Soaking Wood

[Man of fish]

I found this perfect piece of wood, looks very similar to a piece of mopani, but it's not. Here's what I've done so far:

1. Brought it hone and boiled 2 pots of water then dumped them over it in a bucket.
2. Left that to soak about 5-6 hours, then filled the rest of the bucket up.
3. Left that to soak about 15 hours, drained and refilled with warm water.
4. Soaked in that about 6 hours then scrubbed very well with a toothbrush.
5. Drained mucky water and refilled with warm water. soaked about 4 hours.
6. Currently soaking. Still floating.


In short it's been sorta boiled I guess, soaked for about 30 hours, and scrubbed down really well.

It's still floating. What else do I need to do to it and how can I get it to sink? I need it ready by Tuesday.

 

[Cazgar]

Keep changing the water, as hot as you can, every day if needs be.
If it still floats when you want to put it in your tank, just weigh it down with a few rocks

 

[Man of fish]

Ok thanks. I'll pour one pot of boiling eater every few hours then put the rest as hot as the hot tap will go and hopefully that'll do it. I've changed it 3 times today.

 

[Cazgar]

It will probably still leech colour for a while.
I've had this bit of redmoor soaking for a few weeks now & it's still turning the water brown

 

[Man of fish]

It hasnt really leached into the bucket other than when I scrubbed it..... Didnt even go on my hands unless I scrubbed it. Odd.

 

[ShinySideUp]

I had a piece of wood like Casgar has in his picture. I boiled it up just to kill any nasties then popped in a tank where it floated for some four weeks before slowly, oh so slowly, started to lose bouyancy. Once it had sunk it started to leech a sort of clear mucus which alarmed me greatly until I found I could just vacuum it off with a siphon; it's fine now.

I'm afraid you can't rush it any more than you have, it'll sink when it's ready.

 

[Man of fish]

Ok then. I guess I'll be buying a presoaked piece temporarily then

Don't need this piece until about a month, but I do need wood maybe I have enough deco around to keep the plec happy, but I have no extra wood

Would a plec eat it if it was sitting on top of the water?

 

[ShinySideUp]

Would a plec eat it if it was sitting on top of the water?

Unlikely, especially as it would be moving around a bit.

 

[bristlenoseitplecoman]

If you need wood that sinks on its own you should get ironwood. I am soaking mine currently and it is still leaching.

 

[Man of fish]

Maybe I could tie rocks to it....

 

[Cazgar]

You could, but whatever you use to tie them make sure it's very tight so fish can't get caught in it

 

[Man of fish]

It's gonna have 1 plec for about a month in qt then it'll be shrimp tank.

It's already starting to lose buoyancy. It's about a few cm down. If I shove it to the bottom of the bucket it takes about 10 seconds to return to the top.

 

[RossC]

I've had wood that has soaked for months and still floats to this day. A very simple and effective solution is to nail a suction cup to the wood. It also means it can be positioned almost anywhere in the tank and won't fall over. I know do this to all my bogwood because its so handy. Good luck!

 

[Man of fish]

Wouldn't a nail rust in the tank? Or give off harmful minerals? Is there an alternative? Maybe stud screws?

 

[RossC]

Wouldn't a nail rust in the tank? Or give off harmful minerals? Is there an alternative? Maybe stud screws?

Good thinking I never thought about it, time to take them out before its too late oops