sterilizing driftwood

[Ambervikings91]

Rinse off well with a hose, then place it in a rubbermaid style tub, then add water direct from the tap & allow to sit for 24-48 hrs. The chlorine/chloramine should wipe out most organisms that are on or in the wood. If you want to take it a step further, add a mega dose of kosher pickling salt, that should take care of anything that was lucky enough to survive the chlorine/chloramine. Then set out in the sun for a few days until the wood is bone dry. That will complete the sterilization process.

I've been using that process for years, never had any type of bacteria or pathogen survive it.

thanks for the tip, the wood is in a tub in my garage right now!

 

[wharfrat]

One thing you really need to be certain to make sure of and that its totally dead. If there is still any greeness of living tissue inside it can be holding some really nasty toxins that'll leach out. Envision pine sap ozzing from the brach into your tank over time. Not trying to scare you, but just make sure you make sure. I used to love walking along the shore of Lake Erie collecting wood. Sure do miss that. And salting the water is a great suggestion too. Shoot us some pics of what you get if you can..always up for seeing others scores

 

[Ambervikings91]

i'll be uploading some pics in a few days i think, it really is beautiful, it looks and feels very dead, nothing growing on it, very dry, there was a little bit of bark kinda hanging onto it still but i shouldn't have much problem removing that!