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Driftwood


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I went for a little beach walk on the weekend and collected some driftwood. I have read elsewhere that beach driftwood shouldn’t be used. No explanation was given to why it couldn’t be used.

I have had it soaking since Sunday and it’s still quite buoyant, how long does it take to fill will water so it will sink?

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I've used it without problems. I think that there may be a few reasons for the rule.

First would be the disease angle as any collected wood has the potential to carry pathogens, but to be honest a lot of pet shops carry collected wood anyway, so I generally treat it all as if it needed sterilising. This is less of a problem if you are going salt -> fresh. :)

Second would be pollutants and contaminants. Petrol exhaust, oils, excrement, whatever sort of environmental pollution you can think of. I'd say it would depend on your collection site.

Third would be the state of decay. Once floaty wood does sink, it has a faster rate of decay than hardwood that sinks pretty much straight away.

My stick took about 3 weeks to sink with 2 determined hermit crabs hanging off it.

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I got wood that was hard wood.. Anything I picked up I bashed against my head.. If it splintered it was no good... if I knocked myself unconscious it was good wood.

No seriously... I only got wood that didnt splinter or break apart when I knocked against other wood. So it hopefully shouldnt break apart to much.

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Be wary of the contaminants in carlovers water - it's all recycled now, so you're gaining whatever detergents, oils, and pollutants that have kept that 'pressure' water brown and stinky - even if you use the 'spot free rinse' it's not pressurised like the other, so you'll need to do plenty of clean water soaking afterwards...

The other reason I would be wary of 'beach' driftwood is the potential for salt buildup... I don't know if it is an issue or not, but surely wood that's been soaked in salt water is going to leech salt back out, just like tannins... *that* worries me more than the potential for bugs, which I'd be satisfied were 90% dealt with from a good repeated pouring over with boiling water, and some dips in a really hot laundry tub...

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Hey Brett ,,, just a suggestion ,,,,since this driftwood may or may not be a bit dodgy in with your fishes ,, what about using it as a feature outside the tanks just to add some ambience to the whole room.That way theres no risk of anything funky leeching out into your water and you can still have it to look at...maybe even attach some silk plants to it so it looks more aqautic ....just something ti think about..

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Brett,

I used to live by the sea, and lots of people used to collect driftwood for tanks and for decoration around their house/garden etc.

Most of them said it is more of a lead buildup that can be a concern.. especially if its been floating around in shallow water for a while.. whether its correct or not I dont know..

I cant see how a bit of salt would do much harm, and should dissolve..

What about putting it in the bath..run as hot a water as you have on it.. and leave it there..(until someone wants a bath at least) lol

Lots of people have driftwood in tanks..

This is a good planted tank forum.. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/

have a nose in there and see if it has anything about it..

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/equipmen...-driftwood.html (thats one about driftwood)

HTH

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:thumbs: well I wouldn't go *that* far, but I've done something similar with a few shells on my SW tank, looks pretty good. I used to have a lovely twisted driftwood piece obscuring part of the top of the lid (handles were ugly) and it looked fairly good.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well been soaking my driftwood for a while now, about 3 weeks? some of it has sank... added freshwater at about 1.5 weeks then checked it today... peeeuuuwwww it STANK! and had a nice layer of slime across the top, looked like the same as the skin on boiled milk! Have emptied the water and added new water again. Hmmm this esky im using is going to need a good clean out.

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  • 3 months later...

use your bath. and fill with hot water from the tap or boiling water from the kettle and heat up in a pot on the stove....

it took a full year for my bog wood to finally sink by itself. so i placed to big rocks on top of it to wiegh it down. now that it has finally sunk ive left the rocks on it cause i reLIZED THEY FORMED SWEET LITTLE CAVES FOR MY FISH TO HIDE IN.....

sorry for the captions. didnt realize i has capps lock on....

hope this has helped....

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