Driftwood. Can I Throw It Straight In The Tank?

[greengoddess]

Hi folks,

I am shortly going to start setting up a new 240 litre tank for my two goldfish. I will be doing a fishless cycle first. I came across a lovely piece of driftwood today which has been out of saltwater for months now. Do I just give it a wash and then throw it straight into the tank or do I need to treat it somehow first?

 

[Truck]

Soak it for 6 weeks replacing the water weekly.

 

[Assaye]

You can throw it straight in after a brief soak but you will get LOADS of tannins in the water.

It's advisable to soak for a few weeks first with daily water changes.

 

[greengoddess]

OK, thanks for the advice. I am going to stick it in a large container and soak it for a few weeks. Can I just use normal tap water to soak it or does it have to be de-chlorinated water?

 

[Truck]

normal tap water is fine, you must get rid of all the salt that it may have soaked up.

 

[greengoddess]

normal tap water is fine, you must get rid of all the salt that it may have soaked up.

Thankyou, if I use normal tap water will the tap water that is left soaked into the wood not seep out into my aquarium and destroy the bacterial filter?

 

[Truck]

normal tap water wont kill your filter bacteria anyway, there simply isn't enough chlorine to wipe out the colony, the water that the wood absorbs will be so minimal it wont matter.

 

[greengoddess]

normal tap water wont kill your filter bacteria anyway, there simply isn't enough chlorine to wipe out the colony, the water that the wood absorbs will be so minimal it wont matter.

OK, that's good to hear. I will take your advice and soak it for 6 weeks. Many thanks for your help.

 

[waterdrop]

I have a piece in a large container and on weekends I try to give it some kettles of boiling water poured over it to help brew the tannins out. The rest of the week I just let it sit submerged in the tap water.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[greengoddess]

I have a piece in a large container and on weekends I try to give it some kettles of boiling water poured over it to help brew the tannins out. The rest of the week I just let it sit submerged in the tap water.

~~waterdrop~~

Great advice, I didn't think of that. I'll be sure to do that. If I can find a large enough metal container I may try to boil it somehow for a couple of hours.

 

[waterdrop]

I have a piece in a large container and on weekends I try to give it some kettles of boiling water poured over it to help brew the tannins out. The rest of the week I just let it sit submerged in the tap water.

~~waterdrop~~

Great advice, I didn't think of that. I'll be sure to do that. If I can find a large enough metal container I may try to boil it somehow for a couple of hours.

Probably too much trouble unless you happen to already have one. Just pouring it over the wood seems to work pretty well. I've watched the amount of darkening of the water mine can do go steadily down. My problem was that none of the buckets I had were big enough but I found are really cheap version of one of those semi-clear plastic storage boxes at one of the local bigbox hardware stores. WD