Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 2:21 am
I recently was looking at adding some driftwood to my fish tank, and learned a whole bunch of stuff about it.
First, you'll want to make sure it's not softwood. You can usually tell if you can easily dig your nail into it.
If it was collected driftwood, and you're not sure if it has been cleaned, you might want to clean it. I've heard everything from sandblasting it, sanding it, or pressure washing it. If you think it's pretty clean, I think pressure washing it would still be a good idea.
It might float, so if you want it to sink you can either soak it in a big bucket of water for a week or so (depending on size), or you can weigh it down in your tank with rocks, slate, or even suction cups.
If you choose to sink it in your tank, it may end up turning the water yellow/brown from the tannins in the wood. This isn't harmful to your turts, and can usually be cleared up by partial water changes and some carbon in the filter.
Driftwood tends to lower water PH, which isn't a big deal for turts, but you may want to monitor it for a while just to make sure it doesn't go too low.
I love the look of driftwood in a tank! I wanted to put some collected driftwood that I found around the lake into my fish tank, but found out it was mostly softwood. I opted for just a big rock instead.
Ralpheal, "The 'L' is silent."
Frankie, "Young at heart."
