be hamful to the fish. If there is enough of it in the water is could suffocate the fish. If you cut off a piece of the wood and can still smell the ceder smell then I would say not to use it just to be on the safe side. I would recomend any hard wood that has been dead for awhile. I belive the piece hat I have is oak. Just because there were a lot of old oak trees where I got this piece from. Yeah I know it is drift wood. Could have came from way up river some where. You best bet is to look for some old dead wood that has been well weathered.

 

[cob201]

Using bleach on driftwood is generally a bad idea, if used it should be neutralised with dechlorinator. Putting it through the dishwasher or baking it at a very low temperature will sterilize it if you really want to do that, but it's unlikely to be necessary unless you've pulled the wood out of a industrial waste ground, most hardwood is fine as is.

 

[fishinfrenzy]

my best piece of driftwood came from the beach

 

[bigbadfish711]

Using bleach on driftwood is generally a bad idea, if used it should be neutralised with dechlorinator. Putting it through the dishwasher or baking it at a very low temperature will sterilize it if you really want to do that, but it's unlikely to be necessary unless you've pulled the wood out of a industrial waste ground, most hardwood is fine as is.

Yeah I got mixxed opinions on using bleach. So people say its a must and other say never use it. Well all I can say is that I used bleach and of course I used a bottle of dechlorinator, and have not had any mold or any other issue with the wood thus far. I belive if you take your time and be thuro job in the beggining that less headaches you will have latter.

 

[mcsnapper1]

Thanks for the reply, bigbadfish. I have a lot of manzanita on my property so I think I'll try that, plus continue looking for hard driftwood.

 

[Laticauda]

The Virginia Living Museum bleaches their wood all the time. They have a big trash can full of the bleach solution, let the wood or other items sit in it for 24 hours, then they move it to the Sodium Thiosulfide (active dechlorinator in Prime) trash can for another 24 hours.

 

[NixMix]

So my questions about DIY Driftwood....

1: is Birch ok?
2: can you just sterlize the wood by soaking it in a saline (salt) solution?