Drift Wood.

[Ceahorse]

Heya guys..

Quick question, i found myslef a nice peice of drift wood at the beach (ocean), it was throughly soaked, i assume, and then throughly dried. I took it home and tossed it, weighted down with stones, in a tub of water. After a week, i checked and it still floated. So i figured that id drill out the core. The water volume increase as a bonus. All hollowed out i tossed it back in the water for more then 3 weeks now. It's still floating up. Can all wood become sinkable, or only certains. When i drilled it out. I found quite a bit of dry powder/dust/ chips, red in color. Im not sure what kind of wood it it but its quite hard, and a distinct red color.

Any ideas?

[KDodds]

Eventually, all wood will become waterlogged and sink, it's just a matter of how long it takes. If it takes an extraordinarily long time, you have to suspect an extremely low density wood, which would probably deteriorate more rapidly in tank than a higher density wood. Not knowing the type of wood, or its composition or potential pollutants, I would not add it.

[poconogal]

I bought a 3 piece set of driftwood from a popular name on the net. It's cedar wood. One piece took about 5-6 months to sink. The other 2 pieces were still soaking in a spare tank a year later. They've finally been cleaned again and put the with other piece in my tank, over a year later!

I definitely would not put that piece of wood you found into any tank for the same reasons that kdodds gave. It's just not worth the risk.

[jeff@zina.com]

Boiling driftwood, in addition to killing pathogens, can help it sink. Also, I still have a piece I was given long ago that had holes drilled in it and filled with gravel to make it sink. Might be worth trying (I've never had to).

Jeff

[poconogal]

Boiling can kill pathogens, but it probabaly won't totally remove toxins that the wood may have picked up along the way. Why take a chance for a free piece of wood?

[Ceahorse]

Cool thanks guys