# How To Sink Driftwood ?



## dmackey (Jan 26, 2010)

was out and about and came across a huge peice of driftwood . so figured i could use it for the tank. took it to the carwash twice pressure washed it and scrubbed it with a steel brush looks nice, cut it up and everything to my likes . now 1 problem it wont sink. any suggestions ? how do i get this to work ?


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

You can either soak it in a rubbermaid tub or something else that holds enough water to keep it submerged until it sinks on it's own or you can anchor it down in your tank using slate tiles screwed into the bottom or something heavy enough sitting on top to keep it down.


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## CuzIsaidSo (Oct 13, 2009)

JoeDizzleMPLS said:


> You can either soak it in a rubbermaid tub or something else that holds enough water to keep it submerged until it sinks on it's own or you can anchor it down in your tank using slate tiles screwed into the bottom or something heavy enough sitting on top to keep it down.


x2


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## Johnny_Zanni (Nov 8, 2009)

The rubbermaid bin will take a few weeks. The slate tiles will be instantly if that helps with your choice.


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## Pirambeba (Feb 1, 2010)

I've had problems with this too. I actually have a question if you screw the driftwood on to the slate will the screws rust in the water over time?


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## [email protected]° (Jun 16, 2004)

Pirambeba said:


> I've had problems with this too. I actually have a question if you screw the driftwood on to the slate *will the screws rust in the water over time?*


Make sure you use stainless steel hardware to avoid rust problems


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## Murphy18 (Oct 17, 2008)

[email protected]° said:


> I've had problems with this too. I actually have a question if you screw the driftwood on to the slate *will the screws rust in the water over time?*


Make sure you use stainless steel hardware to avoid rust problems
[/quote]








It aint rocket science!!! I've used this before with great success!!


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## Pirambeba (Feb 1, 2010)

[email protected]° said:


> I've had problems with this too. I actually have a question if you screw the driftwood on to the slate *will the screws rust in the water over time?*


Make sure you use stainless steel hardware to avoid rust problems
[/quote]

Thanks







it's been bothering me for quit a while now I have this one piece of DW that has to be fastened to something because it won't stay standing in the sand substrate that's in my tank. At least now I know what to pick up, thanks again dude


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## dmackey (Jan 26, 2010)

how long would i be soaking in in the tub ? days ? hours ?


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

dmackey said:


> how long would i be soaking in in the tub ? days ? hours ?


 Depends on a lot of things. Mainly the woods size. Most likely it would take weeks to months before it would sink on its own. I've even heard over a year for some pieces I would just screw it good to a piece of slate and sink it instantly


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## dmackey (Jan 26, 2010)

sounds like i will be screwing some slate on it . thanks fellas


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## dmackey (Jan 26, 2010)

[email protected]° said:


> I've had problems with this too. I actually have a question if you screw the driftwood on to the slate *will the screws rust in the water over time?*


Make sure you use stainless steel hardware to avoid rust problems
[/quote]

great point !!


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## HGI (Oct 27, 2009)

I'd put it in a rubbermade tub for a few weeks so you can see if it's going to mold/change the water's prams.

Here's the guide I use when I get wood, the last peace I got was to big to boil, and to big to bake so I salt bathed it for 4 weeks, changing the water every 7 days and scrubbing the wood during water changes as well.

http://www.tetra-fish.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2268


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## hugoale1 (Jan 26, 2009)

about a month ago I picked up a driftwood from a place near a river, and I began to be treated by rubbing, cleansing, boiling, sunny and leaving it in a water tank with a rock tied to it from sinking, almost ready to put in the aquarium is slow but in the end is satisfactory.

so calm friend


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## Johnny_Zanni (Nov 8, 2009)

make sure you dont have the screw touching the glass of the tank also.


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

how long does driftwood have to be boiled ?


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## Murphy18 (Oct 17, 2008)

Johnny_Zanni said:


> how long does driftwood have to be boiled ?


If its driftwood you bought from a store, and you want to get all the tannins out of the wood, then just boil it untill it is clear, giving it a good scrub in between times. If you want to keep the natural dark tea coloured look to your tank then simply dont boil the wood at all. On the other hand if you have collected your wood from the outdoors, 9/10 the wood would be too big to ''boil'' so instead just get it in a large container and scrub the sh*t out of it, whilst leaving to soak in hot/boiling water really to kill any nasties lurking in the wood, couple of hours worked fine for me, but making sure i topped the water up with more hot water as it cooled. Althought i got a bit impatient and couldn't wait for any longer so i'm sure it wouldn't hurt to leave it in soak for longer.


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

Murphy18 said:


> how long does driftwood have to be boiled ?


If its driftwood you bought from a store, and you want to get all the tannins out of the wood, then just boil it untill it is clear, giving it a good scrub in between times. If you want to keep the natural dark tea coloured look to your tank then simply dont boil the wood at all. On the other hand if you have collected your wood from the outdoors, 9/10 the wood would be too big to ''boil'' so instead just get it in a large container and scrub the sh*t out of it, whilst leaving to soak in hot/boiling water really to kill any nasties lurking in the wood, couple of hours worked fine for me, but making sure i topped the water up with more hot water as it cooled. Althought i got a bit impatient and couldn't wait for any longer so i'm sure it wouldn't hurt to leave it in soak for longer.
[/quote]

I've been soaking it for like a month, now I just wanted to boil it


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