drift wood

[SpEeDhOrN]

iv found a really nice piece of wood on my local beech. is it safe to put in my tank and if so what should i do with it first to get the salt out of it ?? ne ideas

 

[Phantom Thief]

Hey SH,

I personally wouldnt use it, though some will dispute me. As to get rid of the salt, soak the wood in freshwater (tap water will do). Change the water every 24 hrs. I think some of the pros would advise you better.

P.T.

 

[Phantom Thief]

P.S: I forgot to ask if you want to put it in a fw or sw tank.

 

[SpEeDhOrN]

fw tank

 

[De Plano]

Soak it to get most of the salt out. You could put a polyurethane varnish on it to seal it up if you are worried about it.
(try a search on the forums for driftwood)

 

[Great Lakes]

AS Deplano has said, a search would give you much info.

 

[Cory Keeper]

Washing off the salt and soaking it should be OK, but take into account what fish you have.

I wouldn't risk using it if you keep Corydoras or Plecs because even the smallest amount of salt left on the wood could spell disaster for them .

Coating the wood with varnish may work but does have it's drawbacks. Firstly, getting a complete seal around the wood would be difficult without using many layers of varnish, which would then look unnatural. Secondly, some fish nibble wood and may be poisoned by the varnish .

Personally, I wouldn't risk it. But if you do go ahead with it, good luck and I hope everything works out fine. Driftwood always looks good in a tank .

 

[RobertK]

We always used polyurethane varnish on bogwood, but you need to give it probably 4 coats to seal it, it does dry to a very hard durable finish so I wouldn't think you'd have trouble with fish eating it.
The big problem is bog wood sinks when it becomes water logged, so if you seal it you keep the water out, so it remains bouyant and you need a heck of a lot of weight to make it sink.

 

[thething]

I READ THAT THE BEST THING TO DO IS TO BOIL THE DRIFT WOOD OVRENIGHT IN A LARGE PAN. THATS IS SUPPOSED TO SORT IT OUT