new to driftwood need advice!

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M

messiner

Feeder Fish
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Oct 1, 2005
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the guy at the lfs said that using driftwood in a tank is a bad idea because it has toxins and it will stain your water and it is just a bad idea. i see you guys tanks with awesome driftwood and perfect tanks. i want driftwood so what do i have to do to quarentine the wood for my tank. start fron square 1. :grinyes:
 
Get wood intended for an aquarium. This means that whoever gathered the wood is saying that it isn't contaminated with toxins.
Soak it in water in a tub for however long it takes to not turn the color of the water much.
Wood in the tank tends to lower the PH.
The degree of how advantagious the use of wood in an aquarium is depends to an extent on what the natural habitat is of the fish you have in the tank.
Plecos like to gnaw on the wood.
Try to pick pieces of wood that offer hiding places in or under the wood.
Some people gather their own wood for their tanks. You can do this, however you have to be extreamly careful to disinfect the wood before use.
 
try to boil the driftwood in water for a few hours to let the tannins and other impurities out of the wood. Sook it in a tub of water for a week or so after to let the wood leech out even more.
 
If you have a local lake or other body of water that is clean...pick the peices that look like they have been outside forever. then go through the bleach/soak/srub or boil them to clean it.
 
I am a new member, but driftwood is pretty straightforward. You want the malaysian driftwood if you have soft acidic water, or want it. (that is a benefit of driftwood - it buffers your pH at 6.5 or below if it is good. on the contrary, if you want your pH to be 7.0 or higher, you should avoid driftwood.) The "leaking" occurs if the driftwood piece is overly large and has not been soaked for awhile and therefore is not really driftwood. Pet stores should sell driftwood, and if you buy it, get the stuff already in tanks if you are worried about toxins - if they are in with healthy fish then there are no toxins.
 
im always having trouble keeping my ph up so i think ill try some smaller pieces to start out with. THANKS
 
I had a cool piece, found it by the lake by my house, turned my water yellow and floated for months, now i like it. if i find one i like better im goin to soak it in my basement for a month or two before introducing it.
 
I have a nice sized piece of malaysian driftwood that I got from Big Al's. It sank right away and didn't stain the water at all. It's a nice reddish color and looks good, but it was like $8/lb. :WHOA:

My friend got some driftwood from Petsupermarket for a little less money, but it wasn't all that great. It was a big piece of light brown driftwood with a slate base. It didn't sink right away, so he had to soak it in the bath tub for a while. Then when he was finally able to sink it in the tank, it stained the water.
 
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