if you find a log or peice of driftwood how do you make it safe for your aquarium without bleaching it? i bleached my store bought mopani wood and it turned white. 
How to make wood safe for your aquarium.
- Thread starter fishkeeper4244
- Start date
I've soaked Drift in freshwater treated with Prime. I used a powerhead to keep the water in the tote moving and changed the water out every 3 days (Approx). I did this for over a month with one piece of drift in order to leach the tannins out of the wood.
I have something to ask in addition to this topic:
I have founds some awesome branch pieces in around my house and i really want to stack them in this new tank. How can i make this wood safe for my aquarium? Im not sure what type of tree it is from. Its definitely a hard wood looking tree but it is pretty sappy. The branch isn't super sappy. Do i need a sealer?
I have founds some awesome branch pieces in around my house and i really want to stack them in this new tank. How can i make this wood safe for my aquarium? Im not sure what type of tree it is from. Its definitely a hard wood looking tree but it is pretty sappy. The branch isn't super sappy. Do i need a sealer?
but not sure if they are aquarium safe 
Anything sappy is no good you want wood that has sat in water for years. Wood you find around your house is not driftwood and should never be called such.bleublaze55;4840894; said:
Soaking random peices of wood around your house and then putting them in your tank is a sure fire way to kill your fish. IMO do yourself a favor and take a trip to a local river/lake and find some really nice peices. You don't need to worry about the type of wood then becuase it has already been "processed" by nature and is completely innert and will not leach saps into your water (i can't say anything about tannins, but none of the peices of driftwood i have collected ever leached tannins and most of them are softwoods which are supossed to have more tannins than hardwoods)
If you must use tree branches take the time to scrub all the bark off and seal it with epoxy or something similar, or throw it in a river for 5 years and come back.....
To sterilize my collected peices of wood i let them sun dry for about a week then rinsed them off with a hose and scrubbed them. Then let sun dry again then i put them in my tank. People are far too paranoid about their driftwood anything that once lived on it underwater will be long dead as soon as it dries. The rinse was just to remove some gunk that was on it and im sure the chlorinated tap water got anything that may have been remaining(but i don't think anything was still alive on it)
How long has it been there ? if 2 years + it's probably good but if it has any bark remaining on it it's probably not ready yet. Ponds have a much larger water volume(which dilutes any saps) and have different bacterial species(which break down saps) Most home aqauriums do not have these bacteria/microrganisms and have much smaller water volumes.Loves severums;4841101; said:
Break off a little peice of wood is it still sappy on the inside ? if so leave it for longer if not your good to go.
