driftwood fail

[mcordelia]

This is just kind of funny, but there's a question underlying this as well. So as some of you probably know, I ended up with two massive pieces of driftwood when I went out to look at a tank I was going to buy that ended up not being a sale. One of the pieces of driftwood is solid and I have no qualms about, the other one is pretty friable, and that's where my question for today comes from. A piece broke off from that big piece of driftwood, and I originally just tossed it in the yard thinking it was useless, but as I've been setting up the 20gal QT I figured it would be worth putting the small piece in there (why not). So I went and retrieved it from the yard, brushed off the bugs, and started to wash it. It didn't take much for the entire piece to end up like this:

Sorry, terrible picture I know.

So, no driftwood for the 20gal womp womp.

However, since this piece comes off the big piece (right hand piece in this picture, my foot is there for scale), what does that mean for the big piece?

As far as the integrity of the piece on the right, it is definitely less "solid" than the piece on the left, but the cave part is so cool I really would like to use it. What are the downsides of using friable driftwood? What are the pros/cons I need to consider in this situation?

 

[HoldenOn]

This is just kind of funny, but there's a question underlying this as well. So as some of you probably know, I ended up with two massive pieces of driftwood when I went out to look at a tank I was going to buy that ended up not being a sale. One of the pieces of driftwood is solid and I have no qualms about, the other one is pretty friable, and that's where my question for today comes from. A piece broke off from that big piece of driftwood, and I originally just tossed it in the yard thinking it was useless, but as I've been setting up the 20gal QT I figured it would be worth putting the small piece in there (why not). So I went and retrieved it from the yard, brushed off the bugs, and started to wash it. It didn't take much for the entire piece to end up like this:

View attachment 123989

Sorry, terrible picture I know.

So, no driftwood for the 20gal womp womp.

However, since this piece comes off the big piece (right hand piece in this picture, my foot is there for scale), what does that mean for the big piece?View attachment 123990

As far as the integrity of the piece on the right, it is definitely less "solid" than the piece on the left, but the cave part is so cool I really would like to use it. What are the downsides of using friable driftwood? What are the pros/cons I need to consider in this situation?

Well, I'm no driftwood expert, but thinking logically there's a couple things I would be worried about. First being, well, complete and utter destruction and a bunch of tiny pieces of wood floating around in your tank. I don't think your fish would be compelled to eat them, but they sure would mess with your filter. Next thing is the longevity and nasties growing on it. If it's that frail it's likely it is filled to the brim with yummy things for syntrophic organisms to chow down on. I'd put the big piece in the 20 G quarantine while it's cycling and see what's going down!

 

[CassCats]

Itll fall apart faster overtime. I got a lovely little hollow piece.... my pleco chewed a sunroof into it.

 

[mcordelia]

So basically, moral of the story is take away the parts that I don't like about it and deal with the bits that come off over time if I do use it?

And @HoldenOn I'm pretty sure it would topple the entire 20gal if I tried to fit any part of it in there... It's currently 2/3 submerged outside in a 60 gal barrel

 

[FFGuest6357]

I had a piece I was trying to use and it was similar in texture.

I can’t tell you anything about how it will chemically or biologically affect the tank, but it will add to the maintenance.

I parted ways my my piece, it was very small though. De hydrated it and sent it to the fire pit.

 

[mcordelia]

What kind of issues was it giving you?

 

[FFGuest6357]

It was a bit flakey when I picked it up used. It was previously used in an aquarium, but had been out of a tank for a few months.

I boiled it with peroxide twice to kill as many bad hitchhikers as possible, but it just completely softened up on me. Even tried drying it out and rehydrating it. After setting it for a week, and putting it in the tank, it just started falling apart, if you looked at it the wrong way pieces would fall off.

my assessment was that it was too far along in the decomposition cycle to be useable in a tank.

 

[mcordelia]

I took a garden tool that was not purpose-built for what I used it for to the big piece of driftwood today. Though a lot of the driftwood log is now in my garden, surprisingly a lot of it was still hard and bent my garden tool thing to a shape that it did not used to be.... There's certainly more than what I can fit into the 20gal so I guess that's a plus. It got kind of ugly but I tossed it back into the soaking barrel, we will see how it is in a few weeks or a month or whenever I actually get the 125gal (the lady from the store called me on Friday saying it might be a January kind of thing....). As I am writing this I realize I should have taken pictures, sorry about that!

Anyway, mostly pointless update other than it might still be usable!

 

[FFGuest6357]

good to know it may still be mostly usable.

get some pictures and let’s see the update!

 

[Fishiemang]

You guys just grabbing any old driftwood ya find and tossing it in your tanks?

I always use malaysian drift wood. Stuff is robust. You could boil it for 3 days straight and not.ruin it. My pleco's love the stuff. They chew on it and it don't wear down very fast at all.

 

[mcordelia]

I'd love for my budget to allow buying giant glorious pieces of driftwood to fill my 6ft tank with. Alas, that is not the reality, and there's something to be said for the fact that if the local fish don't die from it, then I can't make it worse by soaking it/treating it/preparing it for my tank.

 

[Fishiemang]

I wasn't sayin it was a bad idea. Just never known anyone brave enough to do it. Always thought I should try it myself one day, because I can usually get a hold of some pretty neat driftwood along the rivers where I am at. Solid stuff. Anything from big cool looking logs to small, twisted root things...may have to try it next time I find a cool chunk...

 

[mcordelia]

Oh, I see. I got the idea originally from a person I almost bought a fish tank from (but didn't because it turned out it leaked). She had had local driftwood in her tank for years, without more than rinsing it off with the garden hose before putting it in her tank. Her tank looked beautiful and healthy, so I figured if she can, why can't I? She's the one who gave me the two pieces of driftwood I currently have soaking, and I'm working with someone on getting some additional driftwood shipped to me as I work towards setting up the 125 gallon