Oh No

Judge · 09-28-2008, 03:32 PM

Aha, fooled you. I just have a question that was buried way down on the end of an old post so I was getting no response! I got a huge piece of driftwood and now I am wondering exactly how to prepare it for my tank?? I have a pressure washer so should I power wash, soak...what? Here are some photos.

This piece is about 9 feet long. It has some interesting swirls on one end and then the rest is very straight. What do you think fellow addicts??

gregpape23 · 09-28-2008, 03:46 PM

you're putting that whole thing in your tank!!?!?!?!?!? Thats giant!!
Idk what to do with something that big.

Judge · 09-28-2008, 03:53 PM

No....not the whole thing. I have to cut it up so it won't be quite 4 ft.....it's going in my 75 Amazon (uh, Columbia County Lake) Planted Discus tank. I have one other small piece that will also go in there.

gregpape23 · 09-28-2008, 04:16 PM

4 feet still big in my book. I think Powerwashing it would just remove debris on the outside. It would still help, but 1) it may remove some designs that you liked 2) Thats not the whole job. IF it was smaller I would say boil it or something like that, but unless you have a 4ft pot, you miight have some problems with that.

orb4me · 09-28-2008, 05:26 PM

Im trying not to laugh. I thought the same thing Greg. Its huge. We found one pretty much like that one Judge, and we put in front of our big bay window in front of the house. It was so nice. I just remembered it.

There has to be some way to clean it to make it safe to use. How do people that sell them, clean them to begin with? Surly they dont gather all the little stuff. Maybe they age it? My little piece has been cut out of something a lot bigger. Maybe the cut big pieces down to little pieces? Could you cut it, boil it, then glue pieces back together? Judge, you are very creative with this sort of thing. Use only the ends?

LiVe4fIsH · 09-28-2008, 06:08 PM

haha. I saw the piece of wood and I was like ok that should be good and then I saw it leaning against your truck and I was like

. I would def. soak that baby for a couple days in your water source. Im thinking you could stick it in the bath tub, making sure its fully under water, so that the little guys that are living deep inside the wood will crawl out. They only will come out after its under water for at least a couple hours or so. Good luck, and again, you picked a winner!

-Izzy

Judge · 10-03-2008, 04:09 PM

Alrighty then, what if I was to cut it into several pieces in order to make sure that all the undesirables are gone. Then what would be the best possible way to put back together? Any ideas there?? I can always screw them back together but then would I need to treat/cover the metal with something in order to prevent rust? Something like a rubber epoxy?

gm333 · 10-03-2008, 04:22 PM

It is going to take that guy a long time to sink, unless you pulled it straight out from under the water. Best bet is to go out and buy a kiddie pool big enough to fully submerge the wood. The wait a couple of months for it to sink. I had a 3ft piece in my 100gal that took 4 mnths to fully soak up the water, not to mention my tank water from the tannins was always yellow. Even after a year in the water. Make sure you periodically change the water in the pool. This way you dont get anything funky growing on the wood.

Judge · 10-03-2008, 04:25 PM

Yep, came out of the lake, almost fully submerged. I am not too concerned about it sinking, I am trying to make sure it's clean.

gm333 · 10-03-2008, 04:38 PM

Good, a piece that big is hard to get all the critters out. I generally boil mine in a lobster pot that is heated outside using a propane turkey cooker. Usually boil the pieces for a couple of hours, then flip it and cook for another 2 hrs.