So this has never happen to me so I thought I'd ask for everyone's experience. I bought a large... very large piece of driftwood that is actually a tunnel for the fish to swim through - so very cool looking. I cleaned it very well with a scrub brush and water - no chemicals. Then I put it in a large bin and filled it with water to allow it to soak up the water and stop floating. The gravel at the bottom of the tank is not heavy enough to hold it down.

Well, that was 2 weeks ago exactly.... and it's still floating !!!

I've never gone over 2 weeks with floating driftwood. Will this thing ever sink?

Brooksie

now what happened to your patience pants?
they are the only thing that will help in this case.
If you couldt boil the wood, that shouldt speed up the process.
If that's not possible due to the size of the wood, all you can do is wait.
But it may take some more weeks...

Thanks for reminding me about the patience pants. It has been a looonnggg time since I've needed to use them! Guess I'm waiting...... impatiently!

if you will not apply any sinking materials in it.... your patience pants
will be gone soon.... can you imagine a log, floating in the ocean... it will
take forever until it was consumed by nature...

no kidding.... i am not sure if what was left is the hardest part of the wood,
but being hollow means the chore is soft and what was left is buoyant...
you can use it as your life vest in the river

i suggest you use or apply some sinker like stainless steel bolts
and nuts attached to a rocks...

i also have the same problem except mines not hollow, i tide air tubing to a part of it and added suckers, it now stays on the back wall of my tank half way up, 2 weeks now, but one side has dropped slightly so heres hoping, xxx

Have to agree with Paul...think it may never sink...

With it being hollow tho...lead strips should work fine. Can get them at any good tackle shop (prolly hardware store too). You can get them from as "flat" as 2 or 3 mm...so if you place them inside the driftwood you wont even notice they are there

I have a feeling you guys may be right... I'll give the ideas a try! Thanks all!

Acapella.Foxxy wrote:


Wel, i completely disaggree on putting ANY lead in your tanks, not the tiniest bit!
It is very poisonous to fish, and esp. plecos will get killed by prolongued exposure to lead.
If you want to weigh down the wood, just use some rocks...
But NO LEAD please.
I killed my first pleco with a lot of lead in the tank, when i was still ignorant about the risk of lead poisoning.

Noddy not to worry.... I have some river rocks that I'm going to put on the base to hold it down... inside the huge hole too. I was thinking the same as you.

Weigh it down, it will eventually become water logged and stay down on its own

As for the lead thing, i dont think a little in a tank will be bad as us fish keepers do lots of water changes which will keep any levels in the tank very low. But this is for another thread- sorry for the hijack