drift wood problem?

stuhrike · Post by **stuhrike** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 3:04 pm

oritey...well...i was planning on adding some drift wood to my shrimp tank but i realized that the drift wood soaks in water to sink correct?

so this water is unchlorinated etc etc and so would it be lethal to put into my tank since the drift wood will probably have soaked up chlorine and chloramines? >.< anyone else have this problem or is this just needless worrying? :\ thanks guys

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 4:11 pm

If you soak it in water for a while with a de-chlorinator you probably will have no problems. A bigger problem with driftwood is the tannins that often bleed out and color the water and can acidify the water.

Shrimp&Snails · Post by **Shrimp&Snails** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 4:57 pm

I boiled my smaller pieces of driftwood a couple of times and soaked them for a week, using dechlor for soaking after the last boil.

The larger the piece the longer it takes to soak/prepare.

Good luck.

nathan515 · Post by **nathan515** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 9:28 pm

I remember the first time I had outside wood into my tank. The whole water got all brown/greenish like but the tank was empty as it was for my 3 foot asian water monitor. What i did was I gave it a good scrub down with very hot water, but eventually it dies out. But for it soaking all of that stuff in, honestly I think a lot of aquatic animals have a lot of endurance to that so just watch out for it a couple of days or just dip it in water that has already been treated and put it in for a day or so and...for what i did...let it dry completely in the sun to kill anything.

Hope I got your question...not sure if I really did haha.

stuhrike · Post by **stuhrike** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:52 am

thanks guys

and shrimp&snails, brilliant advice. i got the same advice at another forum and it pulls the tannins out soooo fast

leto3113 · Post by **leto3113** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 8:53 am

I'm almost to the point of giving up on driftwood completely. I spent 60 bucks for 4 amazing looking pieces and soaked and boiled them off and on for 2 months and still the soak/boil water was jet black. I finally took them back to the store in disgust! The fake plastic stuff is looking better and better to me....

Shrimp&Snails · Post by **Shrimp&Snails** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 9:28 am

leto3113 wrote:I'm almost to the point of giving up on driftwood completely. I spent 60 bucks for 4 amazing looking pieces and soaked and boiled them off and on for 2 months and still the soak/boil water was jet black. I finally took them back to the store in disgust! The fake plastic stuff is looking better and better to me....

Wow that's a shame.....were they big pieces?

I would have also gone for fake driftwood but my bn plecs need it.

leto3113 · Post by **leto3113** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:10 pm

The pieces were Malaysian and roughly 8"by8"(hard to give dimensions since they were nice and gnarly and branchy). I do have some non-leaching pieces(and they never leached from day one) in my bigger tank for my Snowball Pleco. I've had them for so many years I can't remember exactly what kind they are...I think African.