# About Driftwood I Found



## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

i was just wondering about driftwood that you find by rivers and lakes i heard you can put them in your tanks but how do you crue them does anyone know how to do this


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## TheCableGuy (Feb 22, 2005)

What I did for the pieces I found was I boiled them for about 30 mins each piece and scraped off any bark that was left. Boiling it will kill any parasites and remove tanins. 
Let the pieces cool off before puting in your tank


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## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

i will try that i also heard about bleaching them in a tubb for a few days then rinseing them and soaking them in freash water for a few more days your way seems faster


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## bob351 (Oct 23, 2005)

i would not trust bleach and if you boil how are you sure the internal temp gets high enough... its like cooking a steak









i live by a lake litteraly 2 doors down and i would never take wood or plants just incase... unless i had a native tank


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## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

i think if u boil it for a few hours it will be fine i cleaned a tank that the fish keep getting sick cleaned it with bleach took fish out put bleach in it drained it filled it again put bleach in it 3 times drained it 2 times with freash water and now no fish have got sick


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## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

i think if u boil it for a few hours it will be fine i cleaned a tank that the fish keep getting sick cleaned it with bleach took fish out put bleach in it drained it filled it again put bleach in it 3 times drained it 2 times with freash water and now no fish have got sick


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

ive used plenty of rocks from the outdoors

normally, just boiling whatever you find for about 10 minutes will kill anything
be sure to rinse off the wood after you boil it. usually when you do boil it creates an outside surface of loose shavings that will come off in the water.

and on a personal note, finding your own wood is MUCH better then paying the rediculous prices petshops charge for it


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## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

i agree with that price thing im going to boil some this weekend and let you guys know how it goes one day ill sit here and learn how to post pics and videos not good on this cumputer thing :laugh: as long as i can get to piranha-fury what else is there to learn :laugh:


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

should have zero problems if you properly boil and rinse bogwood or any rocks from outside. its a simple process and you crap your pants a month later when you see a smaller piece of driftwood for sale at a fish place for 59.99

trust me, its worth the risk lol


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## bob351 (Oct 23, 2005)

rocks are iffy unless you know what rocks they are... if you end up with some limestone or other rocks that can alter your ph you will end up with big dead fish from fluctuating ph and or to high or low of ph


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

I used rocks I found in the woods, didn't boil them or anything. I did do the vinegar drop to make sure the rock didn't fizz lol I also found a little piece of driftwood when I was fishing one day. I did boil it and take all the soft part of the wood out. Problem I have is no matter how much I bury it floats! I even tried soaking it for 4 days in a bucket and it still floated! lol I know I could glue or wire a rock to the bottom of it but I never did. It's sittin in the fish closet right now. I may try it but I'm worried it will pull my pH down to low. I already got something that pulls my tap water from 7.6 down to 6.1 I don't want it much lower


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## bob351 (Oct 23, 2005)

it can take weeks to sink... i had a log in my lake float an entire summer before finaly after winter it was sunk

also has happened with a few pieces of driftwood i leave out for a long time it takes a few weeks but they all eventually water log and sink


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

I don't know if it's worth the mess, plus I don't know if it would look good in any of my tanks


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## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

i tryed to boil my driftwood today on my bar b q grill was going good just at the boiling point i ran out of propane







going to get some and try again :laugh:


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

haha
what about your stove? you can even steam it if its too big to fit in a pot.


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## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

the wife will not want that in or around the stove she will







then smack me with it :nod:


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

I woudl tell her you have to boil the damn wood, your fishes life depends on it and thanks to her your friends call you a no good yankee lover, now she won' t let you boil your wood in something hot... lol

...Ok honestly.. my women gives me a hard time about weird sh*t also so I know what ya mean, but she did let me boil my wood in her pan..


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

hahaha yeah yeah i forgot about the female factor. good point

defintely dont want to enduce marital problems over a chunk of wood.

after all this talk in this thread im activly searching for some shale rocks this weekend. in the cleveland area we have a metro parks that is basically a forrested area that snakes all the way south through the county following a river. lots of natural things to grab. its probably better to grab things that arent directly in the water since that river snakes through industrial areas way up north


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## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

maybe i'll boil it when she's not home







that's when i wear the pants


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

oh geez rhomb...this thread has become more then about driftwood
i think its time you vent to us and give us the downlow on your home problems haha


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## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

well







lol


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

lol its all good
if your tank is like mine, its your escape in some ways. thats not what got me into fish when i was a 5th grader but into adulthood having an aquarium has become a major source of stress reliefe.

back on topic youll find driftwood really adds that natural look to your tank and just about any fish will relish this piece of decoaration


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

HA HA HA.. I never boil mine without her.. not as fun plus I only have the wood she has the pan


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## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

going up to the mountains this weekend looking for some driftwood while im up there and im coming home and using her pains :rasp:


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## MFNRyan (Mar 27, 2011)

HA i foudn a pice up on the mountain the other day.. brought home, boiled, soaked for days. fuck3r floats.. didn't really look that cool in my tank though, and also hear it drops the pH. My fish are use to a higher pH in the tank I put the wood too


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

ah yes, floats for days. sometimes it takes a certain piece of wood if boyant enough a few weeks to soak in enough water before it sinks. it will sink however. wood eventually absorbs. you can weigh it down to speed up the process


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