Fixing Wood Down

I have some nice wood for my aquarium (sold as 'vine roots') which refuses to sink. I'm thinking I can secure it down as follows in an upcoming full rescape (emptying tank entirely, new substrate etc):

1) Zip tie wood together as required - I have two peices I want to put together as 'one'
2) Using brass screws bolt the wood together and then bolt them to either some slate (may crack!) or some perspex sheet
3) Remove zip ties
4) Put this down in the tank below the substrate
5) Put some stones/pebbles around the perspex before adding substrate over the top

Screws would be used below the wood so once in the aquarium the screw heads etc would not be visible.

I did wonder about using aquarium sealant instead of screws but I don't know how permanent this would be as the wood ages?

Tough one. Will they not sink eventually? Not sure how save the screws would be. You could use some ADA wire (probably just normal plastic coated garden wire) to tie them together and leave it like that instead of screwing it together.

I've never seen "vine roots" advertised before, that from an LFS?

Yep, vine roots were the name given to the wood in my LFS. I'm thinking brass screws should be OK, they don't rust etc though I am unsure if they'd have any other issues with the water?

I've soaked them for ages, they just bob back up to the surface when I take any weights etc off them.

I'd be inclined to use stainless steel rather than brass but someone in the know may have better advice. To get my wood to sink I drilled some holes in the wood and inserted some stainless steel rods. Worked a treat.

James

I tied my vine roots to chunks of slate with fishing line and covered the slate with substrate.

I will have a play, cheers!

I wouldnt use Brass as it contains copper. Might not be to bad for fish but it would likely kill any shrimp if you decided to get any later on. Stainless steel would be the way to go, as far as I know iron, nickel and chromium are fish and invert safe in small doses.

I had that problem the best thing to do is get some stainless steal screws and use them to attach some slate to the base of the wood, I used cotton and regreted it but after 2 months it's nice and sunk

i had a similar problem but i jus soaked it for about 1 week and then it sank lol good luck