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Soaking Driftwood


Sheepsnana

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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.

that's hella overkill. My driftwood was taken from the beach and put straight into my tank (washed the gunk off with the hose). Lots of pieces too, no problems whatsoever.

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  • 4 months later...
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.

I owe you an apology. 4 months was almost SPOT ON. It has only just sunk.

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  • 3 months later...

Yes I know, it's an old thread.

My daughter has been to the beach and collected two large bags of driftwood. Some look ok, so I said sure, we'll stick them in a quarantine tank (four of these now :happy1: ), get the Java fern to attach, and then move them into a bigger tank.

So what do you use for weighing down driftwood until it sinks?

Some people say lead, like fishing sinkers, but I would expect you would go throw two or three bags of sinkers before these stayed down.

So what do you use?

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just let it float around until it sinks.

Tried that, been waiting for two bits to sink since March. The bottom seems saturated but the top still seems almost completely dry. it hasn't lowered much into the water since I started.

Thats what I usually do, especially large pieces. If the rock falls off they tend to rocket upwards pretty fast...

I tried using cobble stones that I had lying around, which weigh a fair bit. But the boyancy of the wood normally moves the stones and they shoot upwards.

Good thing I had them in a poly box at the time or else the stone would have shattered the tank. :nilly:

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You still drinking those beers Cam?

As far as soaking driftwood I just fill the bath with cold water and lay some big stones or bricks on top of them, that seems to work pretty well. Usually only takes a few days.

I have also tied driftwood onto rocks and planted them in the substrate if I am too impatient.

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I wouldn't use pine or other soft wood for the reasons Ira stated.

If you're going to use rocks etc to try weight it then a bucket/drum/bin would probably be a good investment rather than risking a cracked tank. You could try boiling the dry end of the wood to give it a hurry up, if you have a big enough pot.

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Hmm, maybe I am looking at this wrong.

Would increasing the volume of water that the wood is soaking in, or increasing the depth that it is soaking at, speed up the process?

Yup, it would. But I doubt you have a convenient 200 foot deep tank or vacuum chamber.

In the average tank the pressure difference with depth is small enough it can be ignored.

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