Adding Driftwood to 55 gallon freshwater tank

drives2002bmw · Post by **drives2002bmw** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:54 pm

I have a piece of aquarium drift wood for my 55 gallon tank and have been soaking it in water for 2 weeks with daily water changes or so but the water in the bucket is still yellowish.
If i add the wood to my tank, what will it change? ph? water clarity?
I have two A. Silus as well as a peacock eel that i see ever few days in the tank that are all doing fine and love their environment. The piece of wood is roughly 12"x 8" x 16"
Any ideas? thoughts?

Jase · Post by **Jase** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:06 pm

Your pH will go down a bit, and the water will be a light tea color for a while, but may go away. might not though.
Be sure you boil/bake it to make sure you don't add any nasties to the tank.

I have had mixed results, but sometimes boiling with aquarium salt and water helps...

drives2002bmw · Post by **drives2002bmw** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:56 am

I do not have a pot big enough to boil this piece of wood. Would just putting it in the oven by itself work? If so, how long and how hot of temperature should i bake it for?

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:14 am

Baking won't drive out tannins, just make it drier and take longer to sink. It's a good sterilization procedure for new wood that may still have saps/resins, but boiling is definately the fastest way to cleanse driftwood - any chance of borrowing a pot?

drives2002bmw · Post by **drives2002bmw** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:36 am

I added the wood yesterday and it looks great and didn't change the water color. I havn't checked the pH but i'm sure it went down a bit but the puffers seem to be doing fine and maybe a little lower pH is good for them. It was up around 8 before the addition of the wood.

Post by **Myaj** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 12:51 pm

The pH and your water color will change very slowly.. as long as you're doing your weekly water changes you probably will barely even notice it

drives2002bmw · Post by **drives2002bmw** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:15 pm

great! yea it looks like it hasn't changed the water temperature. I like it. I have added some java ferms plants to it, but i don't know how to get them to stick onto the wood. i hear you can get them to grow on the wood somehow

Jase · Post by **Jase** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:41 pm

Tie them down with thread. By the time the thread deteriorates, the roots should hold it there.

drives2002bmw · Post by **drives2002bmw** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:34 pm

thread like twine? or like sewing thread?

Jase · Post by **Jase** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:26 am

like sewing thread.
I think it's cotton, right?

Post by **Myaj** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:23 am

I usually try to find a "spinter" in the wood and wedge those sorts of plants into them. Years ago I tried thread, fishing line, even staples at one point.. My biggest problem with thread is that yes, it will eventually break and I caught my fish yanking on it trying to eat it, which obviously worried me.

I've just given up on tying it down, but the last batch of driftwood I bought I made sure had a "rough" enough look to it that I could easily stuff things into cracks and holes and get it to stay.

If your wood is smoother, and laying more flat, I've just taken a small rock (river stone) and weighted down moss.. it will attach itself eventually.

drives2002bmw · Post by **drives2002bmw** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:28 am

ok great! thanks mjay, I was worrying about the same thing, i wouldn't want my puffer chewing on string.

Bogwoodbruce · Post by **Bogwoodbruce** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 2:44 pm

Adding salt helps remove a lot of the tannings but to be honest ive always given it a quick wash and soaked for a while and put in, i dont mind the tannings

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Adding Driftwood to 55 gallon freshwater tank

Adding Driftwood to 55 gallon freshwater tank

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Re: Adding Driftwood to 55 gallon freshwater tank

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Re: Adding Driftwood to 55 gallon freshwater tank

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Re: Adding Driftwood to 55 gallon freshwater tank