How to prepare / clean driftwood for aquarium use?
A driftwood is a piece of wood
that has been in the water, & then has been washed onto a shore by the
action of winds, tides or waves. They look beautiful & can offer an environment
for aquarium inhabitants to hide. If your tank does not have ornaments or
artificial plants, then you might observe that your pets are in stress because many
fish like to hide during day. Driftwood can offer them shelter &
environment that are suitable for them & allow your fish to live
happily.
Please read the tutorial on cleaning & preparing driftwood for aquarium use & provide a feedback in
the comment section at the end.
In this tutorial, I will show you how
to clean a driftwood before placing it in your aquarium. It is advisable to use
the same steps that I follow so you can have a nice & clean driftwood that will
look beautiful in your aquarium. Follow steps that focuses on cleaning & putting driftwood in your aquarium.
Step 1: Wash driftwood to remove the dirt:
The first step is to wash
driftwood with water to wipe out the dirt. Then you can use a tooth brush or
scrubber to clean any loose piece & remaining debris. The final step
involves boiling driftwood which can sterilize the driftwood & remove any
parasites that are attached to it.
Step 2: Why boiling driftwood is necessary:
It is recommended to boil driftwood
because it is the most important step of preparing wood for tank use. To remove
leaching, it is recommended to boil wood. If wood is not boiled before putting
it in aquarium, then it will leach out tannins in the aquarium slowly, & will
change the colour of water.
Step 3: Find the right pot for boiling driftwood:
I am going to add a big driftwood in my aquarium. I don’t have a bigger pot to fit my driftwood in it. It is difficult to find a bigger pot because the large driftwood might not fit in your house hold pots. I found a way to boil driftwood by boiling a few sections of the driftwood at a time.
Step 4: Boiling driftwood & preparing it for aquarium use:
After boiling the driftwood in water for a while, see the colour it’s like dipping a tea bag in the boiling water. It takes long to prepare driftwood. Lots of tannin were released during boiling & I removed them multiple times. I found that the thicker section of driftwood would contain more tannin, so it is advisable to put that section in the pot & boil it for longer.
Pros & cons of driftwood:
Driftwoods will provide a natural
look to your aquarium. It is best for attaching anubias, java ferns or mosses. It
can offer hiding places for small inhabitants. Driftwoods have advantages related
to fish health. It will decrease the PH of aquarium water, & soften the tank conditions. It is because of the tannin acid it leaks out.
Tannin acids have antibacterial properties that are good for fish immune system
but it will make aquarium water look darker like some of the rivers of amazon. It
is hard to clean driftwoods to remove all the tannins & some hobbyists do
not like this process due to time consuming.
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