Uh oh. .... Forgot how to prepare driftwood

[ostrow]

We are all set, water is cycling as we type B)

But I forget the drill on driftwood. Kid liked the dry piece over the one already in a tank so I don't recall what I did to it before putting it in the tank.

Any refresher would be welcome.

Thanks!

 

[crazie.eddie]

All you have to do is boil it to kill an bacteria that might be in it.

 

[silver]

You don't have to even do that! Just rinse it off really good and stick it in!


Silver

 

[ostrow]

I don't want the tank to turn brown. I recall some method to avoid this.

 

[modernhamlet]

If you want to test it to see if it'll leech tannins, just soak it in a bucket of hot (some say dechlorinated) water overnight. Change the water as often as is feasible. When you go 24 hours without a noticable change in the water color, you should be good to go.

As long as it's not leeching a lot, the filter should be able to handle it.

 

[kev]

If you want to test it to see if it'll leech tannins, just soak it in a bucket of hot (some say dechlorinated) water overnight. Change the water as often as is feasible. When you go 24 hours without a noticable change in the water color, you should be good to go.

As long as it's not leeching a lot, the filter should be able to handle it.

That what I did and it didn't change the water colour at all.

 

[spanair]

I just boiled my pieces of driefwood about 3-4 times same day, no brown water what so ever and I get the drifwood same day into the aquarium.

 

[noelberg]

I first soaked my driftwood for a week then put in some salt and Melafix to kill bacteria. A week after putting it in the tank I noticed some small "fuzz" on the wood. I promptly took it out, scrubbed it, then boiled it.

The driftwood never bothered the fish even with the possible fungus on it. IMO the boiling did a better job of cleansing the driftwood. I know boiling shortens the time it takes driftwood to rot, but if you have a piece that's been sitting on a shelf for eons, then I definitely recommend it.

 

[nightlife20]

all i did was give it a good ol' scrub, but i have two lots of carbon in my tank, iv never noticed any tannins from it...

but sayin that when i first started i brought a realy nice peice scrubbed it an put it in my tank and after about 4 hrs the tanks was brown... but water changes soon alter this


it dosnt affect the fish in any way, and some fish are known to prefer dark water.... even tho it dont look nice lol... but to some ppl it does

 

[crazie.eddie]

If you don't want the water to turn brown, just keep soaking the driftwood. Then dump out the old brown water. If it's in your tank already, just keep changing the carbon on your filter.

Depending on how large the wood is, it COULD effect the fish. The brown stuff is the tannin being released, which lowers the pH and softens the water. If it's a small piece, it will only lower it by very little.

 

[ostrow]

Typically, how long do you soak until water doesn't turn brown any more? I've got it in a 5G bucket since last night. Dumped and refilled 4x now.

 

[pendragon]

Typically, how long do you soak until water doesn't turn brown any more? I've got it in a 5G bucket since last night. Dumped and refilled 4x now.

Generally speaking, a few days to a couple of weeks. I have a piece of driftwood that I soaked in a 5-gallon bucket for almost two weeks, changing water every day or two, before the leaching was slight enough I was satisfied.

pendragon!

 

[spanair]

That's a fair long time, I only had to wait 1 day and it didn't even stain my water, well it did but very slightly.

 

[crazie.eddie]

Yep, the common driftwood needs alot of soaking, which also takes a long time for it to finally soak so it would sink on it's own. I stayed away from the and bought stuff, like malaysian root (as the LFS said). I just poured some hot water and in it went in my tank. To staining and it sank like a rock.

 

[tdins_2]

i had apiece of drift wood and i soaked it for a month and changed water every day but no improvement ythe water was still brown so i got rid of the wood