Making drift wood

[a.person61]

How exactly do I make driftwood? I'm soaking a 4 foot price in my bath tub and I'm not sure what else I need to do to it.

[jmf3460]

OP, what type of wood are you soaking? And what are you soaking it in, just water? Most woods are ok for your tank but there are some that are a "no-no." Once you soak it, you will need to scrub all the bark off of the wood using a clean, unused scrub brush. This takes a long time, are you sure you are willing to have your bathtub out of order for this long. Also the tannins that leak from your wood (the stuff that makes the water brown) are good for your fish. So maybe take the water (providing that your bath tub was clean before adding the wood) and add it to your aging barrel for your next water change. many people add tannins to their water, it acts as an natural antibacterial and helps soften water and lower ph, plus tannins are in a discus' natural environment.

The big question is what type wood are you soaking?

[Ed13]

Make? I've done it before, it takes a loooong time. Not gonna happen in a bathtub over the weekend. Although, it is an ideal setup as you want to drain and refill it with clean water in order to leach out tannin and have bacteria eat the cellulose of the wood. You may be onto something

I called the piece I made bogwood rather than driftwood as it was submerge for an entire year in a 15 gallon bucket outside. It was made of a recently cut branch from a mango tree in my backyard. As soon as the large branch hit the ground, I saw this nice Y section with smaller branches coming out of it. Immediately, I thought would this would look good in a ta... Looked at about 15 feet away, with an evil grin, and I saw the bucket already filled with water.

After removing the bark I submerged the branch. First month was disgusting really. I drained the bucket weekly of what looked like "coffee with milk" water. The smell was not that bad nor strong, but it had a bit of that fermentation aroma. After scraping the parts of the branch that had some rot, fungus, or were "soft", I added some leaves from the surrounding mango and avocado tree to the bucket as I think the extra acidity in the water helped and refilled the bucket. I also placed the bucket under a drain line on the roof for the rain water to collect. After a few months I started adding either vinegar or bleach depending on the look of the water or if mosquito larvae started to appear.

The first few months the water turned that "coffee with milk" color soon after refilling it, then for a few months it turned that beautiful "blackwater" color we are familiar with. Once the water remained clear for a week or two I drained the bucket and used the branch. At this point, at least a year had gone by.

I placed the branch in a tank I had for a small Sorubim Lima(Lima Shovelnose Catfish), Royal Pleco, some large spotted cories(can't remember what they were) and a few clown plecos. The Panaques loved the soft wood so much that soon you could see the indentation they made in one particular spot they favored and the Lima would hover near it head down all day.

This was an interesting experiment not something necessarily worth doing. There are definitely species of wood unsuitable and the results and time it takes will vary.

[a.person61]

The branches come from a weeping cherry tree they are not green and have been dead for a few years. Just checked on it and the water has only slightly discolored. how much vinegar should I add to kill off any Parasites? I'm not to confident to use bleach.

[FMA4ME]

OP, what type of wood are you soaking? And what are you soaking it in, just water? Most woods are ok for your tank but there are some that are a "no-no." Once you soak it, you will need to scrub all the bark off of the wood using a clean, unused scrub brush. This takes a long time, are you sure you are willing to have your bathtub out of order for this long. Also the tannins that leak from your wood (the stuff that makes the water brown) are good for your fish. So maybe take the water (providing that your bath tub was clean before adding the wood) and add it to your aging barrel for your next water change. many people add tannins to their water, it acts as an natural antibacterial and helps soften water and lower ph, plus tannins are in a discus' natural environment.

The big question is what type wood are you soaking?

Interesting. What type of wood is found in a natural Discus habitat?