Jeff Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 I purchased a piece of driftwood a couple of weeks ago - cooked it from top to bottom. Left it out for about a week; and now placing in my tank. It won't stay down. I thought cooking a piece of driftwood would allow it to stay submerged, as well as get rid of the tanins. It's currently sitting in a 5g bucket with a rock on top under water. How long should I expect this process to take? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 (edited) Depending on the density and weight and type days to months. I temporarily screw mine to a slate slab or place a river rock in a mesh bag and zip tie the mesh bag to the wood. It looks odd but it’s temporary and I’m as impatient as a 5 year old on Christmas morning when I want to start set up of a tank 😁. Edit add I just found pics of the last piece. The trial silicone adhesive did not work so hubby screwed it on. The journey with this piece starts on page 18 of my journal if you want to read. It took 2 months before it was completed sitting heavily on the bottom the 29 but it hovered only half inch off the bottom so I could set it in the tank redo. Edited April 28, 2022 by Guppysnail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted April 28, 2022 Author Share Posted April 28, 2022 It's a medium piece of Spiderwood for my 10 gallon tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 On 4/27/2022 at 8:56 PM, Jeff said: It's a medium piece of Spiderwood for my 10 gallon tank. See the addition I just made to my post about spiderwood time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted April 28, 2022 Author Share Posted April 28, 2022 Mine is roughly that size. Two....ta-hoooooooo months?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Ay carumba! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 I’ve had spiderwood sink in a month but again zip tie it to a mesh media bag with a rock or gravel in and it is instantly sunk 😁 That is a 29 gallon tank so it’s a decent size piece. And the slate is still screwed in just hidden under gravel for stability Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 some pieces just dont like to sink, no matter how long they soak. best bet is to screw it to a piece of slate, hold it down with a rock, etc. ive never noticed boiling to make a chunk of wood sink faster. it just takes time for the water to penetrate the wood, and water log it. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Burke Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 On 4/27/2022 at 9:53 PM, lefty o said: some pieces just dont like to sink, no matter how long they soak. best bet is to screw it to a piece of slate, hold it down with a rock, etc. ive never noticed boiling to make a chunk of wood sink faster. it just takes time for the water to penetrate the wood, and water log it. . Agreed. What are your thoughts about using 100% silicone to secure it to the slate? Zip ties are, well, less than attractive,and I’m not a huge fan of drilling in slate. 9so brittle). Then there Is the metal in the screw. Iron is fine, but the other metals I’m not so sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted April 28, 2022 Author Share Posted April 28, 2022 (edited) On 4/27/2022 at 9:53 PM, lefty o said: some pieces just dont like to sink, no matter how long they soak. best bet is to screw it to a piece of slate, hold it down with a rock, etc. ive never noticed boiling to make a chunk of wood sink faster. it just takes time for the water to penetrate the wood, and water log it. . I tried putting rocks against it at the bottom - no help at all. Because of it's odd shape, it's difficult to put a heavy rock on top of it; to stay, in my tank....like I have in the 5g bucket right now. Edited April 28, 2022 by Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 On 4/27/2022 at 10:13 PM, Ken Burke said: Agreed. What are your thoughts about using 100% silicone to secure it to the slate? Zip ties are, well, less than attractive,and I’m not a huge fan of drilling in slate. 9so brittle). Then there Is the metal in the screw. Iron is fine, but the other metals I’m not so sure. a good blob of silicone would probably work fairly well. ive always just used slate with a drywall screw myself. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaW Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 On 4/27/2022 at 9:13 PM, Ken Burke said: Iron is fine, but the other metals I’m not so sure. Stainless Steel screws are aquarium safe. I drilled a hole in the bottom corner and tied a rock on it with fishing twine for my 10G. In my 46G I had one piece that wanted to float so I screwed it to another piece (also to create a more stable structure) and then used J-B Water Weld to secure rocks to the bas which also weighted and stabilized the pieces. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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