Driftwood for a fish hypochondriac

[noelberg]

The fish aren't hypochondriacs - it's me!

Got some driftwood from Petco.com, and I've been soaking it for a good 2-3 weeks. The water in the 4 gal bucket it was soaking in for a week had a pH of 6. Gonna boil it in the very near future. It's got rough edges and "splinters" but overall it seems like a good hardwood.

I may sound 110% stupid, but is there some way to test it before I put it in the tank? I'm having nightmares of fish genocide. And if it lowers the pH too much, should I put coral or some aquarium salt in the tank?

 

[guppygirly]

The coral will bring the pH up, but I'm pretty sure salt will make the water softer...The driftwood in my aquarium hasn't made a significant impact on my pH thus far and it's been in there for about 3 weeks.

 

[noelberg]

Good to know!

I guess I meant to say, has anybody had problems with driftwood purchased online or experienced driftwood that eventually rots or causes problems for the fish? Especially after boiling?

 

[guppygirly]

I have read that driftwood that has been boiled tends to get soft and rot quicker than wood that has not been boiled...but I can't find the post, so don't quote me on that. I usually put some salt and melafix into the bucket that I presoak my wood in, just in case. But again this is only my experiance with it and I use grapevine that I bought at the LFS.

 

[wuvmybetta]

I have read that driftwood that has been boiled tends to get soft and rot quicker than wood that has not been boiled...

Ya know...it never dawned on me until I just read that but, it's true! The driftwood that I boiled for hours and hours so I could put it in the tank asap...is now rotting. And the other driftwood that I scrubbed with a brush and soaked,is fine.Hmmm.

 

[PereguineFalcon]

Hmm, i personally have iron wood that comes from africa. It is already heavy enough that you don't have to presoak it. Only down side is that it does lower your pH. But a little crushed coral saved that prob. Trying to soak wood so it will stay down can be annoying. I soaked this one really nice piece of wook for almost 6 months and it still floated, had to hold it down with rocks. Well i gave that up, lol, its now a piece for my lizards! lol!

 

[thecichlidaddict]

I've found that unless used in large quantity driftwood has only a small efect on the ph, and you should not need to counter it with anything. Most of our tap water is harder then it needs to be, so if anything the wood will more likely be good for your fish.

 

[Landlocked]

I haven't found driftwood to have much effect on my tank, so long as it's properly cleaned.

 

[modernhamlet]

As I found out, if your KH is very low, even a small amount of leeching from driftwood can have a big impact on pH. I'm now using Baking Soda as a buffer to keep it in check.

 

[noelberg]

I'm gonna put in the driftwood and do some aquascaping tonight. Planning on adding a coral "cave" to balance out the pH.

I'll let you all know how the Petco.com Malaysian driftwood performs.

 

[silver]

So,
how DO you clean driftwood??

I desperately need to get a piece for my pleco, but the wood is really expensive at my LFSs and they didn't tell me that when I bought the little guy or I would have thought twice due to financial sitch.



Silver

 

[noelberg]

very carefully