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Driftwood questions!


Caper

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Have been trying to catch up on all the posts, wasn't on for awhile. Anyway, Caryl you said something a post (can't find it) about driftwood having to be a hardwood (also you mentioned a couple of names of trees).

:oops: :oops:

1) If you find wood on a beach, how do you know it is hardwood?

2) What makes driftwood...driftwood?

3) How do you know it is suitable for your tank?

4) Does all driftwood rot? Eventually?

Caper

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All good questions, Caper!

1) If you find wood on a beach, how do you know it is hardwood?

You can usually tell by scraping or water-blasting off the soft surface. If you eventually get to a hard bit (too hard to scrape any more or to dent easily with your finger nail) then you have a hardwood.

Also you can get to know your local hardwoods and you may be able to recognise it by its colour/grain once you have scraped off the surface a bit.

Pine is an example of a soft wood. In NZ we have various native hard woods (they grow much slower than the soft woods so are not usually cultivated for timber). Even then, the heart wood of a tree is often hard, and the wood closer to the bark is often soft and sappy.

2) What makes driftwood...driftwood?

Driftwood actually drifts on the ocean or on a lake - i.e. it floats. What we really need for the aquarium is bog wood or swamp wood that has sunk from many years of immersion. Often it will have been trapped under boulders in a river, then during a storm will get dislodged and wash downstream, so you may find it at a river mouth after a big flood or storm.

3) How do you know it is suitable for your tank?

You need to

a. identify your wood so you know it's not a toxic type

b. make sure it's not seeping sap

c. be confident it has not been exposed to pollutants

d. make sure you have removed any loose bark or rotten wood

e. find out if it sinks (or make it sink)

4) Does all driftwood rot? Eventually?

Some driftwood eventually turns into rocks! But not in your tank!! (Look up petrified wood on google if you're interested)

Swamp Kauri in the far North of NZ has been under peat bogs for hundreds of years. People dig it out and make beautiful hardwood furniture out of it.

I guess all wood will rot eventually - especially the little bits we put in our home aquariums. But the right wood might last maybe 100 years under water - and even then just the outer parts will rot, you or your fish will scrape the soft parts away and the core of the wood will still be solid.

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All good questions, Caper!

You can usually tell by scraping or water-blasting off the soft surface. If you eventually get to a hard bit (too hard to scrape any more or to dent easily with your finger nail) then you have a hardwood.

Except Balsa is a hardwood. :P And woods don't get much softer...

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A hardwood is so because of the cell structure not because it is hard. Balsa is a good example, but also kauri and totara are "soft" hardwoods. Hardwoods will not rot as quickly as soft woods like pine.

There are exceptions to the rule here too.

It all depends on the conditions the different woods are placed in.

I have seen some "hardwoods" rot out in a couple of years and some "softwoods" last donkeys years; and vise versa. :o

This I know because I deal with the wooden power poles, that support the wires, that bring you your electricity, that keeps you and your fish nice and warm. :wink:

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soft hardwoods... hard softwoods... crikey it's confusing! :o

So to go back to Caper's original question... how does one choose a suitable wood to put in an aquarium? (Assuming one doesn't have an electron microscope in one's pocket to study the cell structure of the wood one finds on the beach)

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Is it wood? If no, get rid of it. If yes, is it clean? If no, Clean it. If yes, put it in fish tank.

People put WAAAAY too much thought into this stuff. If it starts to turn to mush in 6 months, take it out throw it away, get another piece. It's not rocket science.

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My problem is mine turns my water brown.

When I first got it I soaked it in hot water etc (regular water changes) ..and left it for about a month.

Put it into my tank and it turns the water brown..and looks yuk..how does one stop that??

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Some woods will leach brown tannins into the water forever and others only for a short time. I believe carbon in the filter will clear it. A lot of fish like the tannins and feel more secure. I have been lucky and never had one leach.

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My problem is mine turns my water brown.

When I first got it I soaked it in hot water etc (regular water changes) ..and left it for about a month.

Put it into my tank and it turns the water brown..and looks yuk..how does one stop that??

Boil the heck out of it for an hour or so, or soak it in the bath full of hot water for a few days, changing water as much as you can be bothered.

Most of the tannins will leech out

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Thanks for all the help folks :bow::bow:

I did buy a small piece of driftwood when I was in Calgary. I haven't used it yet because someday when I figure out where to put my 55 gallon I'll probably put it in there.

I was at the beach a couple of weeks ago with my grandson and I picked up a small piece of "wood". It was faded and not in the water (not to say it wasn't at some point) so I didn't know if would be considered driftwood. I'm just trying to find something small in case I get a pleco. I have tried them before but they died and I was wondering if not having wood was a contributing factor?

It may not be rocket science Ira but for all I know it could have been a wee branch that some kid had taken there to play in the sand. So, that's why the questions. Since I never heard of anyone just cutting a branch off a tree and putting it in a tank I'm guessing there's a reason it has to be driftwood, again that's why the questions. :-? 8)

Caper

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My problem is mine turns my water brown.

When I first got it I soaked it in hot water etc (regular water changes) ..and left it for about a month.

Put it into my tank and it turns the water brown..and looks yuk..how does one stop that??

Tannins in the water are goood! For many south americna fish anyway which is what i mainly keep :lol:

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It may not be rocket science Ira but for all I know it could have been a wee branch that some kid had taken there to play in the sand.

Doesn't matter if it was, unless he was busy poking something toxic with it.

So, that's why the questions. Since I never heard of anyone just cutting a branch off a tree and putting it in a tank I'm guessing there's a reason it has to be driftwood, again that's why the questions. :-? 8)

Caper

Only reasons people don't cut branches off trees are A: Because branches are generally boring and B: Because you'd want to let it dry and clean it really well, get rid of sap and gunk. (Hence why hardwoods are preferred I think. Most softwoods tend to be a lot sappier)

There's no reason it has to be driftwood other than it comes pre cleaned and comes in more interesting shapes.

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Ira wrote:

There's no reason it has to be driftwood other than it comes pre cleaned and comes in more interesting shapes.

See, if I didn't ask the questions I wouldn't have know that either :o :lol: :lol:

Thanks Ira!

Caper

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