Adding Driftwood In Fish Tank

[marcan]

Hi !

I have been reading this forum for a few months now and it helped me a lot getting
started with my fish tank.

Yesterday I bought a piece of driftwood at my LFS.
I have read a lot of articles on how to introduce wood in a tank and I still don't
feel confident on how to do it.

The piece is big, 3 x 2 feet. Boiling it isn't really an option.

I have read somewhere that I could soak the wood with salt for a few days and it would
kill the bad bacteria. Does it really work?

Can I just soak the wood in a bucket with pure ammonia? Ammonia can "sterilize" a kitchen,
can it "sterilize" a piece of driftwood?

What do you think? Any other option?

Thanks a lot in advance !

 

[BigIan]

Wow thats a big bit of wood...
Is the wood dry? if so any bacteria that could harm your fis are probably dead. so no need to strealise the wood,

the reason you should soak it is to remove the tannins from the wood that can leach out and make your tank look like a cup of tea

 

[marcan]

The "outside" of the wood seems to be dry, I don't know about the inside.
I'll start by soaking the wood in a bucket and see if the water turns brown.

Thank you

 

[mark.w.jones]

The "outside" of the wood seems to be dry, I don't know about the inside.
I'll start by soaking the wood in a bucket and see if the water turns brown.

Thank you

Ive never had much success with soaking or boiling wood. You seem to soak it for a week, changing the water every day and then still end up with tannins in your tank anyway. Ive come to the conclusion that it's impossible to get all the tannins out in a short space of time and that soaking for a week will help but won't cure the problem.

I would give that piece of drift wood a real good scrub under running water and then soak it in the bath for a day. If the bath water goes really stained then carry on soaking for a week. If it doesn't look too bad I would just stick it in your tank. Tannins will eventually go from all wood in time with your tank's water changes it's just that some bits of wood will take longer than others. Bogwood is a nightmare for tannins whereas I find mopani wood is much better. All the best

 

[chibi]

When I bought my driftwood, I put it into a big bucket and poured boiling water into it about twice. Then I scrubbed the whole thing down with a toothbrush. It took about 3 hours total, but when I put it into my tank the water didn't change color at all!

 

[marcan]

When I bought my driftwood, I put it into a big bucket and poured boiling water into it about twice. Then I scrubbed the whole thing down with a toothbrush. It took about 3 hours total, but when I put it into my tank the water didn't change color at all!

I might try that!


Thanks for all the replies and advices!

 

[DarkEntity]

Ive got wood in all my tanks and even after 6months still get tannin leaching.

 

[vinylman]

This might not be popular in your house, but how about putting it in the bath.........

 

[smmetz]

Yes, bathtub worked for me. Also, just like tea, hot water works better for getting the tannins out.

 

[marcan]

The driftwood is in the bath and the water is turning yellow (just a little bit).
The tannins is probably getting out.

The PH dropped from 7.2 to 7.0 in my bath. I will probably add some crushed corals or something like that in the tank to keep the PH stable.

 

[n3ont3tra]

... Why do you need to keep the PH stable in the bath?
Also, does your wood float? I have some wood that I want in my tank, but it floats. I'm wondering how long it will tank to make it sink.

 

[chrisdoesntmiss]

I have heard of someone with an old zinc bath tub in his shed, place bog wood into it with a canister filter running and two 300 watt heaters in the tub turned up to maximum, he also had two handkerchief membranes and activated carbon in the filter instead of any any other media. He left this running for a few days and apparently nothing was leached when placed in the tank, i think he also had some shrimp in the tub - not certian though?

Just an odd memory from long ago, about 2 months in all truth

 

[n3ont3tra]

I doubt shrimp would live in a tub withi 2 300w heaters turned up to full... That must have been at least 90 degrees (F)!

 

[chrisdoesntmiss]

Sorry, 2x100 watt heaters and this was in his very cold shed. I am not sure what shrimp were used but apparently it worked wonders.

Chris

 

[n3ont3tra]

Still, what did the shrimp have to do with it? I'm pretty sure they don't eat tannins.