Shaina

...Literally stumbled, lol.

I went to visit family last week, and while hiking with my dog along a riverbed I stumbled in the tall grass...over this. Oddly it was a good 20' above the water line, so it's been there bleaching in the sun for quite some time and seems to be dry all the way through. Being the crazy fishlorian I am, I ended up carrying it with me for the remaining few miles in hopes of it working in my 29g, lol

There are about a million 'how to prep your found driftwood' threads on here so I think I'm covered there, lol, but I just wanted to share. The plant is to replace the current piece of driftwood in my planted 29 with this piece, but we shall see. Between baking, scrubbing, soaking, testing, and possibly weighing down, it'll be a while.

Standard 5g bucket for size comparison:

aquarist48

I think it will look great! What a nice find. If there is any way you can silicone it to a piece of slate It will help to keep it on the bottom.

TedsTank

WOW, nice wood!!! Scrape away any really soft rotten parts (if any). A wire brush does great.

capekate

Congrats on your find! Its a beauty.. That is going to look fantastic in your tank.

Shaina

Thanks I think it might work well as a pseudo "tree truck" type piece.

And yeah, so far I've baked it and then have been letting it soak for about 48 hours. Picking up a wire brush on the way home (the only one I have had been used with cleaning chemicals...not so good for the fish!), then letting it soak some more. It's oozing tannins like crazy, but that doesn't bother me...just want to make sure nothing is living in there and that I get the worst of the rotten bits gone.

There are all sorts of ways I can sink it so I'm really not worried about that part at all lol.

Once I think it's ready it will go in my spare 29g with my test guppies (ie. guppies from the feeder tank at the LFS which live in my spare tank to "test" new items before they make it to the display tanks...sounds mean but someone has to go first and I do everything I can to make the stuff safe before exposing them to it), then on to the display 29g...I think with tall plants growing up around it and some strategically placed Java Moss and Anubias, it may look quite nice


Up until now I've purchased all of my driftwood (Malaysian), so this is a new venture...couldn't pass up the piece though...heck it tried to take me out!

Lucy

Shaina, thats a great looking peice of wood, nice find.

agabr123

looks great! congrats!

bigbadroid

can you post a pic of your fish tank with the driftwood

Shawnie

wow how did i miss this thread..what an AMMMMMMMMMMAZING "stumble"!!

jack--sos

It looks like theres alot of sharp splinter like bits on there to me, if there are remember to sand them down to make sure no one gets injured

Amanda

Rofl. Nice stumble!

Shaina

Thanks guys...with how often I trip, I guess sooner or later something good had to come of it, right? *klutz*

Still in the process of soaking and cleaning the driftwood, as some parts of it were quite rotten (and I was sidetracked by a couple dog trials in which we were competing). I still need to find a wire brush...everywhere I look just has plastic. Making due with a conveniently-shaped stiff plastic bristle brush for now.

Here's how it looks now...took a pic of it earlier on the deck after scrubbing it and spraying it down with a hose...it's back to soaking now. Gives an idea of how it will look wet:



Pooch "helping"



Glad to...as soon as I get it in there. Unless you want a pic of the driftwood next to my tank?

Yeah, a lot of it's coming off with the rotted bits, but there are some sharp areas of good wood too...I'll dull them once I finish this step. One thing at a time

Shaina

I think I got all the rotten bits off, so I boiled it, scrubbed it, and boiled it again.
Now it's soaking in used tank water with added dechlorinator to try to take care of the tap water that's soaked in during the boiling process. As soon as my quarantine tank is empty I'll put it in there with my guppies for a final pre-display tank test.

Double, double toil and trouble
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble...

Amanda

rofl.
I can just imagine a non-fish keeping friend walking in:
"what the....??"

suemvb

mmmmmm what a yummy stew your cooking up there. lol It's got lots of pretty colors.

Shaina

Lol yeah ummm I made sure to do that when even my hubby was gone for the day lol. I could just see that turning into some joke about my cooking that I would never live down

suemvb

I've boiled wood that I've found and I know it does not smell too good lol Ya it may be better to do it when you hubby is out.
My cooking is so bad that if my husband had never seen me hanging of the side of a creek reaching under a spider web for a piece of wood, I could probably convince him I was trying a new recipe lol.

Shaina

Well after the boiling the boiling and baking I had it soaking in used tank water for about over a month, changing frequently and scrubbing anything loose off as I did so.

My quarantine tank is now empty except for Guinea, my poor test guppy who resides there. She and a platy swiped from my 29g have been living with the fully submerged piece of wood for about 48 hours now with no complications, however, I do have carbon running in that tank at the moment.

We'll see how dark that water gets once I take the carbon out...and whether there are any residual "baddies" that boiling, baking, soaking, and scrubbing failed to remove.

Due to travel, family visiting, and many other live events this is turning into a long process lol.