native driftwood?
- Thread starter Magnus30
- Start date
I know many who have native driftwood whithout problems. But you should only take those under water. I also know someone who lets their penaque eat the driftwood.
I gathered some driftwood from the gulf of mexico a few weeks ago, and prepped it really well and it does fine in my tank. I took the pieces to my bathroom and put them in the tub. I ran the hottest water possible and filled the bath about halfway, and let the pieces soak, flipping them and putting them under about every 30 minutes for 3 hours. Then, I let all the water drain and turned on the hottest shower possible. I let them sit for about 20 minutes directly under the water, flipping at the 10 minute mark. Then, I did a large water change in my tank into a rubbermaid tub, and put the pieces of wood in the tub. I let them soak overnight, flipping the ones that still floated. The next day, I took them out of the tub and arranged them into the tank. They have been doing very well since then, I just need another pleco to help with a tiny bit or algae growth on the surface of the wood. Hope this helps.
Wood is wood isn't it? What difference does it make where it comes from as long as it is cleaned correctly? I am glad someone brought this up, because I have a large timber with a small stream running through it behind my house, and was going to use wood from that.
Untreated wood can carry parasites, bacteria, or fungus.. and can also release toxins into your tank, not to mention release tannins and stain the water pretty bad if it's not aged. There are a ton of reasons to not put this kind of driftwood in your tank without treating it.
When I worked at PetSmart I had a number of customers come in with problems like long stringy white hair, or green water algae, or blue/green algae.. I would investigate their tank, and alot of the time it was because they got driftwood out of the river. It also accounted for some fish loss in certain scenarios, so I would highly reccomend against it.
When I worked at PetSmart I had a number of customers come in with problems like long stringy white hair, or green water algae, or blue/green algae.. I would investigate their tank, and alot of the time it was because they got driftwood out of the river. It also accounted for some fish loss in certain scenarios, so I would highly reccomend against it.
Howdy,
Native driftwood is great - if you know what you're doing. Miles pointed out the serious dangers, let me give you a few tips on how to avoid them (I only have self-harvested wood in my tank)
- the river has to be clean, no industry along the shores!
- the wood has to be well weathered, washed out to the fiber. If it has bark, it's too young. It needs to look like it's spent years and years in the water
- only use wood from flowing bodies of water, never from stagnant areas.
- do not use wood that was covered with mud, it must be located in the stream
- Stay away from conifers. Look at the vegetation along the stream and upstream closely!
When I harvest driftwood, I first hose it down with a high-pressure cleaner (carwash). Then, I soak it in saturated salt solution (in the bath tub) for three days (daily fresh). That disinfects it all the way. Then I soak it for a couple of days in daily fresh water to de-salt it.
And off it goes into my tank. Generally, you have to weigh it down. I tie it to a rock with fishing line.
Self-harvested wood is a lot of fun. I got mine from a canoeing trip
HarleyK
Native driftwood is great - if you know what you're doing. Miles pointed out the serious dangers, let me give you a few tips on how to avoid them (I only have self-harvested wood in my tank)
- the river has to be clean, no industry along the shores!
- the wood has to be well weathered, washed out to the fiber. If it has bark, it's too young. It needs to look like it's spent years and years in the water
- only use wood from flowing bodies of water, never from stagnant areas.
- do not use wood that was covered with mud, it must be located in the stream
- Stay away from conifers. Look at the vegetation along the stream and upstream closely!
When I harvest driftwood, I first hose it down with a high-pressure cleaner (carwash). Then, I soak it in saturated salt solution (in the bath tub) for three days (daily fresh). That disinfects it all the way. Then I soak it for a couple of days in daily fresh water to de-salt it.
And off it goes into my tank. Generally, you have to weigh it down. I tie it to a rock with fishing line.
Self-harvested wood is a lot of fun. I got mine from a canoeing trip
HarleyK
I disinfected mine with a bleach solution, soaked it in salt water for a week or so changing as needed,letting it dry out next to my woodstove between soaks, then washed and stuck it in the dishwasher(no soap!).Plenty of weird crawlies came out of it in the process.