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March 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Stumbled Across a Piece of Driftwood...
...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:  | 
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March 30th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| 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. | |
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March 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| WOW, nice wood!!! Scrape away any really soft rotten parts (if any). A wire brush does great. | |
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March 30th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Congrats on your find! Its a beauty..  That is going to look fantastic in your tank.  | |
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March 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| 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! 
Last edited by Shaina; March 30th, 2009 at 08:03 AM.
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March 30th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Shaina, thats a great looking peice of wood, nice find.
Last edited by Lucy; March 30th, 2009 at 08:19 AM.
Reason: typo | |
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March 30th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| looks great! congrats! | |
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April 9th, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| can you post a pic of your fish tank with the driftwood | |
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April 9th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| wow how did i miss this thread..what an AMMMMMMMMMMAZING "stumble"!! | |
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April 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| 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  | |
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April 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Rofl. Nice stumble! | 
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April 15th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| 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"  Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbadroid  can you post a pic of your fish tank with the driftwood | Glad to...as soon as I get it in there. Unless you want a pic of the driftwood next to my tank?  Quote:
Originally Posted by 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 | 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
Last edited by Shaina; April 15th, 2009 at 04:52 PM.
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May 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| 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...  | |
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May 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| rofl.
I can just imagine a non-fish keeping friend walking in:
"what the....??" | |
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May 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| mmmmmm what a yummy stew your cooking up there. lol It's got lots of pretty colors. | |
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May 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| 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 | |
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May 11th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| 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. | |
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June 20th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| 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. | |
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June 21st, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Glad you finally got it in your tank!
Did it sink once you got it in the tank?
Now all we need is a picture | |
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June 21st, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Well it's just the quarantine tank, but both this and its final destination are 29g tanks...and it look awfully big in a 29g ...
It doesn't QUITE sink...it's really really close though...I have a tiny terra cotta pot on top of it right now and that's enough to hold it down. Haven't decided which method I'll use to keep it down permanently.
I'll try to get a pic tomorrow when there's better light | |
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June 21st, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Hi Shaina
Great peice of wood. It's going to look great in your tank.
I've heard all the jokes about my cooking after boiling wood and rocks. lol
All in fun though, I'm a pretty good cook. | |
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June 21st, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thanks Lucy
Picture below...the lighting for the quarantine tank is a desklamp, lol, so basically it's really poor. Try to imagine it without the blurs
I also threw all the old fake plants I have (since all my tank are now live-plant only) and other such odds and ends in there when the Geophagus were residing there, to help them feel comfy and regain their health more quickly.
You can see it has stained the water a little bit.
For scaling: that's a 29g tank (36" x 12" x 18" h) | |
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June 21st, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Shai, Great looking peice of wood! Looks good in the tank.
BEth | |
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June 21st, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Maybe it will sink in a few years lol
It looks good underwater though. It has lots of pretty colors. | |
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June 23rd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Moved the driftwood to my 29g display tank tonight...and completely redid the tank as well (took out all the fish and plants, sorted/cleaned/trimmed plants, etc.). The driftwood, after being weighed down in the other 29g for a week, is now sinking so I didn't have to do anything on that end
Extra plants went to my 6g..which is now quite full...we'll see how they do there...
Anyway, here's a BEFORE pic for you...after pic to come...I have been letting this tank grow wild to have plenty of cuttings when the day came to add the driftwood:
W/ the old driftwood (now in the 90g) -- Aug 2008: 
Growing wild in the interim -- May 2009 (the night I brought home Fiyero the betta for my 6g, as you can see, lol): 
As you can see...things were getting a little rough lol... | |
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June 23rd, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Your tanks are beautiful! | |
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June 24th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| And now...with the new driftwood...
(drum roll please...this has been almost two months in coming!) 
Will post "clean" pics tomorrow after work...it's time to crash...*
It definitely looks "newly planted" and needs a bit to let things get settled...and I'm hoping the amazon sword on the left puts on some size to help "balance" the tank a bit, but overall I'm pretty happy with the arrangement as it stands...
I like to have both open and dense areas because I feel it gives the fish a range of "terrain" so everyone can feel comfortable, though this doesn't always make for the ideal tank aesthetically.
Either way I had fun
*Keep in mind I just refilled about an hour ago so the water's still "messy"...not bad though for having just completely replanted an established tank w/ eco-complete substrate...
Last edited by Shaina; June 24th, 2009 at 12:33 AM.
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June 24th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| I think you've done a wonderful job!  | |
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June 24th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thank you very much, aquarist48
It's still a bit "foggy" in there...those super fines that take a while to really get drawn out of the water or settle. I think I'm happy with it though | |
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July 13th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| That looks amazing. I enjoyed reading through the thread and what a find!
I had my own find once in the middle of a national park. We were hiking next to a waterfall and I saw this awesome piece of wood lodged.. half stumbled half fell down the bank to retrieve it and hauled the three foot long thing back 2 miles to our car lol. It's out in my pond now | |
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