Drift Wood

[fuzzylogic]

Hi, I've collected some driftwood from a dammed glen in Scotland and am often asked if it is safe for use in fish tanks which I assumed it was, though to be honnest the only fish I've ever owned got flushed down the loo by my mother when I was seven.

Would it be safe to say that baking/boiling and soaking it would kill any potential hazzards for the fish, also would it make a difference what wood it is ie; Scots pine/Oak/Rowan?,

I really would hate to pass a bit on only for the fish to come floating to the surface because of it.

Any advice appreciated, thank you

Beautiful site by the way, almost makes me want to get some fish myself but I think I need to read up a bit more first judging by my first effort!

 

[KrayzieVanh]

I found a beautiful piece of driftwood a few weeks ago. Here's what I did to treat it.

First I boiled it for four hours with water changes every hour. I made sure that all areas were covered under the boiling water for at least a hour (my pot wasn't big enough). Also, I added aquarium salt to the boiling water, I don't know how much I just poured it in.

Second I have a 10 gal rubber maid bucket type thingy that I filled up with hot water. For the first few days the wood didn't want to stay down so I held it down with a few pots. After maybe 2 days it sank. The problem I had left was to leak all the tannins that was left in the wood. It took maybe two weeks before the water looked good enough for me. I had to change the water every night.

I didn't do much to clean the wood. Just sprayed it off, most of the dirt/debris fell off during boil or soak. Here is a picture of the wood at week 2.

 

[wendywc]

^^^ That's some wicked looking wood.