How do I prepare purchased driftwood for a tank?

[jonatheber]

I bought some driftwood at the local store. I am not sure what I have to do to prepare it. The piece is pretty large, so I tried to boil it in a fairly wide (18" or so) but narrow pot. Where the wood was touching the side of the pot, it started to singe a bit... My question boils (no pun intended) into ... do I have to boil it? If so, I could use a different pot that is taller and narrower, but I'd have to take it out and change it around a bunch of times. Or is it safe enough, because it was on a shelf in a store, to basically just soak it a bit and then put it in?

 

[mcordelia]

You don't have to boil it. Some schools of thought discourage boiling since it wears down the wood faster. Some techniques include soaking it in a diluted solution of hydrogen peroxide, or a diluted solution of bleach. The bleach one can be a little problematic since if the wood sucks up a bunch of it, how do you get it out of the wood. H2O2 is a little more benign, since it tends to break down into just water and hydrogen relatively quickly. Another option is to get a large enough tote that fits it, and just pour enough pots of boiling water on it and then leave it soaking for a while. Have to pay attention to the material of the tote in that case so you a) don't melt it and b) don't cause it to leach stuff into the water -> wood.

Another option is to just soak it in plain old tap water for a few weeks after rinsing it super well (unused dish brush can help with scrubbing if needed). The tiny amount of chlorine in the tapa water should discourage bugs from growing for a bit, but after that leaves the water it's the same as having it in your tank; this just allows you to keep an eye on it.

One other idea is baking it in your oven, but you might have a helluva time soaking it after that.

Just a couple of ideas, overall my biggest concerns would be that it's a suitable wood type more than it containing some terrible pathogen, especially since it's been sitting on a store shelf for a while. I think time is going to be your best bet, keeping it in a tote in water for a few weeks is likely going to be informative for how it behaves, but it's also completely fair if you're impatient and don't want to bother with that

 

[Colin_T]

Just hose the new driftwood off and put it in the tank.

If you don't want tannins (brown discolouration in the water), then put the wood in a bucket of tap water outside and change the water every week. When the water remains clear, put the wood in the tank.

Don't waste your time boiling driftwood, it causes the wood to break down faster and is completely unnecessary.

 

[Fishiemang]

The main idea for boiling is 2 fold.

First, it will kill the potential pathogens attached to the piece. Parasites, bacteria ect. This will also help the wood sink sooner, without the need to be weighted down. Sometimes, it floats.

Second, it will pull out the tannins that will discolor your tank water.

You can do whatever is fish safe for the first process.

The tannins, while unattractive, are good for the fish actually. The only downside is it sometimes will discolor the water in your tank for a while.

 

[Colin_T]

First, it will kill the potential pathogens attached to the piece. Parasites, bacteria ect. This will also help the wood sink sooner, without the need to be weighted down. Sometimes, it floats.

If the wood is dry, it should be free of things that affect fish.

If the wood is out of an aquarium containing fish or plants, then boiling it or baking in the oven at 60C for 30minutes, will kill anything on it.

You can also soak it in salt water to kill anything on it. A 30 minute soak in a container of salt water will kill most things on driftwood. Then rinse and add to tank.

 

[jonatheber]

I decided to go with leaving it in a pot for a while of really hot water for a bunch of hours, and a whole bunch of tannin kept turning the water brown every time I emptied it and reheated the water. Looked a bit like tea at a chinese restaurant.

My biggest concern is that I don't want the water to be brown. It is in the den, and it would be a HUGE eyesore. If constantly keeping it in hot water is going to cause it to deteriorate faster, then is soaking for a few weeks my best way forward? The hydrogen peroxide won't solve for the tannin release, right?

 

[porl66]

I boiled and put my piece in a dishwasher (boil wash) with no detergent for a fair few times. Also left it in water outside for a fair amount of time. Put it in the tank and overnight I got a nice brown water betta tank.
I goy myself a bag of Purigen for my filter and that has cleared most of the tea coloured water out. It still has a slight tanning stain to irt BUT I am getting to like it......plus it goes a bit when I put the blue LED light as well as the white LED on at the same time

 

[mcordelia]

Correct. The bigger your water volume you are soaking it in relative to the driftwood will allow you to go longer in between water changes for the wood. Be prepared for this process to take weeks.

Another way if you want the tannins to not leech out is covering the wood in plastidip. You have to get it all the way dry first though, and then figure out how to get it to sink after you have coated it. @RenC can advise you if that's how you'd like to go.

 

[Colin_T]

If constantly keeping it in hot water is going to cause it to deteriorate faster, then is soaking for a few weeks my best way forward? The hydrogen peroxide won't solve for the tannin release, right?

peroxide won't do anything

just stick it in a bucket of water outside and change the water every week. when the water stays clear then add the wood to the tank.

 

[RenC]

Correct. The bigger your water volume you are soaking it in relative to the driftwood will allow you to go longer in between water changes for the wood. Be prepared for this process to take weeks.

Another way if you want the tannins to not leech out is covering the wood in plastidip. You have to get it all the way dry first though, and then figure out how to get it to sink after you have coated it. @RenC can advise you if that's how you'd like to go.

Plasti dip is great! I boiled my wood before for a few hours and then plasti dipped the whole thing and what I did to get it to sink was drill holes in the bottom and put in an aquatic suction cup to suction it to the bottom of the tank. I have noticed now though that the wood is getting water logged through the small hole that the suction cup is so it should sink over time if you didn’t want the wood standing like mine is you can always use fishing line and a rock to get it to sink or just simply super glue a rock to the part of the rock that will face the bottom of the tank

 

[Metalhead88]

I soak it in a bucket of hot water and change the water out until its clear (or clearish) big peices of wood will take months to finish leaching tannins.