# reptile driftwood?



## alexisonfire92 (Apr 10, 2009)

I noticed at pet supply stores that the driftwood intended for use in say... a bearded dragons terrarium is significantly cheaper than the driftwood in the fish section. is there a reason for that? can reptile driftwood be used in an aquarium. i imagine its pretty much the same. the only difference i've noticed is that its flakier and i suppose would require a good soak/scrub. it also seems pretty heavy so i imagine it would sink right off the bat. if it were to leach tannins, is that at all harmful to the fish or does it just look weird? if you guys have both rocks and driftwood in your tanks can you post some pics so i can see how the combination looks together as i currently only have rocks?
thanks.


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## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

From Personal Experience with reptile driftwood or any driftwood in general. It is going to make your water yellow for a LONG time until EVERYTHING has leeched out of it over time. So i wouldn't recommend it personally, or just soak it in a bucket for a straight week before putting it into your tank.


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## dgaddis1 (Nov 30, 2006)

Heat pulls the tannins out faster. If the pieces are small, boil them for 15mins or so, empty, refill, repeat several times. If they're too big to fit in a pot, but small enough to fit in a cooler, put them in the cooler with hot water and let them soak a day or two, empty, refill with hot water again, and do this several times. You'll notice it takes longer and longer for the water to change color each time you refill.

I did this recently with a big piece of wood. It soaked for 3 days in hot water (refilled with fresh hot water each day), then two days in cool water (without changing the water) and there was no discoloration of the cool water, so I moved it into the tank. Everything was good for about two weeks, then it started discoloring the water, so now it's back into the hot water filled cooler. I imagine the piece wasn't completely water logged when I moved it to the tank, and as water slowly worked its way in, new tannins found a way out.

I'm moving everything to a new tank in a few weeks, so the driftwood will probably soak in hot water till then. I'll report back if I still get discoloration or not!


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## Mike_G (Nov 8, 2011)

I have a source for driftwood that's been underwater for *90 years*- I'm gonna go collect some this summer :thumb:


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## jd lover (Mar 11, 2011)

i bought some from my petsmart in the reptile section and like yours it was pretty heavy came home IT DIDNT SINK!!!! :x :x :x :x so yea lol i would pay a bit extra for it to sink but i manage to work with it it looks good have standing.


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## Bpawl92 (Dec 24, 2011)

the weight of the object doesnt matter, its the density of the object that makes it sink or float or go halfway down. For example, when i was in junior high we did a science experiment with coke. diet coke i cant remember but it either floats or drops halfway, while coke sinks like a rock, the surgar in the regular coke made it more dense. Same with big metal navy ships, yes the metal is denser than water, but with it all put together with the giant air pockets inside it remains buoyant. what my cousin did is he fond a nice piece of driftwood, figured out which pieces would be on the bottom and he used the same stuff to seal an aquarium and attached a nice flat rock and burried it under the substrate. you wouldnt know it was there if he didnt tell you!


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## dgaddis1 (Nov 30, 2006)

Bpawl92 said:


> the weight of the object doesnt matter, its the density of the object that makes it sink or float or go halfway down. For example, when i was in junior high we did a science experiment with coke. diet coke i cant remember but it either floats or drops halfway, while coke sinks like a rock, the surgar in the regular coke made it more dense. Same with big metal navy ships, yes the metal is denser than water, but with it all put together with the giant air pockets inside it remains buoyant. what my cousin did is he fond a nice piece of driftwood, figured out which pieces would be on the bottom and he used the same stuff to seal an aquarium and attached a nice flat rock and burried it under the substrate. you wouldnt know it was there if he didnt tell you!


If we're getting technical...,it's not weight or density. It's weight of the object vs the weight of the water it displaces. To sink the object must be heavier than the water it displaces.

If you have a 1lbs object that displaces 0.25lbs of water, the object will sink.

If you have a 1lbs object that displaces 2lbs of water it will float. In fact, it will float so that only part of the object is under water - and the part that is underwater will displace 1lbs of water.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

dgaddis1 said:


> Bpawl92 said:
> 
> 
> > the weight of the object doesnt matter, its the density of the object that makes it sink or float or go halfway down. For example, when i was in junior high we did a science experiment with coke. diet coke i cant remember but it either floats or drops halfway, while coke sinks like a rock, the surgar in the regular coke made it more dense. Same with big metal navy ships, yes the metal is denser than water, but with it all put together with the giant air pockets inside it remains buoyant. what my cousin did is he fond a nice piece of driftwood, figured out which pieces would be on the bottom and he used the same stuff to seal an aquarium and attached a nice flat rock and burried it under the substrate. you wouldnt know it was there if he didnt tell you!
> ...


What you just described, is precisely density :roll:

:fish: :fish: :fish:


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## dgaddis1 (Nov 30, 2006)

Not exactly. Density is mass per unit volume. Bouyancy is the difference between the weight of an object and the weight of the water it displaces.

Steel is more dense than water, and driftwood, but it can still float.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

dgaddis1 said:


> Not exactly. Density is mass per unit volume. Bouyancy is the difference between the weight of an object and the weight of the water it displaces.
> 
> Steel is more dense than water, and driftwood, but it can still float.


...because its a non homogenous object that has an average density less than that of water 

I'm just picking on you because you nitpicked bpawl about density. Density and bouyancy are pretty much the same things here. Density will tell you IF an object will float, bouyancy will tell you how much of the object will be above and below the waterline.

All objects (even one's that sink) have bouyancy. Thats why an object "weighs" less underwater. We have bouyancy on earth in air, yet we are planted firmly on the ground.

cheers :thumb:


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

not sure if it was mentioned but the petsmart near me has both mopani and grapevine in the reptile section. I have a huge piece of zoo med mopani and beside the usual tannins, it's working fine and sunk without any help. The grapevine piece on the other hand break down really easy and didn't last very long in my tree frog terrarium, it molded and fell apart.


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