Driftwood

[Ryan Minaker]

Hey everyone,

Does anyone know of a good place to get cheap driftwood? When I go
canoeing I alwyas keep my eye out, but I just don't manage to find
anything half-decent.

So last week I went to my local Aquarium Store and for a decent
looking piece of drifwood these guys are asking $60 CDN!
There's no way I can bring myself to pay this! Any ideas on where I
could find some cheaper wood without trecking out into the wilderness?

Thanks!
Ryan
http://members.rogers.com/miniks/aquarist.html

[Dinky]

"Ryan Minaker" > wrote in message
...
| Hey everyone,
|
| Does anyone know of a good place to get cheap driftwood? When I go
| canoeing I alwyas keep my eye out, but I just don't manage to find
| anything half-decent.
|
| So last week I went to my local Aquarium Store and for a decent
| looking piece of drifwood these guys are asking $60 CDN!
| There's no way I can bring myself to pay this! Any ideas on where I
| could find some cheaper wood without trecking out into the
wilderness?
|
| Thanks!
| Ryan
| http://members.rogers.com/miniks/aquarist.html

Anywhere near a beach? Know anyone that lives near a beach? If not, I
go to the coast (oregon coast) a few times a year and may be willing
to 'aquire' a few pieces and ship em for S&H if you're in the
continental US. Be warned, this stuff is bouyant as hell.

b

[Ryan Minaker]

Hmmm...
I'm not really anywhere near a beach, I live in Toronto Canada, so
there are a lot of lakes arround... usually when I scrounge the shores
of local lakes and rivers all the pieces I find are really crappy,
decomposed, and small. Maybe I'm jjust not looking hard enough!

Thanks for the offer to ship em! Although I'm not in the continental
US I'd still be willing to pay the S&H. As soon as the lakes thaw I'm
going to go out and see what I can dig up arround here...


R.




On Sun, 21 Mar 2004 18:01:48 GMT, "Dinky"
> wrote:

>"Ryan Minaker" > wrote in message
...
>| Hey everyone,
>|
>| Does anyone know of a good place to get cheap driftwood? When I go
>| canoeing I alwyas keep my eye out, but I just don't manage to find
>| anything half-decent.
>|
>| So last week I went to my local Aquarium Store and for a decent
>| looking piece of drifwood these guys are asking $60 CDN!
>| There's no way I can bring myself to pay this! Any ideas on where I
>| could find some cheaper wood without trecking out into the
>wilderness?
>|
>| Thanks!
>| Ryan
>| http://members.rogers.com/miniks/aquarist.html
>
>Anywhere near a beach? Know anyone that lives near a beach? If not, I
>go to the coast (oregon coast) a few times a year and may be willing
>to 'aquire' a few pieces and ship em for S&H if you're in the
>continental US. Be warned, this stuff is bouyant as hell.
>
>b
>

[CanadianCray]

I've found I get much better pieces of driftwood from rivers than lakes.
Wood tends to stay in the water too long in lakes causing it to rot.
Although in rivers its washed against the shore rather quickly to dry in the
sun so its not rotten. I have found many very nice large sunbleached pieces
in the rivers around the GTA. Just make sure its not too close to the city.
I try smaller CLEAN creeks as they have less traffic & less chemical in the
water to deal with.

--
Craig Williams
_________________________________

www.Canadiancray.tk
"Ryan Minaker" > wrote in message
...
> Hmmm...
> I'm not really anywhere near a beach, I live in Toronto Canada, so
> there are a lot of lakes arround... usually when I scrounge the shores
> of local lakes and rivers all the pieces I find are really crappy,
> decomposed, and small. Maybe I'm jjust not looking hard enough!
>
> Thanks for the offer to ship em! Although I'm not in the continental
> US I'd still be willing to pay the S&H. As soon as the lakes thaw I'm
> going to go out and see what I can dig up arround here...
>
>
> R.
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, 21 Mar 2004 18:01:48 GMT, "Dinky"
> > wrote:
>
> >"Ryan Minaker" > wrote in message
> ...
> >| Hey everyone,
> >|
> >| Does anyone know of a good place to get cheap driftwood? When I go
> >| canoeing I alwyas keep my eye out, but I just don't manage to find
> >| anything half-decent.
> >|
> >| So last week I went to my local Aquarium Store and for a decent
> >| looking piece of drifwood these guys are asking $60 CDN!
> >| There's no way I can bring myself to pay this! Any ideas on where I
> >| could find some cheaper wood without trecking out into the
> >wilderness?
> >|
> >| Thanks!
> >| Ryan
> >| http://members.rogers.com/miniks/aquarist.html
> >
> >Anywhere near a beach? Know anyone that lives near a beach? If not, I
> >go to the coast (oregon coast) a few times a year and may be willing
> >to 'aquire' a few pieces and ship em for S&H if you're in the
> >continental US. Be warned, this stuff is bouyant as hell.
> >
> >b
> >
>

[Dinky]

"Ryan Minaker" > wrote in message
...

|
| Thanks for the offer to ship em! Although I'm not in the
continental
| US I'd still be willing to pay the S&H. As soon as the lakes thaw
I'm
| going to go out and see what I can dig up arround here...
|


If that doesn't pan out, hang on to my email addy. vincentbill at
earthlink dot com.

Drop me a line if need be, we have a membership to the Newport
aquarium so we'll likely be making several trips to the coast this
summer.

[NetMax]

FYI, the company I buy driftwood from is located in the GTA, but they
won't tell me where they get the wood from :o(. Maybe it's some lake or
wetlands that got drained in the last 10-20 years. Some of it is Western
cedar, so there might be a source in BC.

Some stores import their driftwood from the far east. That will give you
an idea of its value. It hurts to part with $60 for a chunk of wood,
that's for sure, but on the other hand, watch your time & trouble
(locating, transporting, cleaning, drilling slate, boiling and rinsing).
Sometimes $60 starts looking a little better (hmm, that's $5 a month for
one year ;~).

If you decide to spend the money with the LFS, get the best value by
going the day that they get their deliveries. On my delivery day (about
every 6-8 weeks), I climb into their dump truck and pick all the pieces I
want (takes about an hour). The best pieces get sold in about 1 week.
The rest get sold more slowly over the next 4-5 weeks. There isn't any
difference in price (it's by weight & size), but since every piece is
unique, it's a bit easier to part with your money if the piece you get is
really interesting.

Incidentally, for selection, measure where the piece(s) will be going
(the inside measurements of your tank are not your outside measurements,
especially the width & height). Leave a few inches around the wood or
push it directly up to the glass (small gaps are bad). Any glass-wood
gap should be about 50% wider than your thickest fish. They recommend
placing the driftwood at the 1/3 or 2/3 points of your tank's length (you
don't want to draw your eye to the center). Avoid piece with thin
branches (they rot and fall off). Avoid over-thick chunks (may be hard
to sink, displaces too much water, may leech for a long time). Avoid
pieces with sharp points (should be obvious, but I still have to file
some down). Canopy pieces (like archways) work with small fish which can
go under them (and then attach Anubius, Riccia, Java moss or ferns to the
wood :o). Blunt low pieces work better with larger fish. Sometimes I
unscrew the pieces and re-attach them, so a 45degree piece is now
horizontal (makes good tiers to hold gravel back). Try to put the slate
on the glass bottom (or you will have too much gravel on top, or it might
be insufficient to grow plants above the slate) but watch the screw
doesn't protrude too much (a small thin sheet of styrofoam fixes that if
you are worried), and the screw should be stainless steel.

Personally, I only boil wood from freshwater lakes and rivers (common
aquatic pathogens), and not pieces from terrestrial origins as land bugs
are less compatible with freshwater aquariums (for marine origins, ymmv).
This becomes significant when you realize the wood you want to boil is
several times bigger than your biggest pot ;~)

NetMax

"Ryan Minaker" > wrote in message
...
> Hmmm...
> I'm not really anywhere near a beach, I live in Toronto Canada, so
> there are a lot of lakes arround... usually when I scrounge the shores
> of local lakes and rivers all the pieces I find are really crappy,
> decomposed, and small. Maybe I'm jjust not looking hard enough!
>
> Thanks for the offer to ship em! Although I'm not in the continental
> US I'd still be willing to pay the S&H. As soon as the lakes thaw I'm
> going to go out and see what I can dig up arround here...
>
>
> R.
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, 21 Mar 2004 18:01:48 GMT, "Dinky"
> > wrote:
>
> >"Ryan Minaker" > wrote in message
> ...
> >| Hey everyone,
> >|
> >| Does anyone know of a good place to get cheap driftwood? When I go
> >| canoeing I alwyas keep my eye out, but I just don't manage to find
> >| anything half-decent.
> >|
> >| So last week I went to my local Aquarium Store and for a decent
> >| looking piece of drifwood these guys are asking $60 CDN!
> >| There's no way I can bring myself to pay this! Any ideas on where I
> >| could find some cheaper wood without trecking out into the
> >wilderness?
> >|
> >| Thanks!
> >| Ryan
> >| http://members.rogers.com/miniks/aquarist.html
> >
> >Anywhere near a beach? Know anyone that lives near a beach? If not, I
> >go to the coast (oregon coast) a few times a year and may be willing
> >to 'aquire' a few pieces and ship em for S&H if you're in the
> >continental US. Be warned, this stuff is bouyant as hell.
> >
> >b
> >
>