# Drift wood



## derrick (Feb 5, 2012)

so instead of going to the LFS and spending a fortune I went down to a local river and found a bunch of really nice looking stuff. So I presure washed it all really good and I am going to boil it all. Now I am wondering if I should be concerned about anything. I am guessing by the area that it could either be oak, beach, maple or elm. And I am not very concerned about any pesticides or anything like that. All advice and tips are very appreciated.


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## derrick (Feb 5, 2012)

My next problem is that's pieces are pretty big and 100% of the wood will not get boiled. I'm think after I boil all I can that I'll soak the whole thing in hot hot water in a big tub, will that be ok


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

There's wood in water all over the place. It should be fine. That is just to reduce tannins, which color the water a bit. Fish are fine with them though


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## derrick (Feb 5, 2012)

Fish Jerk said:


> There's wood in water all over the place. It should be fine. That is just to reduce tannins, which color the water a bit. Fish are fine with them though


Is boiling it not to kill any bacteria that may be in the wood????


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

Yea for the bacteria and for the tannins. Boiling will open the wood faster than soaking and release the deeper parts of the wood. If it all doesn't fit, do half for ten minutes the flip and do the other half.


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## dledinger (Mar 20, 2013)

I have collected all my own driftwood and didn't boil any of it, FWIW. Most of it was well weathered and very dry (all of it was washed up on tidal river banks). I have soaked some(cold) for weight and tanin purposes but that didn't do much either. It was probably at least 6 months before it was weight neutral in the water, and a very, very long time before the tanins were mostly gone.


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## derrick (Feb 5, 2012)

Well I had a few pretty big pieces boiled them for an hour each last night and they been soaking in a huge bucket since then hopefully boiling it will have speed up the proces because if there's a huge bucket of wood in my bathroom for 6 months my wife will kill me lol.........


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

There's no reason to think there is bad bacteria on it. Bacteria is unavoidable, aquariums are not sterile nor are your hands.


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## testtube (Jan 23, 2014)

I've gotten driftwood in the wild every time I need it. I would never buy it. While boiling driftwood is not a bad idea. The way I've cured my drift wood is to put it in a large enough container to completely submerge it with water. Then add some common household bleach and let it sit for at least a week. The chlorine in bleach will dissipate in a few days. I then drain the bleach water out and completely clean and rinse the driftwood. Then put it back in the container refill with fresh water and let it soak for another week or so. Then it will be ready for the take. Place driftwood in tank and weight down with some landscaping rocks. It will take over a month for the driftwood to totally saturate. A film of white mucus will form on the driftwood. A good way to take care of this is to get a pleco catfish. These cat fish thrive on driftwood slime. Good luck.


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## testtube (Jan 23, 2014)

You also might find the post below useful :  
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=287538


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## derrick (Feb 5, 2012)

Thanks you all for the advice. What I ended up doing was first pressure washing it to get all the dirt and stuff. I did boil it just to be on the safe side. Then let it soak for like a week the large piece is in my tank but doesn't sink in own so I held it down with rocks in key places making it look like it fell in place. I am glad I went this route much better and personal then Buying it from the store now my whole tank, wood and rocks are from the shores of georgain bay Ontario


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