The Puffer Forum

Hello,

I was wondering if for my freshwater tank, I could use some driftwood I found. It will probably need to be wieghted to stay at the bottom of the tank, but that would be OK. Any opinions? and would I just rinse it like anything else I'd buy at the store?

where did you find it? Long story short no it wouldn't be ok, you would have to boil the crap out of it and I still don't think I could turst it. If I were you I would just pay more for malaysian driftwood.

What I've heard done is getting it, pressure washing it, boiling the living crap out of it, letting it dry, pressure washing again, and re-boiling the crap outta' it, then cleaning it again, let it dry, then soak it in de-chlorinated water. Then I may trust it....

you can bake it in the oven if it's too big to boil...

I bake mine at 400 for about 20-30 minutes, if your putting it in a fish tank you should wash it with hot water (only) first and then bake it. Make sure you give it plenty of time to cool off before putting it in with your fish and i'd recommend getting a nice rock to glue the wood to. I use a silicone type glue in my tanks or aquarium sealant. Be careful of the type of rock you use depending on what area you get it from it could contain salts ect. that can throw your tank off. hope this helped...

do you have a photo of the driftwood?

No I don't, I'm going on spring break to flordia soon and wondered if it was worth it to bring some back. Also I lie fairly close to lake Michigan and could get some there.

EliWhitney314 wrote:where did you find it? Long story short no it wouldn't be ok, you would have to boil the crap out of it and I still don't think I could turst it. If I were you I would just pay more for malaysian driftwood.

I have the Malaysian driftwood,Forgot to boil it when i first got it,water all brown,setup up my magnum, BAM ALL GONE

Sponge bob wrote:

EliWhitney314 wrote:where did you find it? Long story short no it wouldn't be ok, you would have to boil the crap out of it and I still don't think I could turst it. If I were you I would just pay more for malaysian driftwood.

I have the Malaysian driftwood,Forgot to boil it when i first got it,water all brown,setup up my magnum, BAM ALL GONE

huh?
The main reason to boil is to make sure it's clean and disease/parasite free. tannins are a different story. If you don't want the brown water, you need to soak the wood in warm water with WCs as soon as it turns brown, until the water only turns tea colored. tannins will not kill stuff though, just change the water color...

I grew up in Malaysia and saw the driftwood there.....how is it treated differently...cuz a floating piece of wood looks like a floating piece of wood to me.....

The pet store malaysian driftwood is famous for being dense enough that it sinks in aquariums...