Driftwood preparation

[MorganJamesSimpson]

I have been reading some very different things online like some people say that you have to soak it for 48 hours some places say you don't need to do anything and at the place where I bought it (Big als) they said on a sign to soak it for two to three weeks what is the correct way to do it.

 

[Essjay]

There is no correct way.

If you want the wood to stay on the bottom of the tank, soak it until it sinks - or use something to hold it down.
If the wood turns the water brown and you don't like that, change the water daily until the amount of brown is less.

 

[MorganJamesSimpson]

There is no correct way.

If you want the wood to stay on the bottom of the tank, soak it until it sinks - or use something to hold it down.
If the wood turns the water brown and you don't like that, change the water daily until the amount of brown is less.

Thank you it already sinks and I don't really care about the brown water so I will just put it in

 

[MattW]

I've always weighed driftwood down. I tried soaking but it never sunk even after 2 weeks. Slate + stainless steel bolts/screws

 

[Sparx]

I have had to place a rock on my driftwood to keep it from floating. I’ve had it in my tank for 6 weeks now, if I removed the rock it would probably still float

 

[gwand]

I have had to place a rock on my driftwood to keep it from floating. I’ve had it in my tank for 6 weeks now, if I removed the rock it would probably still float

How’s the wood affected your pH?

 

[jaylach]

Depends on the type of wood and how it was prepared before you acquired. I have some spider wood in my tank that I got from

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that sunk fine without any soaking but I have had some in the past that wanted to float. My solution was usually to drill some holes in what would be the bottom and fill with plant weights. Worked fine and, even if I changed the wood position, was not noticeable. Cap the drilled holes with a dab of silicone and it is really hard to notice. Oh, before you cap the hole fill with water so there is no air to add buoyancy.

I know that your wood already sinks but threw in the above for general info.

You may want to let the wood sit in the sun for a few days or put in your oven for an hour or two under low heat to kill off any possible parasites.

 

[Sparx]

How’s the wood affected your pH?

It’s quite low to be honest, it used to be around the 7 mark but it’s now around 6.4.. I was actually going to ask on here about how to raise it back to 7 which would be better for my reed fish and my mollys.
I didn’t know that was because of the wood, I guess every day is a school day!

 

[jaylach]

It’s quite low to be honest, it used to be around the 7 mark but it’s now around 6.4.. I was actually going to ask on here about how to raise it back to 7 which would be better for my reed fish and my mollys.
I didn’t know that was because of the wood, I guess every day is a school day!

Your PH at 6.4 is not an issue for a rope/reed fish as their range is 6-7.5 although it is at the lower end. Your PH level really just concerns your mollies.

 

[gwand]

It’s quite low to be honest, it used to be around the 7 mark but it’s now around 6.4.. I was actually going to ask on here about how to raise it back to 7 which would be better for my reed fish and my mollys.
I didn’t know that was because of the wood, I guess every day is a school day!

Crushed Coral or Aragonite Sand will slowly raise pH.

 

[jaylach]

Crushed Coral or Aragonite Sand will slowly raise pH.

I think that Aragonite is the better solution as it seems to be more long lasting. When I lived on Ohio my tap water PH was so low it was even borderline for my mostly SA cichlids tank. I mixed in Aragonite in the mostly river pebble substrate and it made for a stable PH level for a couple of years. When the PH eventually started to drop again I'd just remove some of the substrate and replace with an already prepared mix of river pebbles and Aragonite. Worked well with little effort. Since I was using under gravel filtration I used Aragonite pebbles rather than sand.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

As jaylach said, the type of wood matters. Vor many years I used cyprus which is a very light wood. It needed to be attached to a tile with a SS screw. Then the tile went under the substrate and that held it down.

I eventually switched to using Malaysian driftwood and that sinks immediately. I usually put it in a bucket of water for a day before putting it into a tank. that way anything that might leach out would show up. I almost never see any sort of film in the buclet of water which meant to me it was safe to put it a tank.

All the wood in the pic below is Maylasian