Help!

[mrred62]

I have come out of fish retirement after 12 years, have set up my tank(30), and was curious if anyone knows how to make wooden stumps, logs, etc........i know they need to be aged, but i am not sure how to go about it or what material to use. Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Inchworm]

Hi mrred62

Welcome to the forum!

I moved your thread into the DIY section because I think some of our more creative members might be able to help you.

I'm glad you decided to start keeping fish again and will look forward to reading your posts.

 

[Nospherith]

I'm not quite sure how to "make" this stuff, but I do know that the wood needs to be completely dead. Some person in australia had a ranch where they would uproot stumps and then tie them up and let them float in a stream. after a year they would get them and have suitable driftwood. I would assume it would be quite a while to make driftwood since it has to be completely dead or else the process of decomposition and such will leak nasty chemicals into your tank. I've heard that you can't use ocean driftwood for freshwater tanks becuase of the salinity, but I guess that's nothing a few bouts of boiling won't cure. Anyway, hope this helps.

 

[mrred62]

Thanks for the reply, i will keep that in mind

 

[Blue Lobster]

Go to the Delaware river and start looking for trees that have fallen in the water and look like it happened years ago.

Bring a chainsaw and hip boots.

 

[RYO]

Hi , i think the easiest way is to buy bog wood or the like from your lfs , and cut to the shape you want. then you know the wood is pretty much safe.

 

[colegamby]

if you have a lake or something by your house you can wood there. There is some pretty good drift wood to be found just have to get out and look around

 

[france]

Just make sure you boil it!! Use a pot big enough to fit the entire piece or wood in and boil it for a couple hours. If you dont have a pot big enough, go out a buy a Lobster Pot. They're cheep and big. The water will turn brownish in color (from the tanis in the wood), and really start to stink so make sure you have some decent ventilation. Dump the dirty water and boil it again. This will also help to waterlog the wood so that it will properly sit on the bottom of your tank w/out weighting it down.

I've got three pieces of wood in my two tanks that I put through this process and haven't had any problems with it (yet).

I much prefer going out and finding my own wood, especially if you have something particular in mind (I'm current searching for a long branching piece to use in a Paludarium). Most online stores which I have found do not allow you to choose from pictures of actual pieces of driftwood, only categories like size, style.