# DIY Driftwood



## JG06 (Nov 5, 2006)

Hello all,

I am wondering if any of you have ever collected interesting pieces of wood that you thought would make a unique piece of driftwood and if so, how did you go about cleaning it for your aquarium? The reason I ask is I spent a fair amount of time in the woods and see lots of stumps, branches, etc. that strike me as interesting but I am reluctant to use them because I'm not sure I would want them to contaminate an aquarium. I had a guy tell me once that soaking pieces of wood in a water filled tub full heavily dosed with potassium permanganate would do a fair job of eating up the impurities and generally cleaning the wood, but I've never tried it. Any ideas?

Thanks all,

Jason


----------



## Grayum (Jun 14, 2006)

If there is any sap left in the wood, it will not work. Wood needs to be aged, boiled (if piece is small enough) and baked if you have the room to do so. might be best to take wood from a stream thats already had enough time to rot and break down.


----------



## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

I was thinking about this as well. So, taking smaller thin branches from the woods to sort of design a "root looking" system in my tank would be a really bad idea?


----------



## Skelley (Mar 4, 2006)

I have had a few pieces that were too big to boil on the stove. I set them in my bathtub and filled it with boiling water. It helps to get rid of all the tannins too. It took a long time but it was worth the work. I bought a piece of driftwood once. Horrible looking, very expensive. I have found all my driftwood in nature ever since. I don't think a root looking tank would be a bad idea at all. Check out aquariumdesigngroup.com. They have some great photos of tanks with driftwood and one "root looking" tank (no plants just rocks and wood) that looks amazing. I believe it won an award in the AGA contest a few years back. Do a search on this site on driftwood. You'll get all the info you ever need.


----------



## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

Yea, but I was thinking about taking branches from the woods to use. Would that be a bad idea?


----------



## JG06 (Nov 5, 2006)

> to sort of design a "root looking" system in my tank


That's precisely what I have in mind for next tank. I plan on having some type of roots coming down from above the water line at the rear of the tank. I want it to mimic the undercuts and outcroppings I've while snorkeling around in streams and rivers. Plus, I think it would help add some depth to the setup.


----------



## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

You mean like this:










Made with grape vine pieces glued together with dowels.

You can see the thread here


----------



## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

Yes, like that but only darker and thinner. I was thinking about collecting branches from various trees. But Im still curious as to how this would effect the water in my tank. 

Is there any way to create usuable driftwood from live tree branches?


----------



## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

You just need to make sure that the wood is suitable for use in aquariums. There's a few different sites that list which woods are okay and which are not. A good rule of thumb is no softwoods. I'm not sure if they need to be dried out first, but it couldn't hurt.

Another avenue to explore if you have a large enough tank might be mangroves. They'll grow just as well in fresh water as they do in salt and have great root systems. They need a little maintenance and a proper set-up
but what in this hobby doesn't?


----------



## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

Im going to have to do my homework over the weekend for this one then. Im planning on setting up a 20G specifically for apistogramma cacatuoides. I want a lot of long twisting branches, moss, and oak leaves along a dark sandy bottom. But Im cheap and dont want to buy a hundred dollars worth of driftwood if I can just snag some of my own.


----------



## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

Do you have any lakes nearby?

all of my driftwood comes out of a local lake. it's the first dam in a series so it catches all of the driftwood coming down out of the mountains, lots to choose from. 

Brian


----------



## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

Another thing I was going to try, if building my own didn't pan out, was calling some of the local landscapers and seeing if they had any rootballs from small trees/shrubs that they had pulled up. That might give you the effect that your looking for.

An even cooler (yet way slower and more work) option would be mangroves. They grow just as well in fresh water as they do in salt. The drawbacks are they need a proper set-up (a tank with an open top, a deeper substrate, sufficient lighting) and require some maintenance (pruning of branches and roots, keeping leaves moist). A lot of work, but it would be awesome if it was pulled off.


----------



## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

I agree witth the mangrove action, that would look awesome. But, this will be my third tank and I gotta keep this one low maintenance or else my work load may soon start to get unbalanced with my enjoyment of watching the tanks. 

I talked to my father this morning and he was all revved up about digging up tree roots and washing them off and having me use them. I told him I still dont know what is safe to use and I would get back to him. 

Anyone have a link to a site that may list specific wood that is ok to use from local sources?


----------



## C.ton (Nov 6, 2006)

^^^ i like your user name, what chasis?

anyways, i'm in to find out too as i also don't want to spend so much on pieces of wood.


----------



## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

If you mean my name.. I drive an 03 rsx type S. I enjoy that car as much as I enjoy my aquarium hobby. 

I actually broke down tonight and bought some wood. My girlfriend and I drove to a fish store that we had never been to. I got a few pieces for 12 bucks. They sold it by the pound so I just picked through and snagged a bunch of lightweight, but cool looking pieces. 
Im still on the hunt for usable, local, and free wood. I did some research today and I still dont have a definitive answer as to what would be ok to use. I did gather a bunch of oak leaves that Im going to scatter across the bottom though.


----------



## Rattail (Aug 21, 2006)

Someone from the UK told me that Beechwood can be used. Here in South Africa, I have never seen thin driftwood pieces, so I am also on the lookout for branches that can be used. Probably from a vineyard, forest, river, or something. (I haven't found beech here yet!) I will be watching this thread hoping that someone will be able to shed light on this topic.... I hope to build an Amazon biotope (I got my inspiration/idea from http://finarama.com/gallery/amano.htm).

keep posting!

cheers.


----------



## DBray6 (Dec 8, 2006)

I have found that live oak works well. I don't know everywhere it grows but I know it grows well in the southern US. I found dead branches and stripped the bark off and "cooked" them in the crock pot until the water stayed clear. After 3 days of changing water twice a day no more tannin. I have 3 pieces in my 55 gal. and zero discoloration and my PH is uneffected. I haven't figured out a way to cook larger pieces.


----------



## Rattail (Aug 21, 2006)

That sounds promising! (We have Oak trees here). How long have you had this oak in your aquarium for?


----------



## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

I never thought of using a crock pot, I'll have to remember that.

And actually now that I think about it, you could get the same effect from an old water heater for the larger pieces. They even drain and refill themselves.

Hmmmm...:-k


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

schaadrak said:


> I never thought of using a crock pot, I'll have to remember that.
> 
> And actually now that I think about it, you could get the same effect from an old water heater for the larger pieces. They even drain and refill themselves.
> 
> Hmmmm...:-k


How do you get the wood into the water heater? Cut the top off the heater?


----------



## excaliborg (Sep 18, 2006)

I've used various sticks and branches i've found in the local woods. Usually boil them a few times to get the majority of the tannins out of it, however my tank water still seems to go brown but this doesn't last more than a month of weekly water changes. Unfortunately I don't know what sort of wood I have used - just tend to use anything that looks dry (i.e. been dead for a while!) and feels hard such that it wont crumble in my fingers. Overall my opinion is - great way of doing things on the cheap with a little work to put in! So good for a student such as myself.


----------



## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

hoppycalif said:


> How do you get the wood into the water heater? Cut the top off the heater?


Yeah, that would be the easiest way since the only thing I can see on the top of mine are the pipes. You wouldn't need the outlet pipe, just the inlet, so that could just be capped off. And you wouldn't need the full length of the inlet pipe, that could be cut off pretty short.

Another thing that I thought of was that tanks on these are somewhat pressurized to however high your water pressure is in your area. I wonder if that would speed up the curing process, like a pressure cooker?

Anyways it doesn't matter for me that much since my wife saw the doodles I made about this and put me on project restriction until some of the more pressing projects are finished.


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

schaadrak said:


> Anyways it doesn't matter for me that much since my wife saw the doodles I made about this and put me on project restriction until some of the more pressing projects are finished.


I suspect your wife had visions of tannin colored hot water coming out the faucets. Or a topless hot water heater.


----------



## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

No, she knows that I know better than to mess with "her" hot water. Tannin colored hot water would be grounds for immediate termination.

Actually she had visions of the kitchen remodeling not getting started, the fence to keep the dogs out of the pond not getting finished, the fireplace not getting refaced, the fish tank sitting empty for another month and an old water heater getting ready to be purchased and set in the garage with all the other project parts that are keeping her car from getting in.


----------



## Teeleton (Jun 8, 2006)

I have a nice piece of oak that was just a fallen branch on the ground. I stripped all of the bark off of it, and submerged it in an empty aquarium for a couple months while it finished saturating. I "trimmed" it to size with a large hammer to retain the broken look of it. This past weekend I finally put the tank together (Walstad style). The color is way off in the pic, due to my digital camera. The water is actually crystal clear. I had to block the flash with my finger to keep the shot from totally washing out. It's only been up and running for a couple days, so far.










Teeleton


----------



## tapscrew (Jul 1, 2006)

Could you use actual driftwood from off the beach if you soaked it a few days? would that get rid of the salt?


----------



## Moo (Apr 27, 2006)

few days? eeeee, mabey.
I would boil it, or atleast make a good attempt too. And then soak it for mabey a week or two, with frequent changes of water to whatever you're soaking it in.
There are articles on this all over the internet. I would google search them if I were you.

Honestly, I would never put anything from my saltwater tank into my freshwater. But mabey that's just me.


----------



## evesorange (Nov 17, 2006)

What about a cutting of an old oak stump in my backyard? I don't think it has any sap left... can I just take a slice and boil it down?

I have a book called "Setting Up A Tropical Aquarium: Week-by-Week". They advise not using wood that was not purchased from a store because "it will quickly root and release chemicals that would be detrimental to the health of your fish and plants. If you have any doubts about the source of any wood, you should seal it with clear platic paint normally used for sealing concrete ponds...." Several coats on dry wood.

What do you guys think of that?


----------



## evesorange (Nov 17, 2006)

Here's a website I found which describes driftwood use and dangers in more detail:

Sydney's Cichlid Page » wood/driftwood FAQ


----------



## anthonysquire (Mar 15, 2006)

I have some pieces I collected from a local lake that were to big to boil. What I did was place them in a clean ice chest and weighted them down with bricks. Then I added one of those round cylinders of iodized salt and let them soak. When the water got dark, I would drain and refill adding more salt. After 2 or 3 weeks I just rinsed and put in my aquarium. It still leached tannins into the water column for a little while, but it has been there for about 4 years now with no ill effects I have seen.
I can't remember where I read it (it's been about 4 years) but the purpose of the high concentrations of salt was to kill any hitch hikers that we may not want in our tanks.


----------

