Soaking Driftwood

[Sheepsnana]

Hey all,

I found a nice large chunk of driftwood on the beach. I've given it a blast with the hose, and now I'm gonna let it soak to try and get some of the salt out of the wood.

Couple of questions:

How long would you recommend soaking it for?

Can I leave it to soak in the new tank? (soak it, when it's done, take it out, rinse it down, and start the tank setup process.)

Can I attach the new filter to the tank to get some water flow happening, (which I'm sure should help speed up the process) or would this damage the new filter / cause issues later with salt?

Please note before replying: I want to get as much salt out as possible, as my bristlenose are VERY SENSITIVE TO SALT. Most people would say this rules out driftwood from the beach, but I'm stubborn :slfg:

[Sheepsnana]

Well I've been doing a few searches, and while most people say that scaleless fish do not like salt, a lot of others have said they have used it without it affecting their bristlenose.

Hard to tell, but if my bristlenose are going to be sucking on the wood, I'ld like to get as much salt out as possible.

[blueether]

Hey all,

I found a nice large chunk of driftwood on the beach. I've given it a blast with the hose, and now I'm gonna let it soak to try and get some of the salt out of the wood.

[snip imgs]

Couple of questions:

How long would you recommend soaking it for?

5 min.

Ask your self this: how many litres of water will be in the tank, how many litres of (salt) water will be in the log and how fast will that salt come out of the wood...

Can I leave it to soak in the new tank? (soak it, when it's done, take it out, rinse it down, and start the tank setup process.)

If it will fit why not?

Can I attach the new filter to the tank to get some water flow happening, (which I'm sure should help speed up the process) or would this damage the new filter / cause issues later with salt?

You could attach it, but it wont start to cycle unless you add some food for the bacteria, it could be just as easy to add 1/2 (or a proportion suitable for the amount of fish that will go into the new tank) of the old media from the old tank when you setup the new one - less faffing about.

I would think that the amount of salt would be fine in the filter [see above] would be fine

[Ira]

How long would you recommend soaking it for?

Until it sinks or you get tired of waiting and put it in the tank.

Can I leave it to soak in the new tank?

That would be simplest.

(soak it, when it's done, take it out, rinse it down, and start the tank setup process.)

Why bother taking it out again. Put it in. Weigh it down or just let it float around until it sinks. Done.

Can I attach the new filter to the tank to get some water flow happening,

or would this damage the new filter / cause issues later with salt?

How would it damage the filter or cause issues with salt?

I want to get as much salt out as possible, as my bristlenose are VERY SENSITIVE TO SALT. Most people would say this rules out driftwood from the beach, but I'm stubborn :slfg:

Bristlenose aren't that sensitive to salt, and the amount of residual salt after rinsing off a piece of driftwood is very minimal anyway.

I get all my driftwood from the ocean. I give it a rinse to get off any sand and loose debris and throw it in the tank.

[Sheepsnana]

Cheers guys,

Why bother taking it out again. Put it in. Weigh it down or just let it float around until it sinks. Done.

I was going to rinse out any water that may have picked up some salt? Afterall, it has to go somewhere.

How would it damage the filter or cause issues with salt?

I don't know if it would or not, but I thought it doesn't hurt to ask.

[Caryl]

All my driftwood came from the beach. I just hosed it off then put it in the tank. My bristlenoses never seemed bothered. I do not think the driftwood would absorb much, if any, salt but it would just be on the surface and easily hosed off.

[flatfish]

You could soak it outside in a tub for a few months or longer if you are worried. I've taken bogwood from freshwater several times before with no problems (admittedly there'd be no salt issues). I always boil it first for several minutes in a very large pot in case there are any undesirables on it. You may get tannins leaching from the wood. This will turn the water tea coloured and make it slightly acidic but most fish wont mind it, in fact may seem to enjoy it. Eventually the wood will stop releasing tannins and your water will remain clear.

[henward]

i soak it in a bucket outside, if in the sun, the heat should help draw it out.

but i soak untill i find the water doesnt get as dark anymore!

some wood tannins are fine but if your wood is an oily resin type wood, you are best to soak it for a while untill the water doesnt smell like wood anymore

i found, that i soak it untill it sinks, then i bake it in the sun, and re soak it, that does the trick.

i find manuka the best, sinks fast, and becomes 'tank ready' very rapidly

[Sheepsnana]

i soak it in a bucket outside, if in the sun, the heat should help draw it out.

but i soak untill i find the water doesnt get as dark anymore!

some wood tannins are fine but if your wood is an oily resin type wood, you are best to soak it for a while untill the water doesnt smell like wood anymore

Water colour has not changed overnight, but there is now some sand on the bottom of the tank.

i found, that i soak it untill it sinks, then i bake it in the sun, and re soak it, that does the trick.

i find manuka the best, sinks fast, and becomes 'tank ready' very rapidly

Finding the wood was the issue. I talked to the LFS (who warned me of the costs of wood this size), looked on TradeMe, in a couple of rivers, a couple of beaches. Finally found something that would do the job, rather than exactly what I was looking for. Manuka may be best, but "it's not like it grows on trees" -oh wait, it does :digH:

[Nymox]

The best place to get driftwood near here is either the Kaituna cut near Maketu, or Thornton beach. I only soak long enough for it to sink, never worry about salt or anything else really. Another place you can try is Naumuahine river, saves having to wait for it to soak enough to sink, some yummy insect larvae living inside them usually too. I salt my fresh water tank if any fish are showing white spot or anything, lower doses for scaless fish, never had a problem with salt.

[henward]

if you have a friend with a bush in their back yard, a manuka tree thats about 10 to 15 cm trunk diameter is good, dig up the root system on that, awesome!

i also found recently that the royal pleco absolutely loves eating the manuka wood!

[amtiskaw]

Good idea on the roots - I didn't think of that. I'm going bush with a spade this weekend :digH:

[henward]

make sure when you dig one up, you dig about 2 feet around the tree and about 2 foot down

then from then, trim the root system as you need

it is amazing, the structure of the roots, naturally look awesome!!

you dont wanna prematurely snap them while digging, takes a while, but worth it!!

took me a solid 45 minutes of digging one up.... isnt that bad, tiring though!

also, they sink quickly, i soak them immediately, then i waterblase the clay off, bark then dry it, soak again

[Jennifer]

The salt in the driftwood won't cause a problem to the fish or the filter. Other toxins may be in the wood though. I usually just scrub the wood off and put it directly in the tank but one time I did that and all the fish were gasping at the top within a couple of hours. Just common sense to observe things after you add something new to the tank.

[Sheepsnana]

So, I've cleared out all the sand, and tannins (the latter not being intentional, I like tannins), and the log has being submersed for the last week. Has anyone tried sinking a piece this large/dense before? Any idea on how much longer this will take?

I drained all the water out this afternoon and refilled it, I figure fresh water may help, it sure can't hurt :dunno:

[Squirt]

I has small pieces and they took about 3 weeks

[Sheepsnana]

I has small pieces and they took about 3 weeks

&c:ry

[Ira]

Here, I've got a really detailed set of instructions for how to deal with this.

Required materials:

1xfishtank

1xpiece of driftwood

1-2Xrocks.

Optional, 1x string minimum twice as long as the distance from the middle to either end.

Step 1: Put driftwood in fish tank where you want it.

Step 2: Put rocks on it,

Step 3: If you have problems with step 2 tie them in place using the string.

DONE. Doesn't matter any more how long it will take to sink.

[blueether]

I have picked up bits that sunk straight away, a bit that had been in storage for 10 + years and had been dry for a good 3 years before that that sunk within a day, and other bits that never sunk in about 3 months in a rubbishbin full of water...

[Sheepsnana]

Here, I've got a really detailed set of instructions for how to deal with this.

Required materials:

1xfishtank

1xpiece of driftwood

1-2Xrocks.

Optional, 1x string minimum twice as long as the distance from the middle to either end.

Step 1: Put driftwood in fish tank where you want it.

Step 2: Put rocks on it,

Step 3: If you have problems with step 2 tie them in place using the string.

DONE. Doesn't matter any more how long it will take to sink.

It's a nice looking piece of driftwood, and not a nice looking rock.

[Cricketman]

I have in the past hidden sinkers in holes in the wood, or drilled holes the right size to feed a few 1 Oz sinkers into, or made a string of a few sinkers on a piece of low-vis fishing line, and tied it over the wood.

Sinkers are easy to hide in the substrate, and can be removed once your wood doesn't need them any-more.

Also the drill-and-hide technique is good if you can figure out how the wood will sit with its new centre of gravity, get some interesting angles that it'll sit at in the water...

HTH

[peet]

I used to go down to a place that sold perspex sheets and got a whole lot of square offcuts. I then screwed one/several (depending on the size of the driftwood) to the underside of the wood (put in a spacer if needed to get the wood to the right height off the bottom of the tank) and then pile the substrate over the perspex. The weight of the substrate holds down the driftwood and you dont have floating issues and no nasty strings or weights. See image below for visual translation of the above rambling

[hovmoller]

I used to go down to a place that sold perspex sheets and got a whole lot of square offcuts. I then screwed one/several (depending on the size of the driftwood) to the underside of the wood (put in a spacer if needed to get the wood to the right height off the bottom of the tank) and then pile the substrate over the perspex. The weight of the substrate holds down the driftwood and you dont have floating issues and no nasty strings or weights. See image below for visual translation of the above rambling

Good idea.. I have done same thing with ceramic tiles I bought at bunnings for $1/tile

[Ira]

I used to go down to a place that sold perspex sheets and got a whole lot of square offcuts. I then screwed one/several (depending on the size of the driftwood) to the underside of the wood (put in a spacer if needed to get the wood to the right height off the bottom of the tank) and then pile the substrate over the perspex. The weight of the substrate holds down the driftwood and you dont have floating issues and no nasty strings or weights. See image below for visual translation of the above rambling

That looks good, I need to try something like that with my driftwood, not to keep it sunk, because my redspot knocks it over constantly. :an!gry

[maxximuscool]

I recommend soak it for at least 4 months. If you can boil it then it even better. It should extract some salt out of the wood. But you'll still need to left it soak for 4-12months.