Large Driftwood Not Sinking? Smaller Piece Sunk Immediately.

[Jackiee]

I have a large piece of driftwood, it's 22 inches long and 6 inches wide at it's fattest point.
I also have another small piece of the same wood that is about 8 inches long.

I got these two pieces of wood from a man that I bought a 90 gallon tank and stand off of and the wood came with it.
He had it in his aquarium previously.

I'm not sure what kind of wood it is, but the smaller piece sunk in the tank immediately after I soaked it for 20 minutes.
The larger piece began to float as soon as the water level began to rise when I was filling up the new aquarium.
I just left it floating at the top of the water all last night and today. I just now took it out and filled the bath tub
up in steaming hot water. Will this help?

I don't get why it's floating in my tank but was previously in his tank before I purchased it, unless it had enough time to
dry out hence the floating.

What can I do to get it to sink? I don't have anything to screw/connect it to. I can't boil it because it's way to large of a piece to put into anything
on my stove.


Also, can somebody identify what type of wood it is?
Here's a picture of the small piece, it's the same wood as the large piece, just don't know what it is:

 

[Jackiee]

Here's the new set-up, I would like to put the large driftwood in the middle as my center piece.
That was my original layout plan, but then it start floating.

Also, the wood released a tad bit of a tint to my water.
Will this go away with time, or do I have to do something about it?

 

[stu40]

Hi
can't help with id of type of wood,sorry you'll have to wait for some one else on that. I soaked my piece of driftwood in a plastic container for 3 weeks before it would sink.Kept changing the water every couple of days.Tannins being released from it will go in time.Some people reckon it lowers their PH level,can't say it did much to mine.

 

[qwikimpss]

It looks like mopani driftwood. A very common and popular kind of driftwood.

To get it to sink you could either tie it off or use aquarium sealant to attach it to a couple inert rocks or you're just waiting for it to sink on it's own.

As far as the tinting of the water. The wood is leaching natural tannis into the water. As far as I know it's relatively harmless. To prevent this you can boil driftwood to get the tannis out of the wood (I've read that mopani takes a long time to boil out.) Using activated carbon can also help remove the tint from the water.