diy drift wood

10 posts

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


kdn00
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 3:17 am

diy drift wood

by kdn00

Hi does anyone have ever done this before if so please tell me. I was thinking about cutting some out of a tree and letting it dry for a while to the point were the bark would be easily pulled off. Then the wood would be boiled for a while to get the tannins out. are certain types of woods bad for aquariums?


saltwaterpimp
 
Posts: 1307
Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2007 2:22 am

by saltwaterpimp

idk about cutting a tree but. if you have a beach around or a water way, i would check there.


serial32
 
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:24 am

by serial32

You wanna get something that's already dead. Cutting a live tree is no good for the aquarium. I was reading somewhere that you have to boil the wood for a few hours too. For me diy driftwood was just too much of a long process. I read some stuff on it and decided to just buy some nice pieces from the LFS. I got 2 really nice pieces that are like a reddish color(not sure what it's called, can't remember). They are pretty big and were already cured, one was like $10 and the other was like $15. My Pleco loves it!


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

The wood sold for aquariums is very hard and heavy. It sinks. I don't know where you can find wood like this in North America except maybe bog wood, wood that's been under water and dead for a long time. There are some bogs with sun dews and picher plants and a kind of moss that floats in upstate NY, and I think I could maybe find some preserved wood there, but it's been a long time and I don't even remember where it was. My parents are nature nuts and they took me there when I was a kid.


gumbii
 
Posts: 1695
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:31 am

by gumbii

i've gone to the rivers before and cut out the roots from the trees... let them dry, boil, then place them into the tank... if it don't float boil it with a rock on top... if that doesn't work...

here's a cool trick i've done with feather rock...

boil the wood/rock, then have a 5g bucket full of water and ice... the water has to be cold cold cold... take the wood/rock out and dunk it in the ice cold water... all of the air pockets will be replaced by cold water i think... i'm not sure how it works, but i know it does...


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

Where do you go to find these roots? Is there a place in Los Angeles? That's where my mother lives.


freshwaterpleco
 
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:56 pm

by freshwaterpleco

Only buy driftwood from a dealer or aquarium store. Never take any out of the wild


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

It would be much better if you would explain your statements Freshwaterpleco. Do you have any reasoning behind what you just said?


gumbii
 
Posts: 1695
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:31 am

by gumbii

no he's just feeding his useless post count... he thinks the more post you got the smarter you are...





i get them in a azusa river... or in crystal lake... the azusa river is off the 60 i think... or the ten... i dunno i get them confused... but it's passing the 605 freeway...

you could also go to whittier narrows in the san gabriel valley... that's off the 60 i think... so the afjskdl;fjaskl;df;jas

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oh shnaps... i just google earthed it...

the azusa mountains are off the 210 freeway passing the 605...

whittier narrows is off the 60fwy before hitting the 605... go to google... klik on maps, and type up whittier narrows... and you could see both...

i'm going bike riding this weekend and i'm heading to whitter narrows to see what i find... it's about 2 miles from my house thru the river behind my pad...




i thought you lived in LA peter...??


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

Only when I visit my mom. Have you ever heard of Manzanita? It grows in higher elevations in Southern CA, has red twisty muscle like wood, and it's really hard and heavy.

diy drift wood

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