I'd soak it in a barrel of fresh water out site for some time (with regular 100% water changes), and depending on how delicate your fish are it might be a good idea to give it a quick soak in a weak bleach solution first.

I collect driftwood from the Hokitika beach and just give it a squirt with the hose and a good scrub.

damm, i went to greymouth not long ago, my god was it driftwood hevan!

had the truck fill of wood so quick.

i just put it all in a 100l wearhouse bin out side and done what David R said(waterchanges) now most of it is in with my oscars.

Just some general thoughts on collecting rocks and driftwood from the 'wild':

- Officially you need a permit to take stuff from beaches, reserves, parks etc. but I think you should be fine if you stick to the 'spirit' of the law - don't take anything from delicate ecosystems (this includes Rangitoto!) and have respect for the environmental and cultural reasons for the rule. Take only what you need and no more. Only collect enough to decorate your tank - don't collect your entire stock of substrate from the wild. That's just greedy! :-?

- Anything you collect should be thoroughly cleaned before putting it in your tank. Better to be safe than sorry. I've made mistakes by chucking driftwood straight into my tank and regretted it. A few minutes cleaning could have saved me hours of work.

- Test rocks by cleaning thoroughly, then putting a drop of vinegar or other acid on them to see if they 'fizz'. Especially do this with rocks that have light-coloured veins running through them. It might be limestone, which is very alkaline and can mess up your pH.

- Don't use sedimentary rocks where you can see shells imbedded in them for the same reason. (Unless you want your pH high of course)

- Avoid porous rocks (like scoria) unless you really know what you're doing. The little holes in the rocks can contain toxic gases (eg sulphur). Bad for fishies! Also other hidden dangers can lurk in the holes.

- Avouid rocks & wood with sharp bits, especially if you have fish with flowing fins, or ones that are skittish, or fish that like to dig or hide in small spaces... hmmm I think I've just covered most breeds of fish!

- Personally I don't soak driftwood in bleach because it can soak in and be really hard to get out again.

- My preferred cleaning methods (in no particular order): Boil, soak in a salt solution, hose down with a high pressure hose, scrub, leave out in the sunshine to dry and be exposed to UV rays.

All that stuff up there ^^ is just my personal opinion based on personal experience, advice from others and a small dose of common sense. Others will disagree, but I hope it helps anyway.

Sorry about the babbling... :oops:

Just realised I'm not finished babbling yet...

Trust your nose! Rinse your driftwod then sniff it all over. If you can smel yukky/rotten egg/ammonia/other nasty smells, don't put it in your tank. Parts of it may be rotting and this can cause your pH to drop and give you all kinds of problems.

Waitakerae ranges.

Find a nice stream. Become happy. Don't nick the entire stream though, someone will notice.

Few stones should be sweet