Getting Wood To Float

[tom_os]

i have a spiral piece of what i think is bogwood

i have tied one side to a piece of slate to help one sde to sink

now that it has been the the tank a few months it can sink by itself, however i still want to to rise up from the bottom left to top right of my tank

i have tried tieing it to the tank but it floats back down with the slack of the string

is there anyway of getting it to float again?

thanks

 

[bitteraspects]

short of propping it up against the side of the tank, there isnt moch you can do. once its waterlogged, it will sink naturally

 

[keenonfish]

drill holes and stuff full of polystyrene?

edit - it would possibly have to be quite a bit weight of water dissplaced will have to be equal to weight of wood.

 

[saltynay]

Use a hole saw to cut holes out then cut the ends of the rods of drift wood you now have wooden plugs which match the fascia of the wood. Use silicone to stick the plugs back into the holes leaving an airpocket inside, if you wanted to be particularly sure it would float use some condoms and fill them with helium put that in the holes before sealing it up with the wooden plugs.

You could use fishing line upto the lid of the tank, tie it up as a little higher then you wish the wood to float at so that the stretch of the line is accounted for.

 

[MHunt]

I would silicone the wood into the position you want it to be. Remember to use aquarium silicone.

 

[Darkstar]

Not quite sure what you mean, but I do this in one of my tanks. I use eheim suckers to keep the wood in place. I drilled the suckers into the wood and then attached them to the top of the tank, as shown below:

 

[tom_os]

thats a picture of my tank with the food at the bottom.

i would attach it to the lid but when i open the lid it will pull the wood out of the water

edit the wood barely weighs anything

 

[tom_os]

ok i think i done it using the sucker idea

thanks

 

[JustKia]

Just a note - that isn't real bogwood, so it will eventually begin to rot in your tank. It might take years but then again it might only be weeks or months. Sorry I don't know what wood it actually is, just that it isn't bogwood.

 

[tom_os]

ok thanks

i will probably rescape iot anyway in a few months

 

[Dave Spencer]

Just a note - that isn't real bogwood, so it will eventually begin to rot in your tank. It might take years but then again it might only be weeks or months...

Where have you got this info from?

Sorry to disagree, but there are many types of wood that can be used safely in an aquarium....redmoor wood, manzanita, Borneo driftwood, Sumatra wood, ADA iron wood. The list goes on. Most of my wood is what I find on the floor, especially a little almond grove I visit when I am at my parents in Spain.

Dave.

Edited for rubbish spelling.

 

[Syphoniera]

It did look very cool on the tank bottom, but I would like to see pics of it now, pretty please, hint?
Such a lovely spiral - how'd you find it?

 

[snowflake311]

I would silicone the wood into the position you want it to be. Remember to use aquarium silicone.

That is what I was thinking. Put some silicone on the side of the tank and stick the wood to it. Then silicone the other part to another chunk of wood of a rock. If you ever want to take it out the silicore will scrape off with a razor blade.

Like the other person said use only 100% silicone I got some at the pet store.

 

[JustKia]

Where have you got this info from?

Real bogwood comes from peat bogs and over time a preservation process takes place that the wood won't actually rot for a very very long time (we're talking thousands of years and seriously doubt anyone is going to still have their aquarium running by then!) - and that is why it is so useful in dendrochronology. The preservation is actually fossilisation due to the acidic and anaerobic conditions in the peat bogs and is simialr to the way in which coal is formed (albeit over millions of years rather than the hundreds in whcih bogwood is formed).

Driftwood can be any wood, it isn't a type it just happens to be wood that has drifted ashore on the ocean. It could be fallen from trees, damaged buildings, discarded items, or from wrecks. And how could you be sure that it hadn't been treated with some chemical prior to becoming driftwood? It hasn't undergone the natural preservation process and depending on the type of wood, the quality, age, current state of decay, etc then it will at some point (maybe weeks, months, a year, maybe several years) start to break down within your aquarium.

Mopani grows in Southern Africa in shallow, badly draining soil with a high lime content (alkaline). It has a high oil content and is good a great many uses but again it hasn't undergone the natural preservation process that bogwood has and once dead (as I assume people aren't thinking of planting a live mopani tree in their aquarium) it will start to slowly rot and breakdown. It's safer than driftwood though and the breakdown is slow.

Any wood that isn't sufficiently preserved will start to rot when kept wet.

Although I suppose that didn't actually answer your question of where I got my info. Part of it is from general knowledge (I have a head full of odd abstract little pieces of info) part of it from researching what would be safe to put in my tank and good old Google searches

 

[tom_os]

i will take a pic later on today

i got it from my lfs for about £4