Questions relating to driftwood

Hello,

In the aquarium I'm planning, I of course want some driftwood because it looks wonderful. Probably quite a bit of it, too, though it all depends on what I can find at my LFS. I've been reading about it, though, and it sounds like you have to cure it first. Which is fine, but I have a few questions about the process.

1)Curing is to stop the wood from leeching tannins and messing with your ph, correct. But I've read that it will still do so to an extent even after it's cured. Is this true? And if so, how much? I don't know what my ph is yet, but I think it's somewhere around neutral. Some of the fish I want to stock prefer slightly basic water, so I really don't want the wood altering my water chemistry too much.

2)How long does it take to cure? Like days or weeks or months?

3)Will the wood at my LFS be cured, or at least partially cured? Can you buy pre-cured wood?

4)How much does the tannins make my ph drop? Like say, if it was 7.4, would the wood make it go down to 7.2, or more like 6.4?

5)How long does the wood continue to leech tannins into the water (if it even does so after curing)?

6)I've seen some with plates attached to the bottom so that they don't float. But if you are boiling the wood, is it safe to do so with the plates? I don't know, but I think they are either slate or some sort of metal.


7)Another thing is that I've seen some fake wood at my LFS. Some of it is hideous of course, but some is alright. This would solve the tannin issue, but I've read about the paint chipping on fake ornaments. I think these ones are made out of polyresin, but they might be made of ceramic. Will chipping be a problem for them?

 

1. Yes ever after sitting in other water for a while it still makes the water a light tea color but is cleared up with every WC but by the end of the week again it a light tea color again.

2. My instructions were to let it sit in a tub of water and 3-4 times a day put it in boiling water.

3. It probably wont.

4. Before I added it to my tank my ph was 8.0 and now it's 7.4-7.8

5.I've had mine for two months and it's still giving of tannins.

6. I'm not sure, I've never seen them with plates.

7. I have some of those and some of the paint does seem to get rubbed in off but most of my pieces I've had for 3+ years and it's barely noticeable.

Hope I helped and good luck.

 

3-4 times a day? The thing I read said that you only have to boil it twice in total. I'm away most of the day, so I don't think I'll be able to boil more than once or twice lol

Curing driftwood seems like an awful lot of work, and I have seen some nice artificial pieces that look pretty real. I'm going to cover the whole thing in java moss, so chipping won't be that noticeable. Of course, I still have to find out what my ph is first. If its too high, like 8 or more, I might use driftwood or even incurred driftwood to get it down a little. I don't mind the look of tea stained water. But if it's already where I want it, I don't want the wood messing around with it too much.

But hey, maybe someone could list the pros and cons of real vs fake to help me make my decision? Or share some of your experience with either product

 

Hello,

In the aquarium I'm planning, I of course want some driftwood because it looks wonderful. Probably quite a bit of it, too, though it all depends on what I can find at my LFS. I've been reading about it, though, and it sounds like you have to cure it first. Which is fine, but I have a few questions about the process.

1)Curing is to stop the wood from leeching tannins and messing with your ph, correct. But I've read that it will still do so to an extent even after it's cured. Is this true? And if so, how much? I don't know what my ph is yet, but I think it's somewhere around neutral. Some of the fish I want to stock prefer slightly basic water, so I really don't want the wood altering my water chemistry too much.

Yes they definitely will. After 1 1/2 years of being in my tank, my driftwood is still mildly leaching tannins.

2)How long does it take to cure? Like days or weeks or months?

I wouldnt worry too much about overly-curing it, since its going to leach anyhow. Just boil it and soak it alternately for 3-4 days then add it to your tank.

3)Will the wood at my LFS be cured, or at least partially cured? Can you buy pre-cured wood?

It will not. I don't know of any place personally that you could but 100% pre-cured wood.

4)How much does the tannins make my ph drop? Like say, if it was 7.4, would the wood make it go down to 7.2, or more like 6.4?

It won't drop it too much. I have 4 pieces of driftwood in my tank -- 2 older and 2 newer -- My base readings are 7.2 and after 48 hours it will read 6.6-6.8 depending on time of day.
You can counteract this by adding crushed coral to your filter -- Slowly!! -- until you balance out your parameters to your liking.
For instance, I have those 4 pcs of driftwood and also c02 running. I did a fishless test when I first set up my 55 gallon -- base reading was 7.2 and after 3 days of running c02 and driftwood it dropped my ph to 6.0. Adding roughly about 1 1/4 cup of crushed coral to my canister filter raised it to 7.4-7.6 steady.

5)How long does the wood continue to leech tannins into the water (if it even does so after curing)?

Well, as stated above, I've had mine for years, and it still leaches -- not considerably much, but still a bit. I would say give it about 9-11months before you would stop noticing tannins in the water if you held off 2 weeks w/o a WC.

6)I've seen some with plates attached to the bottom so that they don't float. But if you are boiling the wood, is it safe to do so with the plates? I don't know, but I think they are either slate or some sort of metal.

I would be careful with slat rock, it can overheat and violently crack when boiled.
Personally, I would just float the driftwood in a 5 gallon bucket for a week after boiling it for a few days - that will water-log the driftwood so it will lose its buoyancy.

7)Another thing is that I've seen some fake wood at my LFS. Some of it is hideous of course, but some is alright. This would solve the tannin issue, but I've read about the paint chipping on fake ornaments. I think these ones are made out of polyresin, but they might be made of ceramic. Will chipping be a problem for them?

Chipping can certainly be an issue for a hungry fish -- they can be easily mistaken for fish food. So be careful if you choose this route.

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You can do an active curing or a more passive curing. The more active curing involves boiling water and your piece, and the passive curing is just soaking it in water. Maybe at this time of year your room temp will be higher than normal (for example, my room temperature is currently at or slightly above my normal tank temperature). Or you can add boiling water to the tub you have your driftwood in once a day.

Usually people do passive curing for longer than active curing, because the main point of curing is getting out the tannins (which happens faster in hotter water) and waterlogging (which I think also happens faster in hotter water?). But I don't really mind tannins in my water so I just poured boiling water over my big manzanita piece (to sterilize) and soaked it for a day and then stuck it in.

I've heard that there are LFS that sell driftwood right out of their tank, so it's been pre-soaked and pre-waterlogged.

My pH is about 7.9 and I've never seen an effect from driftwood tannins on it. I have pretty hard water, which I believe makes a difference.

I've never had fake driftwood except as the floating betta log, so I don't really have anything to offer. But in my opinion, the more natural you can make your tank, the better.

 

Hello,

In the aquarium I'm planning, I of course want some driftwood because it looks wonderful. Probably quite a bit of it, too, though it all depends on what I can find at my LFS. I've been reading about it, though, and it sounds like you have to cure it first. Which is fine, but I have a few questions about the process.

1)Curing is to stop the wood from leeching tannins and messing with your ph, correct. But I've read that it will still do so to an extent even after it's cured. Is this true? And if so, how much? I don't know what my ph is yet, but I think it's somewhere around neutral. Some of the fish I want to stock prefer slightly basic water, so I really don't want the wood altering my water chemistry too much.

2)How long does it take to cure? Like days or weeks or months?

3)Will the wood at my LFS be cured, or at least partially cured? Can you buy pre-cured wood?

4)How much does the tannins make my ph drop? Like say, if it was 7.4, would the wood make it go down to 7.2, or more like 6.4?

5)How long does the wood continue to leech tannins into the water (if it even does so after curing)?

6)I've seen some with plates attached to the bottom so that they don't float. But if you are boiling the wood, is it safe to do so with the plates? I don't know, but I think they are either slate or some sort of metal.


7)Another thing is that I've seen some fake wood at my LFS. Some of it is hideous of course, but some is alright. This would solve the tannin issue, but I've read about the paint chipping on fake ornaments. I think these ones are made out of polyresin, but they might be made of ceramic. Will chipping be a problem for them?

These are all very good questions to ask but without knowing the type of wood, how long its been dead, and where its been since its died (underwater, sun dried, or both) you can get very varying answers. Everyone will have different experiences with driftwood.

I've heard that Manzanita has very little tannins compared to other woods in the aquarium trades, and will sink within a few days/week of soaking so that's a nice option to look into though I don't know if your LFS would sell it unless you live in an area where the tree grows.

I can't vouch for all LFS but mine (Petco) sells pretreated driftwood that's left soaking in their fish tank. Unfortunate they're rather small pieces, no more than 10 inches, but they don't have any tannins when I put them in my tank. I simply scrub them clean before they go in since they're coming out of an over stocked tank.

I haven't notices much of a PH drop with my driftwood, but again every piece is different, and size of wood, tank, type, as well as your water's KH (high kh= less likely to have flux in PH) will be important factors. I have high kh, at most my ph might have gone down .2 from its starting range.

Again many variables, apparently boiling the wood several times (using new water each time and boiling 1-2 hours at a time) helps pull it out quicker, but it can take a lot of boil treatments or many weeks just cold water curing depending on type and age. The 3 pieces I have (2 from Petco and 1 from eBay that's still soaking to sink) all do not leech any tannins but I was lucky and got old wood that had already been submerged a long time.

I personally hate mounted driftwood, it can be done several wrong ways so I don't trust buying any as it could do more harm then good. Mounted to manufactured stone (chemicals/cement) or using non stainless steel screws (or even stainless steel that was poorly made and breaks) or using calk/sealant that's not aquarium safe, all are serious possibilities that should be looked into and avoided. But that's just my opinion, there's plenty of people that love it and would give better advice on curing it.

I have no feedback on fake ornamental decor, I went o-natural.

 

I added store bought driftwood to my tank. I soaked it for an hour or two, then gave it a rinse with very hot water and put it in. The water has not become tea coloured and my pH is the same. So I guess it was already cured. Just ask.

 

Good morning,

I have 5 large (17"+) pieces of Malaysian Driftwood in my 265g tank. It's heavy and sinks on its own. I simply rinsed it off and placed it in my tank. My pH is holding steady at 8.0 but I do water changes every 5 days so I do not see nor expect a drop in my pH levels.

Tannins are not a bad thing. I think the tinted water adds to the more natural look of the tank, creates a more natural environment for the fish. Helps to add to better water quality.

All of my water for water changes is prefiltered, heated and treated and I also keep extra driftwood in my 55 gallon drum. I also keep Peat Pellets in a media bag in my filters of both tanks.

As long as you keep up with frequent (I suggest at least weekly) water changes, your pH should remain stable.

Adding Activated Carbon to your filter will help to remove the tannins to a very small degree. It will not remove it all, the wood has to run its course so to speak, but the Carbon will keep your water clear, change it out for fresh every 3 to 4 weeks.

Ken's in the link below has some great prices on their woods:

(not my site)

Ken