# How to sink wood.



## spraycaint123 (Dec 14, 2009)

I have a piece of tree root that's been dried out for years, it looks awesome. Aside from tying a weight to it, does anyone know a way to sink it, so it lays at the bottom?


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

usually when you buy wood it's screwed to a piece of slate


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## il0veCichlids (Nov 9, 2009)

well i silliconed mine to a big rock.. like it was a huge log and now it sinks! the water could get a lil brown so make sure to keep it in water for like a month doing 100% water changes ever 2 days...


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## Comic Sans (Apr 21, 2009)

Aside form weighting it, you can only put it in and wait for it to become waterlogged. Depending on the wood and the piece, this could be years as well.

Personally, if it was a cool tangled root type piece I'd look at affixing it to your hood somehow, and have it wind down from the TOP of the tank. Just a thought.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Since I have had an experience with wood coming loose, I use a firm attachment. At one point I had a new piece in a tank and thought it was siliconed to a rock. While working in the tank I bumped it and it came shooting up. I had the glass covers and light in place and it blew them both up. All I really lost was a bulb but it made a believer out of me. I now go to extremes to make sure there are no leaping limbs. I use a masonry bit to drill holes through the edges of limestone and drill out holes in places where the wood might logically have come to rest against a rock. Trying to conceal the whole idea, I put a plastic tie-wrap on to hold them together. There are some which you can see if you find the right spot but I can live with that for the extra safety.


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## Maxima308 (Jun 6, 2009)

If boiling the root is an option that will take out some of the buoyancy and help remove tannins. Some have even ran driftwood through the dishwasher (skip the dry cycle though LOL)


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

And remember no soap and no rinse agent!


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## misplacedsooner (Apr 13, 2007)

i had/have that same problem, i have a huge root piece in my 240 gallon that is very cool and was long dried up and looked like at 1 time had been waterlogged. 3 years ago i added it to my tank but it floated so i used 3 brick cinders, just like cement cinders only brick to hold it down. it stayed that way for 2 years and i decided i was gonna do a re-arrangement...the dang wood still wanted to float!!!! i was able to remove 2 of the bricks though. recently i flipped the wood and removed the final brick, it still somewhat floats but has kind of a cool bobbing look to it.
here you can see 1 brick on it and there is another on the other end too.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Another way to go if you have the tools and will is to add weight inside. By drilling cutting and chiseling part of the interior wood out You can reduce the floating. These holes can make nice hiding places or if you want to go further you can fill the holes with weight like concrete and avoid the look of weight fastened to the outside. Be warned on this that the wood may be extremely hard to remove if in fact it is old dried driftwood. I found dried cedar to be almost impossible to drill and wound up cutting down through with a chain saw. It was still a struggle and a real messy affair but I got a nice hollowed space in return.


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## spraycaint123 (Dec 14, 2009)

Thankyou to all who replied, you have all been a great help! Merry Christmas!


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Happy Holidays to you as well!


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