# found some cool wood, how do i prepare it for my tank ?



## Rob1984 (Jan 4, 2012)

so i found some really cool peices of wood in the ditch from a bush/swamp..... hoping they fit in my tank other wise im going to have to cut/break sections off em to make it fit there way too cool to throw away lol  if they dont fit maybe i'll have to buy a bigger tank lmao ya right lol ...

so how do you go about preparing wood to put in your tank ? i hosed em off and i have one small peice on a 5 gallon pail soaking in just reg garden hose water right now, i have also heard of guys drilling holes and zip tieing them to a peice of flag stone or flat rock, as well stainless bolts or screws toh old em to rock... id rather not use a screw or bolt just for any reason it comes loose in my tank and a fish gets it or eats it, do i soak with bleach and water 30/70 mix (rather not use chemical slike that) or soak in vinegar and water mix ? or just water..... any help would be great 

here are a few pics of what i got, also i found this weird red like root inside all over both peices, anyone know what it is ? i pulled out as much as i could of it ....

this is prolly my favourite out of the two of em

















this one has a big hole in the inside on the centre 

















here is that weird red like root stuff that was all inside the wood peices i grabbed today


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## Mr.Dempsey (Jan 4, 2012)

Great looking wood you got there! What I did to perpare my wood is just soak in it water for about 3-4 weeks or till the tanins stop coming out changeing the water every 3 days. Then soak in dechlorinated water for about 3 day at triple dose cause most tap water has chlorine in it. Then add the weights of your choice, I use egg crate attached to the wood and have rocks sitting on the egg create. You might want to get a BN pleco to help keep the wood clean and free loose wood fibers.


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## NeptunesNeighborhood (Apr 19, 2012)

Nothing to add, just wanted to say those are some nice pieces you got there


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## Rob1984 (Jan 4, 2012)

Mr.Dempsey said:


> Great looking wood you got there! What I did to perpare my wood is just soak in it water for about 3-4 weeks or till the tanins stop coming out changeing the water every 3 days. Then soak in dechlorinated water for about 3 day at triple dose cause most tap water has chlorine in it. Then add the weights of your choice, I use egg crate attached to the wood and have rocks sitting on the egg create. You might want to get a BN pleco to help keep the wood clean and free loose wood fibers.


ya *** been soaking mine in CRAZY hot water and changing the water the each day these last two days now, smaller peice doesnt seem to be leaking anything anymore, but big peice still leaks a bit would be nice if they got water logged after a few days of fully sumerged lol the smalle rpeice should be fine just zipped tied to a peice of flat flag stone the big one i dont know if two peices of flag stone will hold it down in the tank water lol .... and a BN pleco will just leave grosse green poop all over my white sand lol *** have a pleco in there before and with the white sand all i could see was green poop all over my nice white sand looks grosse IMO and wont ever use one again unless absolutly nessecary


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## zquattrucci (Apr 25, 2012)

i baked mine in the ovenfor about an hour at about 350 then i took it to the bath tub filled it with my hot hot tap water even boiled up some water to help then scrubed with brillo pads for about 30 min to an hour and my tank has not changed the water color yet been in about a month abd half hope that helps


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## Rob1984 (Jan 4, 2012)

Well I've been soaked them in SUPER hot tap water since for the first two days and changed it twice a day (leaked A LOT of tannis, hot water open the pores in the wood) yesterrday and today have cold garden hose water and have them weighted to keep em down under the water and the large piece will sink on it own now, I'm thinking about putting one day of SUPER hot tap water again to see if anything leaks out (tannis) and if it doesn't I'm gonna add it in my tank

Small one floats like balloon filled with air still, so I'll prolly attach it to some flat flagstone with zip ties


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## zquattrucci (Apr 25, 2012)

good luck post some more pic when you get them in


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## Rob1984 (Jan 4, 2012)

Oh ya for sure defintly posting pics when the piece goes in lol


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

zquattrucci said:


> scrubbed with brillo pads


I hope you mean steel wool pads without soap.


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## zquattrucci (Apr 25, 2012)

no brillo pads and no soap clean brand new and its been in the about 2 month all is good


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## Rob1984 (Jan 4, 2012)

Ya I've been soaking in extremly hot tap water (close to boiling point) since I got em, seems they leech tannins in the hot water but not cool water.... Gonna soak it in hot water for the next couple days still changing twice a day morning and night sometimes 3 times if I can, I also wondered what happens when the wood gets "rotted" from being in water all the time or will it not get brittle and fall apart on its own ?


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## zquattrucci (Apr 25, 2012)

any place that you can dig your finger nail in to needs to be taken off because that will fall off eventily in your tank just widdle the bad spots out with a knife untill you are down to the hard wood that you can not dig your nail into that should give you good results after the widdling and a good rainse to get all the disbre off should be ready for the tank hope that helps :thumb:


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