cuteusagi

My husband and I were so excited to finally invest in a 29 gallon tank for a brand new aquarium! As one of the pieces of decoration, we decided to get a piece of driftwood. However, it has been in my bathtub for a month (with frequent water changes) and there has been NO change to the amount of buoyancy in the wood. I have always used the hottest water when in the tub, and we don't have a pot big enough to boil it in. Is this expected? I have 2 weights on top of it to keep it fully submerged in the water, and we're really anxious to set up our new tank and start cycling it. But we don't want to put anything in until the driftwood is finished!! I'm not sure if this is the place to post about driftwood, but hopefully someone can help us!!!

Thanks!!!
Meghan, Paul, and Maurice (our rainbow shark)

Chief_waterchanger

Try drilling a series of 1-2 inch deep holes (not width) along what will be used as the bottom of the piece of driftwood. Size, type, and freshness all are contributing factors on the length of time it takes to absorb all the water it needs. Dino told me he had a 45 pound piece that took a year to finish.

Incase the reasoning for the holes was not clear:

Having the holes drilled allows for the inner part of the driftwood's water absorbtion to be expedited, which of course would speed the process up.

cuteusagi

It's already on a base (slate or shale), so is there somewhere else we could drill some holes? It's about 1 1/2 ft. to 2 ft. long and is about 3 inches in diameter around. I have no idea how fresh it was when we got it or what type it is. We would just really like to be able to start cycling our tank as we have everything else ready.

Chief_waterchanger

You can really drill anywhere, but drilling on the bottom or back is for looks.

Butterfly

You could also add a larger piece of rock to hold it down.
Carol

capekate

Hi there, as butterfly mentioned you can use rocks as part of the decor to hold the wood down. I was surprised to find through research that there are actually some driftwood that will never sink! I have a nice piece of driftwood in my tank that I use three pink quartz rocks to hold down and it works out well.

Butterfly

Not a great pic but maybe it will show what I mean. This piece of wood has a piece of rock drilled and screwed to each end. The rock is hidden under the sand.
Carol

Attached Images

MVC-830F.JPG (72.9 KB, 23 views)

Attached Files

MVC-830F.JPG_thumb (36.7 KB, 1 views)

capekate

OOOO.. very nice Butterfly! Love your tank!

capekate

and here is a photo of my driftwood that I am holding down with the pink quartz rocks.

Attached Images

fish photos.jpg (166.8 KB, 23 views)

Attached Files

fish photos.jpg_thumb (31.0 KB, 0 views)

Butterfly

Looks good!
Carol