Get Wood to Sink?

[camuth8]

Hi everyone.
I just got some driftwood and have boiled them and are ready to put them in the tank but I can't seem to get them to sink. They're too big to put a rock onto also. Any ideas?:confused: I have a sand bottom.

[Neal Gagen]

I'm no expert - I just joined the forum today!
After I bought wood (I think it was rosewood) I submerged it in an extra bathtub by placing barbells on top of it. I had to empty and refill the tub several times to get rid of the tannins in the wood, which by the way caused my bathtub to look like I was brewing ice tea (any idea how to clean my tub that USED to be white?!) Even after that, when I added it to the aquarium I had to place a stone on top of the wood to keep it from floating. After about a week - during which the wood released small little air bubbles - I was able to remove the stones. I hope this helps.

[Elliots]

Try J&J Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner.

[discuspaul]

Put it in a laundry tub/sink, or a bathtub, or large bucket, and soak it.... soak it.... soak it. It'll eventually get waterlogged & sink.
May take a few days, a week, 10 days, but it will sink in due course. While it's soaking, you'll get rid of the tannins too. Just change the water every day.

[tonytheboss1]

:bandana: Try using fishing line & a large F/W rock or two. I could take several weeks or months for the wood to become water logged. "T"

[Tazalanche]

could take several weeks or months for the wood to become water logged.+1

We bought two pieces of similar sized, same type (cyprus, I think), driftwood on the same day last November. One was waterlogged in a week, the other had to have a piece of slate rock screwed into it & has been staying underwater on it's own for about 6 weeks. Even now it is more buoyant than it should be.


Oh. Don't use the previously mentioned bathroom cleaner on it.

[camuth8]

Thanks for the replies.
I think I do have a big tub that I can put the wood in. Hopefully this goes quickly. I haven't changed my tank landscape for months and I needed some wood to go with the plants, so I'm really anxious to get this over with. :)

[les2011]

You say that the wood is to big to attach a rock, I have a few large pieces in my tank and I went to the rock yard purchased some thin but solid pieces of slate rock and drilled holes in them and ran water resistant screws through a couple of pieces to attach them to the wood and they sank with no issues. For awhile I had to do water changes often until all the tannins were out.

[discuspaul]

Soak the wood and don't concern yourself.
Almost all types and pieces of driftwood sold for aquarium use will become waterlogged in days or a couple of weeks. Very seldom will it take anything like 'months'. That's the odd exception rather than the rule - and usually occurs with wood that is gathered/obtained from odd/random/non-LFS sources.
I've used several different types of DW over the years, at least 50-60 pieces, and have never had one take more than about 3 weeks to sink.

[camuth8]

Thanks Paul.
I think I'm going to end up just soaking them until they're waterlogged. I would try putting rocks on them, but I don't want to go through finding the right rocks and not filling up too much tank space. Another question I have though is: Do I have to change the water I'm soaking them in every day, or could I do it every 2-3 days maybe?

[8ftbed]

Soak it..
And/or tie a rock or something to it. It won't take a lot of weight to sink it.

[Ryan]

I use manzanita branches and they usually take a few weeks to maybe a month. I didn't even weight them down -- I let them float on the top of an empty tank and they sank on their own. They will develop a nasty white slime initially and the tannins will color your water. Once the wood is waterlogged you can scrub the white slime off of it and it shouldn't come back. It may continue to leach tannins into your water but this can be removed with water changes and is perfectly safe for your fish. In fact, it's good for them. ;)

I've never kept other types of wood in tanks but I can tell you that manzanita does kind of get gross after it's been waterlogged a while. You could take it out and scrub it by hand but my best solution for that would be plecos, particularly ancistrus (though my chocolate pleco in my big cichlid tank does a great job, too). Within a couple days the wood will be spotless and smooth.

[Bud Smith]

I have manzanita wood in my angel tank and just used a 5lb.piece of petrified wood to hold it down until it gets water logged and then remove. If you do not want to scrub it then plecos is needed to keep it clean. I just ordered red bristle nose plecos for this tank. In a large discus tank I just put in a large piece of Malaysia driftwood. Cleaned and soaked two days - put it in the tank - Malaysia wood is heavy and sinks right away usually. Daily water changes keep the tannins in check unless you want that look.

[camuth8]

Thanks Ryan.
A few months ago I saw that slime on a different piece of wood when I put it in and thought it was going to be bad for the tank. So I guess I can just scrub that slime off.:)

[discuspaul]

Thanks Paul.
I think I'm going to end up just soaking them until they're waterlogged. I would try putting rocks on them, but I don't want to go through finding the right rocks and not filling up too much tank space. Another question I have though is: Do I have to change the water I'm soaking them in every day, or could I do it every 2-3 days maybe?

Yeah, sure - you can do it every 2-3 days - whatever.

[camuth8]

Okay. Thanks.