GouramiGuy

a book I read said that you can put any kind of natural wood in your tank, if you booil it for like 3 months!! It also said that you can coat it in polyurethane: making it water proof. I tried the polyurethane thing and apparently my polyurethane was not waterproof, because within a day it was wet, and getting in the water. I had to do a enormous water change but my fish were all right.

any other I deas on natural driftwood??

fishrule101

I read that you boil it and then put it in your tank.
This is what fishlore haves to sayriftwood
Often seen in live plant setups, a nice piece of driftwood can be a great centerpiece in a freshwater tank. Don't just pick any old piece of wood and place it into your tank. Get some from you local fish store and ask questions about the curing process. To be on the safe side, you really need to monitor any wood in a separate quarantine tank and use your aquarium test kit to test the water parameters in the quarantine tank for several weeks or months before you can assume that it's safe to add to your main tank.

Lucy

Here are a couple of threads that discuss this:

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/fr...driftwood.html

what wood is safe

I hope they help.

Alasse

Half of the wood in my tanks is bought and half found lying around. Never had a problem with using anything i've found. 1 piece was just over 1 metre long, so it just got soaked for a week or so to try water log it then put straight into the 5ft tank. Other pieces that were put in the 5ft didnt get any preparation at all. It leeched tannins badly for 2 months, but as i was cycling the tank with fish anyway, i just did frequent water changes.

I do not have anywhere to soak or prepare larger pieces so they generally go straight in, smaller pieces, sometimes i boil, other times i dont. Some even after boiling go through major fungus blooms, it eventually goes away.

I've certainly never lost any fish from using found wood. Though i do pick hardwoods, softwoods will rot and make a mess.

Matt

Hardwoods are best

The more natural looking the better in any tank

-Matt

Alasse

Another thing, ensure the wood is fully dried out!....Be cautious of adding any 'green' wood as this can rot wether its a hard or soft wood

soldieroffortune1974

If you have a pressure cooker(and the piece is small enough) you 'cook it for a couple of days.The tannins will come out and the wood will "age" in the pressure cooker.The best way is to cook until the water is very dark.Change the wtaer,and let the piece of wood dry.Put it back in the cooker,until the water is dark again.Change the water and let it dry.*********repeat until the water is clear********* This works for hard and soft woods,but avoid pine wood,the sap is poisonous and can't be cured.The sap crystallizes in the wood,and leeches into the water for (potentially) years.

kathyshovel

hi everyone,i got a great piece for old wood that i think would be great in fresh water tank ,it has been in a dam on a farm that i go to it is well aged and has a tunnel going from one side to the other ,hoping it would make a nice home for a fish ,but first i going do a experiment tomorrow i will boil it for at least 3 hours than put in a bucket of fresh rain water and i change the water every day for a week then i test the water to want the pH is ?i do this each week for a month and see how it goes ,anybody got anyother idea?please feel free as i love to hear !

lyndatu

I read somewhere that although boiling driftwood releases its tannins(brown coloring), kills bacteria and fungi and saturates the wood with water to make it sink, it also has its negative effects. Unboiled driftwood can last for many decades, but boiled driftwood is said to last for only less than 10 years. You can leave your driftwood on a bucket of water and change the water everyday to release its tannins and saturate it with water. When the tannin production has slowed down, clean the wood very well of fungi that might be growing on it(do not use soap), then place it in the tank. But driftwood can be frustatingly buoyant and will keep floating. Tie it to a bag of rocks to anchor it. Some tannins will be released in your tank, but after your weekly water changes it will eventually disappear.

I do not recommend using driftwood directly found on rivers, lakes, or from nature - these might contain chemicals, pollutants and organisms that may cause problems in your tank. Buy driftwood from pet stores to be sure. If you can't find driftwood, you can always use bogwood. It is also beautiful with a different structure from driftwood, but the great thing about them is that they do not release tannins into the water and does not float.

Good luck!

soldieroffortune1974

There's a lot of truth to what's being said,and it's good to be cautious about what you put in your aquarium.Although,I will have to disagree as well.!st bogwood isn't good for everyone's aquarium.It WILL change the PH,and it WILL contain organisms,so it has to be treated just like driftwood,it is driftwood,as far as treatment,quarantine,cleaning,etc.There's nothing different about treating different wood. The 2nd part I have to disagree with is not using driftwood found by rivers,lakes and streams.<--- everything in my aquariums came from rivers,lakes,streams,estuaries.Not trying to be smart here,but where do you think pet stores get their driftwood from? From people collecting driftwood FROM rivers,lakes streams,etc. and then selling it to them.Everything in the pet store,at 1 time was sitting out in nature at 1 point of it's life before it made it to the pet store,then to your aquarium.

Another thing is the point about driftwood not lasting as long as unboiled wood. There's 2 problems I see here,1st there's many organisms,bacterias,etc that will harm your aquarium.Not boiling the wood,is asking for trouble. The other thing is,IF the driftwood is 'cured' meaning dry and dead,boiling will bring some moisture into the wood grain,giving a 'new life' as far as looks go,and wont rot and will last literally forever.Since the natural 'curing process' by mother nature removes living matter and replaces it with carbon,preserving it (just a rudementary basic run down as to what happens) UNCURED,UNBOILED driftwood will rot,and eventually cause problems. If the wood is rotting or 'only capable of lasting for 10 years' it was'nt properly cured and dried,perhaps a part of it was still alive.

Alasse

I have pretty much all unboiled wood, some i've had for near on 8 yrs, 1 piece from my original tank would be close to 12yrs, and all are still as solid as the day i found them It was though, fully dried when i found it, not in the least green. Soaking puts moisture back into the wood, soaking wood waterlogs it so it stay under the water (floating wood is not waterlogged), the only advantage of boiling in this case is that the heat opens the wood fibres and it waterlogs quicker, also making it release tannins quicker.

If you are in a hurry to use the wood you found, then by all means boil it, but it doesnt HAVE to be boiled to be used

soldieroffortune1974

I agree with that too,there are lots of ways to cure and get rid of any unwanted organisms,but some type of cleansing process should be used,it doesn't HAVE to be done,but cleansing in 1 form or another is a good idea. It will only take 1 instance of being impatient and not doing something to cleanse the wood,for some really bad nasties to be transferred to the aquarium and destroy all the hard work and the inhabitants within the aquarium. As far as that goes,noone HAS to do anything,but some form of prevention is generally a good idea before placing anything into an aquarium.

NextstepAquatics

I have used Two very large tree stumps in my tanks neither were found in a river or stream. Those are less atractive to me due to the fact that the bacteria/ disease that may be on the wood is aquatic. Wood found out in the woods i feel is less opt to be a problem. As far as boiling the wood i have never had a desire to do so. I look at it this way if your going to be doing regular water changes then let the wood leach what ever it would like. Any gardener will tell you if you want plants to grow then you need to have organics. in this case "WOOD" let the wood be a natural fertilizer. My first tank i never used any ferts, and it was up for about three years i think it was. " first pic" Second set up is the third picture. And i have gone even farther toward letting DEATH/ waste be a natural fertilizer. i have added TWO FINCHES to the water fall area of the tank. I use there waste and the leaching rotting of the wood along with c02 to provide my ferts.

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TedsTank

natural woods found in swamps and ponds should always be boiled to kill any parasites and other organisms....soaking also is beneficial to leach out anymore minerals...depending on where you found it. As our oceans and rivers become more poluted these "things" can get into the wood... so soaking as long as you want or can wait is best....and change the water every day for the first week or so. I would never cover the wood with polyuratanes or any other coating....read the labels. As the wood is wet most of these coatings will come off or dissolve.