[xavierj123]

It looks like setting up my 55 gallon tank is on hold for a while. I filled it with water to test for leaks and all is well. Then I placed my prize piece of dead driftwood root that I collected in the tank to sink. It floats very nice thank you. It is too big to boil in a pot so I poured several gallons of boiling water on it before this. LOL Well, it has absorbed some water but it has not shown any signs of sinking to the bottom yet. I placed a 2X4 across the top of the tank to weight it down a bit. The tank has only water and the driftwood in it. I don't want to add substrate or anything until my prize piece of driftwood can be used in the aquascaping. No sign of brown water although the water is turning a little cloudy from just standing. I was hoping it would get water logged and sink on it's own. It's been floating for 5 days now. Any ideas on how long it will float? Any comments????

 

[freydo]

it could take a few days or weeks to completely water log the piece, depending on how large it is. if you have a clean barrel or garbage bin, you could try using that.

if it still doesn't stay sunk, you could always result in securing a piece of slate to the part of the driftwood that would be touching the tank bottom. that would help keeping it down.

hope this helps!

 

[bradac56]

This probably isn't very helpful but I have a propane turkey deep-fryer, the little one with
the big pot and I use it to boil big peaces of driftwood. You can buy different sized pots
to use with those than just the stock turkey fryer.

- Brad

 

[Bert H]

Sometimes patience is your only answer. I've had driftwood that has sunk after an hour of boiling, others that have taken 6 weeks, and one piece I remember, never did sink after 2 months of being weighted down in a plastic bin.

 

[Zinfin]

I have a piece of wood that has been weighted down by a rock for 6 months. It bobbed right to the surface the other day when I was rearranging the tank. I have a feeling it could take years for that piece to completely waterlog.

Look for a suitable rock to hold down one end and forget about it.

 

[jclagg]

Another method is to get a piece of plexiglass/acrylic and drill a couple small holes in it. Then drill a couple small inconspicuous holes in your driftwood and tie it to the plexi with fishing line. This is sometimes easier to hide than slate.

 

[zer0zax]

I heartily agree with the advice offered here! The good part is that your tank is not planted yet, so you can weigh the wood down and run a power head to keep the water from going stagnant. If the wood doesn't sink after awhile your only option is to use a rock or plexi glass! Driftwood takes a lot of patience, but trying it out in an empty aquarium first will save a lot of headaches! Good luck and have fun

 

[xavierj123]

Well, this is November 12th and it's still floating. I hope it doesn't turn out to be like the Energizer Bunny and keeps on---------- ---------!!!LOL

 

[supersmirky]

Have you tried putting it in the dishwasher yet and running it through a cycle of hot water? Mine floated for weeks and then I tried that and after a day or 2 it finally stayed down. I weighted with a couple big rocks until it did this

 

[Bert H]

Have you tried putting it in the dishwasher yet and running it through a cycle of hot water?

I mentioned that to my wife one time, and she said if you wash that in the dishwasher, we're buying a new dishwasher. I never did wash it.

 

[vancat]

I'd be worried that there would be a lot of stuff that would end up clogging or otherwise harming the dishwasher in some way. Wood is harder than food particles. Bert, I'm with your wife.

 

[xavierj123]

I'm thinkin the same as Bert. My wife would probably have something to say about it. At any rate, did you run it with dishwasher soap or "without soup?" Seems like a dumb question but I would like to know. Perhaps the soaps will kill more bacteria or something or do something that makes it sink????????????????/ This is November 16th and I might have to build a raft out of it if its that good at floating. What a shame. It's a gorgeous root of an old dead tree I found in a dry creek bed. Perhaps root wood is too dense.

 

[freydo]

you would want to run it WITHOUT soap, as that would soak into the wood and not be useful in the tank anymore.

 

[harshal1992]

Just leave it there, Well, look on the positive side, You can cycle your tank while you wait instead , You could even try a piece on slate on the bottom if you wanted, thats what big als does to their pieces of giant dw.

 

[Complexity]

I have found that roots sometimes takes forever to sink. I had one small root about 6" long and 1" in diameter that took a few months to finally sink on its own.

Go ahead and weigh your wood down so you won't have to mess with it any more. Then you can go ahead and start working on your scape design.

If you're concerned about a rock or slate scratching your bottom glass, you can either put an eggcrate at the bottom of your tank or wrap some of the blue and white filter floss underneath it so it can't scratch anything. I've done that with my driftwood, and it's worked out very well. I was lazy so I just used cable wraps to hold the filter floss onto the slate.

 

[xavierj123]

Happy New Year----I took the bull/driftwood by it's roots---well it actually is a root----but anyway I weighed it down (12-20-2008) with a medium chunk of sandstone. As the root is all twisted beautifully, the rock looks like mother nature logged it there during some spring thunderstorm. I noticed a light film appearing on top of the water that is hardly noticeable. That root must be leaching some tannin out.

 

[xavierj123]

I don't know why that smilie face comes up when I typed 2008????

 

[supersmirky]

Because 2008 was a good year! lol

Do you have a pic of your driftwood? I'd be interested in seeing this floating monster.

 

[xavierj123]

Re: Driftwood still floating----January 8, 2009

Happy New Year----- I celebrated New Years Day by adding substrate & filling the 55 gallon tank with water. Then I added my prize piece of driftwood root and weighed it down with a "grapefruit" size sandstone rock. The driftwood root is so twisted that the rock wedged very nicely and looked like mother nature placed it there. I BE PROUD OF MYSELF. LOL --So far, so good. It's staying put"!

 

[supersmirky]

Good job...eventually it will become waterlogged and stay down itself.

Post some pics if you can