[Stellaluna]

I have always used mopani wood for driftwood, since it sinks naturally, but my sister gave me a huge driftwood piece as a gift for my new 150 g aquarium. she got it from the pet store with a piece of slate drilled on the bottom, and the thing is very large and heavy.

I put it in the water after scrubbing it off and it floats like a cork - the slate means nothing. I've never had wood like this before so is there any hope of it sinking in my lifetime? I know there is wood that will virtually never sink but this piece being on the bottom is pretty much mandatory, lol. I have to really press down hard to force it to the bottom, so a rock on it would not be enough to cause it to descend.

Any experience with this?

 

[Stellaluna]

BTW, I have a brand new Roughneck wheeled trash can and this thing can't fit into that to soak. I also have a 4' white cooler, like you'd use on a fishing boat, and it won't fit into that, either - too wide. Might I have to cut this up?

Hubby suggested tying a bag of lead weights to it and throwing into the pool, which is chock full of winterizing chemicals, mainly chlorine and soda ash. He insists that whatever chlorine soaks into the wood will be neutralized by the organic nature of the wood, and the only remaining chlorine would be removed by rinsing once the soaking procedure was done. I am not comfortable with this but he is not often wrong about this kind of thing.

Thoughts?

 

[djrichie]

Boiling it and then soaking it until it sinks is the only way is the method, I know to make DW sink on it own. A process of water logging the wood it can take some time. You seid it had peace of slate drill to it, that is another way, but it generally will release alot of tanins in to the water and that will make the tank water appear yellowish, but easily fix by useing charcaol in your filter and change it every two weeks, or it will leach back into the water. When you put it in the tank did you bury the slate under the gravel all the way to the bottom, beacuse I know that when I have bought a peace of DW with slate attached if i didn't bury it in the gravel it would float, but the extra weight from the gravel would hold it down. You may have to add more gravel to the tank as least around the DW, if you don't have the time or the bucket to soak it in. It sounds like a very nice peace of DW, it would be a shame to chop it up.

 

[Stellaluna]

There is no way for me to boil it, except with a galvanized feed tub on an open fire, maybe! I'd definitely do that, though, if I had such a tub.

The slate is of absolutely no consequence for this piece of wood - I have to use a lot of force to shove it down into the water to the bottom, and if I let it go from that position, it'd shoot straight up into the air. Even a heavy rock on top of the wood makes no difference. I have sand substrate, so that is not enough, either. I wonder if I could put lead in the tank? Maybe one of those plastic-covered lead hand weights? If I could tuck it up under one of the branches maybe I could hide it - cover it with java moss or something.

I'm first going to try to remove the slate temporarily and maybe it will fit into the new clean trash can I got, and I can soak it for a couple of weeks like that. It is very attractive, with long branches going out to each side, and I'd not need much else in the tank as far as driftwood. I'm going to keep trying, and will try to avoid cutting it up!

Thanks-