Is This Driftwood Safe???

[Phikmis]

I bought this to put in a fish tank, is it safe? There are nails in it to hold several pieces together. The man at petco said it was fine. How would I bake it? I believe it also needs to soak to make it sink. Opinions? Suggestions?

 

[ajgravedigger13]

Soak it and boil it. Grapewood is fine in a tank

 

[Phikmis]

Soak it and boil it. Grapewood is fine in a tank

Soak and bake for how long? Temperature? What about the nails

 

[Fanatic]

I wouldn't buy that driftwood.
Someone here bought the same brand, and it didn't work.

Grapewood WILL float, and takes weeks to sink.
It will also develop slime over time, and quickly rot.

 

[Phikmis]

I wouldn't buy that driftwood.
Someone here bought the same brand, and it didn't work.

Grapewood WILL float, and takes weeks to sink.
It will also develop slime over time, and quickly rot.

Good to know, thank you!

 

[ajgravedigger13]

Get mopanI two tone African wood and some manzanita branches. It looks great together. The amount of time and temperature doesn't matter. The longer the better of course

 

[Fanatic]

Be careful with mopani.
Sometimes people don't like all the tannins it releases, but I'm OK with that.

Manzanita is wonderful, and it's very lightweight wood.

 

[Phikmis]

The one I bought is gr

Get mopanI two tone African wood and some manzanita branches. It looks great together. The amount of time and temperature doesn't matter. The longer the better of course

the one I bought is grapewood according to the label!

 

[Phikmis]

tannins don't

Be careful with mopani.
Sometimes people don't like all the tannins it releases, but I'm OK with that.

Manzanita is wonderful, and it's very lightweight wood.

Tannins don't bother me, I'll definitely soak it ahead of time!

 

[ajgravedigger13]

I like the brown water look personally

 

[Jocelyn Adelman]

That particular piece of wood isn't ok....

you can't have nails in a fish tank...

If it says reptile safe it does not mean aquarium safe.

 

[James17]

I'd have to agree, you don't want a rusting nail in a fish tank.

 

[Phikmis]

That particular piece of wood isn't ok....

you can't have nails in a fish tank...

If it says reptile safe it does not mean aquarium safe.

I was debating taking the nails out, trying to figure out if keeping the wood itself is worth it!

 

[2211Nighthawk]

As tempting as it is, I'd never buy wood that is meant for reptiles. One for nails, and two, if it was perfectly safe you'd think you would hear ALOT more about using it in aquariums.

 

[Pdiddy]

I've looked this up and everyone seems to agree that white fuzzy on driftwood is normal and safe for fish, but this just really doesn't look right... I just want to be certain I'm ok to add fish and this won't harm them.

Currently doing a fishless cycle with fish food. I added a large piece of driftwood and about a week later a medium sized piece. Pretty quickly the medium sized piece started growing white fuzzy on it and it's only gotten worse and now after a week or 2 it's starting to spread onto the large piece. It looks like fungus or something. Is there anything I can do about this and is it really safe to add fish?

 

[Mrfister1116]

It’s some some sort of mold I’d pull it out and get something else

 

[Pdiddy]

Really? I don't want to have to throw out both pieces, I just bought the large one for a good chunk of money and it only recently started having this grow on it after the other wood spread to it. The smaller piece of wood used to be in an aquarium several years ago but I've never had this happen before. You think they're both ruined now?

 

[StarGirl]

Really? I don't want to have to throw out both pieces, I just bought the large one for a good chunk of money and it only recently started having this grow on it after the other wood spread to it. The smaller piece of wood used to be in an aquarium several years ago but I've never had this happen before. You think they're both ruined now?

If you are just cycling boil the wood and try again! Never hurts since there aren't fish in yet.

 

[Marinus]

You could take them out and boil them to help kill off anything that might be growing on them/help sterilize them. I have had some of my driftwood get a little bit of white fuzz but it was usually in areas where there was some residual moss/dirt left on and it went away pretty quickly and did not spread. If it's spreading I would take both pieces out and boil them.

 

[Brian Knowles]

It's a type of fungus. It is completely harmless. It is very common on "new" wood. Take it out, and rinse it, may have to repeat a couple of times. It will go away.

 

[Rdrb]

Bro it might also be better if u keep the wood sinking outside fr a few weeks let the tannins go and also you may remove unwanted microorganisms like that easily then rather than it staying in the tank

 

[Jpfacer]

Idk I find a lot of driftwood locally and I cook it in my oven at 200 degrees for a few hours and it seems to work great

 

[Dechi]

Completely normal. Mine did the same and it took about 4 weeks to disappear. I had fish in my tank and the algae eaters even ate it.

To remove it, once or twice a week I would use a cooking brush and go over it. It’s really easy to take apart, you leave it in the water and just brush over it.

Your tank will still look nice and you can keep your wood.

 

[saltwater60]

I agree don’t worry about it. Keep nutrient low and it should subside.

 

[Truckjohn]

I had similar. The driftwood started accumulating a lot of soft gooey stuff amd algae on it. Added some snails and they ate it all...

Snails for the Win!