'wild' driftwood questions

[freebyrd]

I went walking along the river yesterday looking for driftwood, and found some REALLY nice big pieces to put in my sa/ca community. i have a 12 gallon trash can that i use for my water changes to put the old water in, and i have them soaking in it now. I dont want my water to turn brown, and the biggest problem so far is that some pieces float! No telling how long these pieces have been dry, and i mean they are DRY. whats the best way to make them not float? how long should i soak them to avoid turning my water brown? Is there anything i can do to make sure that this driftwood wont hurt my fish? Is there anything i should be cautious about?

 

[manlyfish]

if you float them long enough they'll sink eventually

 

[Abyss]

How long do you reckon?

I have a big peice of bogwood and it's still floating like a turd after weeks.

 

[manlyfish]

i would think at the most a week should have it sinking

 

[jag123]

Fill the bucket with really hot water or boiling would be even better. Us a rock or a weight to hold the wood under the water completely - You may have to do this for several days in a row before the wood becomes soaked. This is the best method I have found to both soak the wood and kill any possible parasites/fungus. Also, it is very good that the driftwood that you found was extremely DRY - this will insure that you don't have any fungus or rotting wood that you may be introducing into your tank.

 

[knox_rbp]

I've had driftwood that floated so I tied it to rock to hold it under water. After 2 months I cut it loose and it shot right back to the surface.

 

[duipo]

So can i go down to any river and just pick up some wood and soak it then put it in my tank? or does it have to be a special type of wood?

 

[freebyrd]

i dont know? i dont see why not, i know hot water is better but i would need a lot of hot water, ive boiled small pieces of driftwood before and that worked great, but with these larger pieces i have no idea what i should do..i know that them being dry was good, however it makes them float! any suggestions would be awesome

 

[thefishmaster1]

i agree

 

[clgkag]

Hot water is the best. It opens the pores of the wood, for lack of a better word, and lets the water penetrate the whole piece better. I have weighed stuff down in the bathtub and just kept filling it with straight hot water.