curing local driftwood?

[Marx]

i was wondering if local driftwood can be cured to be safe for aquariums..

i mean.. if i get a good size root.  how can i boil it lol.. no pot big enough?

any suggestions!!

Thanks!

[Woody]

I picked some up this weekend right along the shore of the Ottawa.
Soaked it for an hour in a mild bleach solution, bathtub can work for larger peices, then after rinsing, I baked it for an hour at 250 degrees F.
I never had any problems with it.

Woody

[Marx]

gonna to try it.. except im kinda nervous if i screw up and kill my fish lol..

[jabber]

I picked some up this weekend right along the shore of the Ottawa.
Soaked it for an hour in a mild bleach solution, bathtub can work for larger peices, then after rinsing, I baked it for an hour at 250 degrees F.
I never had any problems with it.

Woody

You have to be carful about soaking clorine bleach in the bathtup.  The bleach will eat away at the metal drain ring if left long enough.

[BigDaddy]

redbelly has a stereo clave for smaller pieces.  You could try pm'ing him and see if it's still available.

[tuvok]

This thread has made me curious. Does anyone know how commercially processed driftwood is prepared?

[pegasus]

Here's my take on it, and I'm no expert on the subject. I did try, boiling, bleaching and freezing and never had any problem but I feel logic says:

Long Boiling for boog wood to release some of the tannins.
Short Boiling or Bleaching for fresh water woods

I had no problem with freezing but if bugs are capable of passing are winters couldn't they somehow survive the freezer. Boiling and freezing could also break the wood cells and cause premature decomposition.

I'd do more research... ah google!

[Mettle]

How do you get the wood to stay sunken? I picked up some a while back but even after siliconing it down to large pieces of rock still had floated issues.

[shell]

I just boiled the heck out of a piece, then secured it to 2 pieces of slate with clear aquarium silicon.  Its been in my aquarium for over 4 months and no ill effects on my fish.  I would be leery about using bleach.

[BigDaddy]

Drill a hole in the slate, and then secure it to the wood with a stainless steel screw.  It won't go anywhere after that.