I see a lot of pictures of tanks with drift wood in it. Considering drift wood, is well wood. Why does it not float in the tank. Wood floats, how do you get it to stay down?

It has to be soaked for a while ... forget the term. It will float otherwise.

A lot of people soak it in bleach first to make sure there is nothing being brought into the tank, let it dry, then soak it again.

Been a while since I messed with or even considered driftwood considering how clumsy most Os seem to be. It sure does look great though!

Are you serious? Just soaking the wood will really make it sink?

you use certain wood dont you as normaly tree wood will rot over time if its in water constantly. sure it has to be wood that grows in underwater such as mangroove roots ect bit im not certain

Yes, Mangrove wood is used often or some wood that has been underwater in sumps for a long time, nothing that would rot. Then there is this Mopani wood with usually one brighter and one darker side, this will sink instantly cause it's got a very high density.

I've heard if you boil the normal drift wood / bog wood it will sink instantly as well but never tried. Else, if you got a big piece of wood, it can take long weeks for it to stay on the bottom finally, so I usually fix it there with some bigger rocks or anything that will keep it in place. Never bothered bleaching wood yet but I do wash it thoroughly under hot water before putting it in the tank.

Boiling, yes! I knew I had forgotten something I read.

I think boiling would pretty much solve anything a bleach soak would.

I would also trust it better, but I don't like chemicals much unless they are absolutely necessary.

I also didn't mean to imply you could rip a branch off a tree in your yard and stick it in the tank It would make it easier though!

The fake stuff may be easier, and some of it looks pretty darn real

i know u ment different wood as a keeper but newbies might of done the yard tree branch concept lmao

Where would you buy mangrove branches? Is drift wood like this expensive, is it just cheaper to buy the fake stuff?


I don't know about that boiling thing. I am a cook... and when we get new wooden spoons we "baptize" them so that they do not grow mold. The process involves boiling them for 25 minutes, and then putting them in the deep fryer for 5 minutes. After doing this they still float.

drift wood is very expensive but well worth it boil it as it will leach out brownish yellowish stuff and make yr water look murky for sum time.sum people like this look but i myself like the clean water look

All wood is different. Some wood is soft and some wood is very hard (aged oak can be nearly as hard as concrete). Likewise most wood rots in water but some wood is designed to be in water and thus takes years and years to rot - this is driftwood

K... Does anyone know any online supliers that I may be able to order pieces from? Or do you just have to get lucky and find it at a store somewhere?

I have always looked the natural aquarium look minus life
plants because they have always created a problem for me. Never had the pleasure of using real driftwood but did always use natural rock from the mountains.
I just set up my 150 & found in my aquarium store this awesome (I think) colored and heavy driftwood. Its called
Natural Malaysian Drifwood. They are pieces each individual wraped. Its says its 100% natural. Due to its natural pigmentation all driftwood will temp. turn the aquarium water slightly amber in color. To minimize this you soak the pieces in water over a few days changing the water in the bucket as it discolors. I did this for 3 days with my pieces and have had it in my aquarium now for
3 days and it looks awesome. The fish love it too!! Its
a dark wood which is really nice and looks great on my
dark river gravel.

Although, it might have been costly it is safe and natural. Small pieces are $7.99, Medium $14.99 and large were $19.99. Of course no one can guarentee the sizes they will get in. I will check with my aquarium
to see if the ship if they do you can always call them and tell them exactly what you are looking for and draw them a picture of certain shape you have in mind and they keep an eye out for it. They use this stuff in thier tanks and it looks great. My loaches are enjoying it.

Also, maybe you can just look up "Natural Malaysian Driftwood" and it will direct you to a online store???