Wild Driftwood Preparation

Anyone have experience collecting wild driftwood?
What processing steps do you need to take? Boiling
with salt, disinfecting etc. Is this a dangeroius proposition?
Bought Store driftwood is bloody expensive.
....Kodiak

"Kodiak" wrote...
Anyone have experience collecting wild driftwood?
What processing steps do you need to take? Boiling
with salt, disinfecting etc. Is this a dangeroius proposition?
Bought Store driftwood is bloody expensive.

There have been many techniques offered on sites. My own is: No one
knows what chemicals were sprayed on the tree or what is in the water.
So I do not use driftwood. Instead I use dead branches from the
honeysuckle hedge. I whack them on the sidewalk until nothing further
falls off. I put them in the aquarium. In time they sink. There is
a noted time when 2 mushrooms grew on one floating branch.

|| Anyone have experience collecting wild driftwood?
|| What processing steps do you need to take? Boiling
|| with salt, disinfecting etc. Is this a dangeroius proposition?
|| Bought Store driftwood is bloody expensive.
|| ...Kodiak

I use some out of rivers and lakes around here... I try to use what's
already laid out, dried out, and nowhere near rotting... hard branches, if
it's got ANY soft spots, it's gone...

Bleach it, rinse it, boil it, bake it, sun dry it for a couple days, soak it
again, then either soak it again or use it..

--
RedForeman ©® future fabricator and creator of a ratbike
streetfighter!!! ==========================
2003 TRX450ES
1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale)
'98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted....
==========================
ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø


is that better??

Any tips on how to get it to sink? A friend suggested screwing some slate
to the wood, but I was wondering if there were any other tried and tested
methods?
"RedForeman ©®" wrote in message
...
|| Anyone have experience collecting wild driftwood?
|| What processing steps do you need to take? Boiling
|| with salt, disinfecting etc. Is this a dangeroius proposition?
|| Bought Store driftwood is bloody expensive.
|| ...Kodiak

I use some out of rivers and lakes around here... I try to use what's
already laid out, dried out, and nowhere near rotting... hard branches, if
it's got ANY soft spots, it's gone...

Bleach it, rinse it, boil it, bake it, sun dry it for a couple days, soak
it
again, then either soak it again or use it..

--
RedForeman ©® future fabricator and creator of a ratbike
streetfighter!!! ==========================
2003 TRX450ES
1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale)
'98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted....
==========================
ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø


is that better??

I use a small peice of Plexi-glass to attach to the bottom. Than allow the
sand or gravel to hold it down.

--
Craig Williams
_________________________________

www.Canadiancray.tk
"JazzyB" wrote in message
...
Any tips on how to get it to sink? A friend suggested screwing some slate
to the wood, but I was wondering if there were any other tried and tested
methods?
"RedForeman ©®" wrote in message
...
|| Anyone have experience collecting wild driftwood?
|| What processing steps do you need to take? Boiling
|| with salt, disinfecting etc. Is this a dangeroius proposition?
|| Bought Store driftwood is bloody expensive.
|| ...Kodiak

I use some out of rivers and lakes around here... I try to use what's
already laid out, dried out, and nowhere near rotting... hard branches,
if
it's got ANY soft spots, it's gone...

Bleach it, rinse it, boil it, bake it, sun dry it for a couple days,
soak
it
again, then either soak it again or use it..

--
RedForeman ©® future fabricator and creator of a ratbike
streetfighter!!! ==========================
2003 TRX450ES
1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale)
'98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted....
==========================
ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø


is that better??

"RedForeman ©®" wrote in message ...
|| Anyone have experience collecting wild driftwood?
|| What processing steps do you need to take? Boiling
|| with salt, disinfecting etc. Is this a dangeroius proposition?
|| Bought Store driftwood is bloody expensive.
|| ...Kodiak

I use some out of rivers and lakes around here... I try to use what's
already laid out, dried out, and nowhere near rotting... hard branches, if
it's got ANY soft spots, it's gone...

Bleach it, rinse it, boil it, bake it, sun dry it for a couple days, soak it
again, then either soak it again or use it..



I agree. To be doubly safe, you can put the driftwood in a different
tank and put some goldfish in it. If the goldfish thrive after, lets
say, 2 weeks to a month, then you are doing good. If they are belly up
(due to the wood and not fowl water) pitch it.

--Cookie

I wouldn't use bleach around aquarium at all. Once, a few years ago, I
bleached some african driftwood and after quite a bit of rinsing I put it
back in the aquarium again. Some time later, my fish started dying. I
removed the driftwood, soaked it in water for weeks, then put it away. About
two years later I decided to put the driftwood back in again, and the same
thing started happening again.
Now the driftwood is gone and I have no more problems. Knock on wood.

Martin

"Kodiak" wrote in message
news
Anyone have experience collecting wild driftwood?
What processing steps do you need to take? Boiling
with salt, disinfecting etc. Is this a dangeroius proposition?
Bought Store driftwood is bloody expensive.
...Kodiak

|| Any tips on how to get it to sink? A friend suggested screwing some
|| slate to the wood, but I was wondering if there were any other tried
|| and tested methods?

Slate is a good idea.... I'm learning that it's not the only way though...
I've gotten creative and used a dremel and bored holes in places that you
can't see, melted some lead, poured it into the holes, while it's wet, keeps
it from smoldering.... I've got 3 or 4 like that and they're doing great...
the problem with slate is, that you have a hard time planting near it,
because of the slate.. you can usually see where the slate is in a tank, cuz
there'll be less plants around the driftwood...

but there's really no wrong way....

--
RedForeman ©® future fabricator and creator of a ratbike
streetfighter!!! ==========================
2003 TRX450ES
1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale)
'98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted....
==========================
ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø


is that better??

I think the key is to not use bleach on anything which is porous, or
cannot be properly rinsed. My own random mutterings on driftwood are
here http://www.2cah.com/netmax/basics/dr...riftwood.shtml . Very
valid point on the slate interfering with planting unless you have very
deep gravel. Using a thin sheet of Plexiglas would work better, but the
wood would need to be less buoyant to start with (or you could first
waterlog it a bit by soaking & boiling). I haven't tried melting lead
into bores yet. Not even sure where I would buy lead. I wonder if the
lead used for plant bunches is pure lead, or perhaps a zinc, tin mixture.
--
www.NetMax.tk

"Martin & Karen" wrote in message
...
I wouldn't use bleach around aquarium at all. Once, a few years ago, I
bleached some african driftwood and after quite a bit of rinsing I put
it
back in the aquarium again. Some time later, my fish started dying. I
removed the driftwood, soaked it in water for weeks, then put it away.
About
two years later I decided to put the driftwood back in again, and the
same
thing started happening again.
Now the driftwood is gone and I have no more problems. Knock on wood.

Martin

"Kodiak" wrote in message
news
Anyone have experience collecting wild driftwood?
What processing steps do you need to take? Boiling
with salt, disinfecting etc. Is this a dangeroius proposition?
Bought Store driftwood is bloody expensive.
...Kodiak

|| I haven't tried melting lead into bores yet. Not even sure where I would
buy
|| lead. I wonder if the lead used for plant bunches is pure lead, or
|| perhaps a zinc, tin mixture. --
|| www.NetMax.tk

I can't say what the weights are, but the lead I'm using is bars of lead
used as muzzleloader balls, .44, .45, .50 caliber guns I occasionally
shoot...

My father has a melter that he used, and one day I was wondering.... it
works, but I seal up the end with silicone, covering it with gravel or wood
chips, and even sand, so you can't even tell it's any different....

--
RedForeman ©® future fabricator and creator of a ratbike
streetfighter!!! ==========================
2003 TRX450ES
1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale)
'98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted....
==========================
ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø


is that better??