argh stupid driftwood

[gale]

I got a big piece of driftwood for my big tank-it has a 1/2" chunk of slate screwed to the bottom of it. I boiled it as well as I could (it wouldn't fit in my biggest pot) and today put it in the tank and it's STILL floating. dangit.

 

[StarOrbs]

It took mine more than a month to stay down and min was pretty small. I guess it depends what they do to it before they give it to you and what you do. I finally just took mine out because after almost 3 months I still had tannis leaking into the tank making it really cloudy.

 

[gale]

I'm too impatient to wait a month. I might get a smaller one or maybe a fake thing. Part of the reason for this driftwood was because I got some java fern and wanted to hook it to the wood. I suppose I could hook java fern to something fake but I didn't know how well it would do that way.

eta: I have a small one in my 10 gallon tank and it never floated. I'm guessing this big sucker is full of air somehow. Maybe I can drill holes in it or something.

 

[nc_nutcase]

I highly doubt there is a big ol air pocket in it... and even if there is what guarantee is there that if you randomly drill holes in it you will hit the pocket.

Just pile gravel/sand around the slate that is attached to it and valla...

 

[Tolak]

It seems the larger they are the longer they take to sink. Big ones will pull out of gravel, always when you're not looking. I piled a few large rocks on mine.

Tolak

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

I found that the ones attached to the slate take a long time before they stay down on their own. The ones without slate (very dark and heavy to begin with) stay down after soaking for a week.

StarOrbs mentioned the cloudy water which is interesting. I've had my 55 gallon running for three months now and the water is still cloudy. (Looks great from the front, but cloudy through the sides.) I do water changes twice a week and I only have 11 small fish in the tank. I finally took one piece of wood out and it looks a little less cloudy.

Also, the driftwood leaves so much debris in the gravel. It's a constant battle to keep the gravel clean. I'm thinking about plucking the other piece out of there and just buy fake driftwood (it actually looks pretty realistic)

Does anyone else have problems with their driftwood?

 

[nc_nutcase]

I have real and fake driftwood. I also have use locally found wood in the past. I’ve always had decent luck with purchased wood. It takes some time to prep before you put it in the tank and takes some time to settle itself in, but I appreciate the natural look enough to work with it. Yet most of the artificial pieces I’ve seen look pretty realistic and are almost hassle free. Then again locally found wood is free but takes more prep work and more time to settle itself in. It all depends on what your looking for and what your willing to put into it.

 

[gale]

I'm going to take it out. I hate it floating there. lol. And it's gigantic. I'll either get a little piece or else a fake piece (I saw some at walmart that were actually nice looking).

 

[dirtydogg]

I use both real and fake, though my real wood still doesn't sink on it's own. I use a large rock to pin it down.

 

[Mr Miagi]

You could pin it down, or move substrate over it.

Once they dry out, they take quite a while to absorb all that water again. So it just pays to be patient. I soaked my large piece in a tub outside for like 2 months, so it didnt release tannins and so it didnt float. I had to put a brick on it for a while though.

Goodluck, benny

 

[gale]

You could pin it down, or move substrate over it.

Once they dry out, they take quite a while to absorb all that water again. So it just pays to be patient. I soaked my large piece in a tub outside for like 2 months, so it didnt release tannins and so it didnt float. I had to put a brick on it for a while though.

Goodluck, benny

I don't think anything is going to hold this thing down. It's about 12" long and around 4" in diameter. The slate bottom is a good 1/2" thick and probably 5 x 7 or so and still it won't hold it down. The substrate won't even begin to hold it and I don't think I have a rock that big. lol. Don't ask me why I bought such a giant piece of wood.