Don't Let Driftwood Destroy Your Fish Tank: How to Properly Clean Driftwood for an Aquarium
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- Опубліковано 13 жов 2020
- Hello Fellow Fish Keepers!
In this video we talk about the best ways to prepare and clean driftwood for your aquarium.
If you want more information on what driftwood will do to your water parameters check out this video: • Does Driftwood Lower A...
If you want to know what to do about brown water caused by driftwood check out this video: • What to Do When Your A...
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If you want more information on what driftwood will do to your water parameters check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/-UTE7a85rrU/v-deo.html
If you want to know what to do about brown water caused by driftwood check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/Cf3rCKBaym4/v-deo.html
Also, our new shirts can be found at: www.primetimeaquatics.com/merch
For the latest in the fish room check us out on Instagram primetime_aquatics
For more cool behind the scenes stuff consider becoming a member!
ua-cam.com/channels/YVN7EN0ALL6CE4U7NpMUTA.htmljoin
If you want to see all the cool stuff Joanna does with other types of scapes check out her channel!
ua-cam.com/channels/PEZk1MpOTGiBVh6BtWjlRg.html
Hi Jason , I have several piece that wer sitting in a old garage that were in a my old tank previously I’ve soak them for a few days empty water every other day wire-brushed them now in the hydrogen pexiode mix 30 gallon tote ) should I be ok with this ? Assuming your method was new driftwood
Igot driftwood from seashore is it ok...
Wife: Hey, why is my favorite pot brown?
Me: Oh, um... I made chocolate pudding
😂😂😂
You do not have to boil imported woods such as Mopani, Malayasian, Spiderwood, Tigerwood, etc. Imported wood is required to be kilned and totally dried before shipping to the US. Boiling however will help remove the tanins and help the wood sink.
So you can put Mopani directly into your tank after buying it?
@@jennaweber1638 I mean yes but you’ll have a lottt of tanin
@@jennaweber1638 tannin can be a good thing if thats the water color you want, it isnt pollution and it makes a nice brown river color, goes good with large cichlids in planted tanks.
Any wood can be a good idea to be cleaned/boiled whether you know where it's been or not, to avoid it getting fungus etc.
My wood didnt sink after 1hr of boiling
For those in the NE, anywhere you find coal or slate where white birch grows, you'll find toppled trees with the root systems nearly petrified. Used as driftwood, is beautiful and sinks.
I love tanins' efect in water, it gives to the acuarium a natural view
Me too. And besides, after a couple of years in the aquarium a lot of the tanin has disappeared.
Same here plus the tannins can be very beneficial
Me too. Makes the fish look like they're in a natural environment.
about to add driftwood to my tank for the first time! this video could not have come at a better time!
Good luck!
How did it go? "-)
How is it looking
If your wood is turning your water brown you can always throw some activated carbon in your filter. It'll remove the tanins in a few hours.
How do you get active carbon? Is it expensive / easy to make?
@@dotslashsatan btw don't make activated carbon urself pls buy it
@@dotslashsatan It's about $10 and you can buy it from a fish/pet store or from the internet
I love that you put captions in the video that tell us what we're seeing in the videos! A lot of times I wonder what kind of fish is in the video or tank size and I never get an answer. This is a much easier way to know!
This video was perfectly timed! Thank you so much. I’ve had problems with wood before but I want to try again with quality pieces.
Hello Jason, great topic!! I remember when I first started setting up these aquariums that was one of the things that I searched for were videos like this! This is great and is going to help so many people including myself! Thanks for sharing. I hope you have a wonderful day! 🙏🌿🐟🌿💚
You have a great advantage being surrounding by it. Haha
This video appeared right when I needed it, I just bought some driftwood and was about to prepare it for the aquarium, thanks!
Good to hear!
All outstanding advice, thank you so much! I have access to lots of beachfront driftwood and was wondering how feasible it is to use it for aquaria. You've answered all of my questions here :)
A, it's Frederick. Love the videos and the really informational bee videos.
Holy blueberries! What crossover episode is this with my two favorite podcasters?! Did not expect to see my favorite bee expert over here!
Finally! Someone who actually tells what to do
Very informational video! thanks
Awesome video thank you for the tips very helpful finally a legit video with good information
Thats was a fantastic video very informative thank you.
So glad I found this. I've got really BIG pieces for a pair of 75s and I like the peroxide idea way better than other methods I had seen used like salt. Being freshwater only here, I wouldn't have a good way to be sure I has soaked all the salt back out.
The salt shouldn't be an issue if its proper aquarium salt, or iodine free salt like sea salt. I add aquarium salt to my fresh water tank to help with electrolytes and to buffer the PH.
I soak my large pieces of driftwood in old bathtubs. When we got our house renovated, I asked my parents to let me keep the replaced bathtubs for pet purposes.
Great video. Very informative as always
Thank you for this video! My sons gave me some beautiful driftwood pieces for Christmas and now I know how to prep them properly.
Have fun!
@@PrimeTimeAquatics thanks, will do!
Thank you for this video! It was very helpful. Setting up a new tank for my betta with driftwood🐠❤
Depending on your stocking, tanins can be very benificial for some fish. But i personally soak it for weeks, smaller peices i will boil
Good one! Thanks!
This video was entirely refreshing Jason! You thoroughly covered the topic in a scientifically correct manner, and I don't typically say that lightly. Thank you for the enjoyable and factually-sound coverage of this topic. I've been using many of these methods over the years, and my only wish is for a much more concentrated solution of hydrogen peroxide to be available (having worked with the stuff myself, I know why it isn't, but it sure would be convenient). Since the stuff in the bottles sold OTC is only 3%, I've gotten quite a few strange looks when buying enough to soak some driftwood!
Thank you!
How much hydrogen peroxide should I put? What should be the ratio to the water? Thanks!
I’m glad I found this channel! I’ve been trying to detoxify two huge pieces of decorative driftwood I used in my iguana enclosure. I thought scrubbing it would be enough since it had been sitting in the sun for a year. Big mistake! I nearly killed all my fish! The ammonia and other water parameters went off the charts. Since then I have been soaking the wood in my 150 gallon out back, I’ve done this for the past month while changing the water every week and testing the parameters. I’ve noticed everything but the ammonia levels have returned to normal, the ammonia is slowly getting lower but it’s getting expensive dumping 100 gallons of water every week!
I've always been told that once a tank or decoration has been used in a reptile enclosure it can never be used for fish again because of something toxic in their feces.
i have a piece of mopani woodin a tank with a nerite snail. when it started to grow the white foggy algae all over it, my nerite made it look like a brand new piece lol. nerites are pretty awesome for cleaning from what ive seen so far. highly reccomend them!
Great video, I bet your a great College teacher, You explain things so well.
Thank you!
Very informative as always 👍👍 thanks for inspiring me to get driftwood 😄
Thank you!
Just what I needed to know after buying a sweet-looking piece of spiderwood. Thank you! Was so excited to put it in my tank but I have it in the peroxide-water soak instead and it's floating around in the tote. I was able to boil the tannins out of some of it but all the crazy squiggly things wouldn't fit in the pot :)
Great video, Love my Tannins, Love my biofilm. Both have great benefits. Love from Wisconsin.
I like them too. :-)
Thank you for the information
I have seen a lot of videos of you in the last few weeks.
And i agreed with all of it.
Learned a few new things along the ride.
But this is the first No for me.
You dont need to boil wood.
In fact, its can even be detrimental for the woodfibers causing it to rot faster.
Especially with thinner pieces and softer woods.
Presoaking it is enough, and if you are worried about pests, just add vinigar to the water.
Or liquid Co2 (glutaraldehyde)
This will decontamimate everything.
And the wood will definitely last a lifetime.
Much cheaper as having the stove on for hours also.
As for the tannins before someone asks.
Just filter over carbon to remove it.
Great info!
I live by the beach and found some great driftwood and empty shells. They were small, manageable, pieces for my tank, so I boiled them for several hours (with water changes) over a few days (not constantly!). No issues with it after a month or so, my corys love nibbling it and other fish love darting through it! There's no mould, my water is clear with a tannin glaze and it worked a treat!
You are lucky!
@@PrimeTimeAquatics Lucky because I'm putting the fish at risk or because I can get the pieces for free? Now I'm worried haha
Thanks great tips good upload appreciate it
Great video. Thanks, Jason. 📺👍
Thanks David!
I've never once needed to boil driftwood and never any diseases. I also love the tannins. :)
2:40 the most important advice in this video 😂
Thanks Jason.
Thanks so much for posting!!! I got my kids (me) a fish tank for Christmas and I’m setting up my first community/aquascaped tank. Would love a natural looking tank but the cost for attractive wood pieces at my LFS are..quite a bit lol so I’m trying to set this up the most cost effective way. Super informative video!
Have fun!
Great video, I enjoyed watching. 🐟🌿👍😊
Thank you!
Great video as always.
Thank you Darryl!
My local fish store was running low so dude sold me a piece out of one of his tanks 😎 a G
Thx for lot of info ;)
Great info💯😁 everything down to being considerate of the Wife’s pots🤙🏽😂😂
Cuz that was very helpful thank you
Big stock pots at flea markets or yard sales. Get one. It's cheap, reusable, and keeps you safe from using 'just a pot' for your aquarium needs. I'm lucky, and my wife told me not to use her 'good' pots before I made what I assume, ASSUME, was a very unsafe decision. 😁👍
Cool vid man! Very informative!
Great topic! I for one like the tannins in the water, so I only waterlog the driftwood.
I like the tannins as well.
Great info , I always boil the wood so my PLECOS can easily chew on it , and I have a piece in my soft shell turtle tank and he always bites on it ,, I don’t know why but he does it a few times a day
Keep up the good info videos 👍
Turtles can be so funny sometimes. You have to wonder what they are thinking about!
Great tip! was thinking of puting some driftwood in my AQUADECOR 3D Background!🗻🗻🗻🗻
Cool!
Such a helpful video Jason!! 🙏❤️ Can I ask how you do your peroxide solution for the larger pieces? How many parts peroxide to water for soaking?
For the larger pieces I usually just soak them in a tote. You could easily add a bottle in a large tote.
@@PrimeTimeAquatics oh! Like soak it directly in hyrogen peroxide! Wow, ok thanks. Didnt realize we could use that much!
Very helpful intructions. Thankyou. I really would like a reply to a queatiin about the fish shown in this video. Could you tell me what the orange/yellow fish at 3min50sec in this video is as well as the pink/whiteish fish at 4min10sec is. I am looking to set up a 4'x2.5'x2' tank and was taken by these.
Just subscribed , I love aquarium you tube channels . It relaxes me to listen to these videos while I watch my fish in my tanks . Can you make a video on tubifex and if in your experience they are a good fosh food ? I’ve given my first live tubifex to my fish today and by reading some articles I’m getting worried I made a mistake . I bought it from a reputable fish store so I guess it should be disease free
Thank you for being here! I will add it to my list!
Prime Time Aquatics gonna buy my fist driftwood ever for my female bettas tank . I wanna watch this video very careful as I wanna be sure I won’t make a mistake to buy it .
Hi! Does this method work with saltwater ocean driftwood for freshwater tanks? Also would this work with ocean coral/shells or rocks?
are there any specific tree out there to make drift wood or can i go out to my creeks and canals and just pick any and throw it in my tank ... and also what's the difference from store drift wood from the one u find in the creeks
Thanks
Nice one 😊
When I have driftwood too large to boil on the stove top, I put it in a tote and boild several large pots of water on the stove, then I pour those into the tote with my wood. I will keep boiling more water and adding it into the tote until it is almost full.. I kno this isn't the same as boiling it for at least 20 mins, but I feel that it is better than just soaking in room temperature or hot tap water. It takes awhile to boil enough water to nearly fill the tote, so by the time this is accomplished, the wood has been soaking long enough, and is usually ready to rinse and add to my tank! Hope this suggestion helps someone who finds themselves with driftwood too large to boil normally!👍
From wood I get from store I just rinse it off and put it in the tank. I love the tannins.
thanks bro
If it doesnt leak tannins (and wont float) and is too big to boil, wash it clean and keep it in somewhere dry for days and days. You should be fine, thats what ive done for years and nothing bad has ever happened.
Hi, i got some questions please
I collect driftwood around the US and Mexico, a hobby i developed during my desert hikes. I find beautiful pieces of ancient driftwood, extremely dense and heavy. I don't have to worry about pathogens since this wood has been in the desert sun forever. I do have to worry about tannins and wood types that have natural defenses (poisons) to prevent insect attacks which is not uncommon with desert woods. An example is iron wood. I have not been able to buy or find other woods that are as beautiful as sun bleached ancient desert hardwood pieces. Sorry for the long story but I love aquascaping with this wood
That is cool!!
That really is cool!
@@user-ik5gf5xs1z I have 1400 gallons of aquariums so I use most of it. Now I am using smaller pieces to grow anubias plants on. I have thought about hiring some kids in Mexico to collect for me but have not gone that far yet. My brother collects it too and sells it, he is in Arizona, but only deals with the huge pieces
What kind of pleco was that with the long fins, was beautiful.
Those are long fin blue eye albino bristlenose!
Is galapos driftwood safe? Saw a lot of mixed reviews and ppl used for terrains and aquarium for fish.
great video
I was getting frustrated with a medium-sized driftwood. I have two, one smaller, sank easily within the first day. The second larger, however, is not. It is going on day three of soaking. I've been using our sink with as hot of water as it can produce. A little sad to hear it can take a week but it's good to be comforted.
For soft woods that tend to disintegrate I use a toothbrush. For something like my 30 yr old grape root or Mopani root wood, I use dynamite-er-wire brush to clean it. Everything gets boiled when I acquire it. Don’t clean the white film/fuzz that grows on the wood once it is in the aquarium. Otocinclus and other brown-algae eaters love it! Other plecos usually eat it as well. I would guess shrimp would like it too.
Great points!
Do you ever sand your wood? I bought mopani cholla and spiderwood and I have a small group of 3/4" pygmy cory fish. Worried about sharp edges 😕
@@mrmorales408 If you see long spear-like points, you can sand them down, otherwise, for normal bumps or rough cholla wood, I just leave it alone. I worry about lava rock in a tank with fast fish who are always moving, but have no worries with small things like shrimp.
I was just recently having pH issues because of my driftwood, how convenient🙂
The other video in the description talks about that in more detail!
Me and my GF have been collecting cool smaller sticks and small peices of driftwood but like you said, the fish we keep, honestly it's not worth introducing disease... basically I'm thinking if we have designated nets,syphons, buckets and utensils for this natural tank were going to try to use fish that aren't so expensive in rare 🤔 but we wanted to do like a non heated tank so im thinking white clouds or she likes purple, and albino guppy, but still at that I wouldn't even use those fish if the risk is to high, mostly due to cross contamination been there done that with camellanus... which was a nightmare... but now I have everything I need to fix that if it happens again nock on driftwood lol
It was great meeting you at Aquashella!
It was great meeting you!
Actually most woods have to be kilned before being imported, so most of the problem left is Tannins if any, i drill a piece of slate to mine and submerge the slate.
I have done a few bits in the tub though and no real marks were left, none that didnt scrub away :)
@Prime Time Aquatics how much of what percentage H2O2 are you using per gallon of water to make your 3-5% solution? I have tried to figure out a way to calculate this but haven't yet to find a definitive answer. If you have an equation to calculate that would be helpful! Thank you in advance!
I'm planning to try collecting some wood in the future do you know if there is a few specific species that are safe?
I’ve got some dried/dead apple wood.it is from a branch that broke 3 winters ago so it never touched the ground, and all bark has fallen off....I cut a few pieces off and I’m currently soaking in water to remove tannins...they are too large (3-4 ft) to boil. What else do I need to do to ensure they are safe?
I dont have any big pots for the driftwood I ordered so I will just have to soak mine in a container, how much of that peroxide should I use and how long do I need to soak the driftwood with it?
You can soak the driftwood in it to allow the tannins to release if you want. H202 breaks down pretty fast into water and oxygen gas. At 10% solution works fine.
thank you so much , for this video . I was gifted a store bought drift wood and I was unsure what to do and scared to put it in my tank.
Last week I collect driftwood for my oscar tank and I have no idea what tree it is:)) its still in the process of sun dried & peeling off the bark bits by bits. Thanks for the video, perfect timing
As long as isnt Pine wood it will be fine.
@@dennisvanopstal7360 Is pine toxic to fish?
@@emihayashi7725 not exactly toxic. But it contains loads of resin. This makes the water dirty and it stinks.
You can only use it when its really old and 100% dried out.
Or mechanicly treated.
Just avoid any conifer/pine when you collect yourself.
@@dennisvanopstal7360 Chilean Mesquite tree, manzanita, Eucalyptus, orange, lemon, tangerine, persimmon, juniper tree, bamboo branches are my backyard choices
Just over a week ago I bought a large piece of driftwood for my setup, got it cut into slightly smaller pieces and since then I have been soaking them in a Extra-large tote box from IKEA.
Allot of the tannins have been leaching out which is good, I change the water daily(hot) and leave for 24hours.
[Because of this video I ordered the Hydrogen Peroxide from Amazon and it came today. I have now dosed my driftwood with the solution and I think I will leave it for 48hours before another water change.]
The wood is looking more water logged, the smaller pieces are 90% underwater, so they'll sink soon, and the larger pieces I think will take a bit longer.
Just wondering how long do you think I should keep soaking my driftwood?(other than once it sinks/the tannins are mostly gone).
I cut down a live guava tree and got some nice pieces. How to process them. Will boiling multiple times work?
Go to sam's, amazon or a restaurant supply store. Get a deep metal chafing dish. Works great for boiling driftwood.
could you do a video about geophagus balzani ? i have heard some myth and facts around them
I have it on my list! :-)
Thanks for mentioning at the end the white film. It drives me nuts. If a pleco or SAE won’t eat it then I guess I’ll have to live with it. It’s been on one piece for a month. My Nerite snail won’t eat it. I notice that it occurs only on barkless driftwood.
If you want to scrape it off it usually doesn't come back. :-)
My Severums ate it off my spider wood!
I just removed that stuff on my new-ish driftwood today with an old toothbrush. I've been told shrimps eat it. I still have some of it in the hard-to-reach places and some got caught on other plants. I might get some feeder ghost shrimp to clean it up. I have carnivorous fish in my other tanks, so the shrimp won't go to waste once they've ate up the biofilm.
Im a driftwood newbie so this video has great information! One thing im wondering - can i use drift collected from the shore of my local river using the hydrogen peroxide method? I think the piece id use would be too big to boil.
Use the hydrogen peroxide along with thorough drying! Have fun!
Can you use sand blasted grape vine?
Hello drift wood I’m John wood. LFS are asking for more of my super reds,said they look better hold up better for the little time they have them on the floor then what they have can get shipped in.
They can be a huge source of profit for sure!
Hi, Jason! Thank you for all of the helpful content. I just recently added a very large piece of driftwood to my 75 gallon tank and I’m having a lot of trouble with my Corydoras. I wasn’t able to nil the wood, but I didn’t know that I could use hydrogen peroxide, either. Do you think I should remove the wood now and soak it in hydrogen peroxide? I’m actually treating the tank with Maracyn and ParaClense. Would the meds get rid of anything harmful on the wood? Thanks so much in advance. I really appreciate your channel.
Great question - my guess is the meds will do a better job of killing microbes/parasites on the wood than in the fish just because the microbes don't have a body to inside of to escape the medicine.
Great! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question!
I have a root structure from a juniper that has been soaking for over a year in my outdoor pond. Would love to boil it but too large. Thoughts on using a strong potassium permanganate soak to steralize it?
I'm not sure how or if that would absorb into the wood? I'd go the H2O2 route if it were mine.
@@PrimeTimeAquatics Further research indicated that PP in used much like chlorine in water treatment and to clean up wells. It would absorb into the wood just like the H2O2.
Hi ,
Thanks for the video. What if I am using a driftwood from the beach (saltwater) to put in my freshwater tank. I just poured hot water over it three times as it's quite big.
Hard to say. While many pathogens that inhabit saltwater have a tough time surviving in freshwater, there’s still risk unless the piece had been thoroughly sun dried and then boiled.
Can pool acid be used to clean big pieces of driftwood? Also, can I use a dried guava tree stump from the garden as driftwood for my tank?
Just over 2 years ago I added a driftwood tree to my 30 gal tank. Mainly had tetras, angel fish, black skirts, mollies. Have really plants and moses balls in the tree. Two weeks ago I inherited (My niece is moving) a 5 inch common pleco, a snake fish (I think, maybe rope? fast little guy. hides all the time) and 2 zebras. Couple of questions; Do driftwoods need to be removed over time? I think some of that tannin coloring is happening again. Could the Pleco eating it cause that, even after years of be submerged? I have syphoned out broken sticks since he has been in there too. Thanks... Just found and LOVE your channel
The wood will break down over time. I usually don’t remove it, but will remove the pieces that break off. I don’t think the pleco is causing the issue - at least ours have never caused that to happen.
How did you know I needed this info right now?!
I used the Force! Haha
Dang! I did it all wrong! Hope it will be ok! Been in my tank for weeks! But now I know what to do with my other pieces for my 125 gallon!
I used the hot water in a plastic tub method to soak my spider wood and it worked well. I treated the hot water when I changed it and I didn’t think of the chlorine helping the process. Doh!
I take a gallon of vinegar and box of baking soda.. coat everything with baking soda and pour on vinegar.. it boils up nicely removing debris aggressively. Then I soak it in water s couple days rinse repeat and done. I let it dry off awhile before adding it to tank
Thank you I may try this method
Any thoughts on using deer antlers as aquarium decor?
I don’t think I have ever seen it done, but my guess is they would break down quickly and possibly cause water quality issues?
Do you suggest using oleander wood for a cichlid tank?
I haven’t used it?
Hello Jason, whats the h2o2 concentration to use?
I've emptied a bottle into a 5 gallon bucket. :-)
Would tipping boiled kettle water on the wood kill anything on
this was a fun video to watch, assuming that an end-user of the product wouldnt go above and beyond to make their product safe, while on the other extreme also assuming the distributors of products bought in LFS or online are absolute saints and the best at getting the job done. Either ways, any decision always has its consequences 😉 at the end of the day all that matters is that you can cut it even with your conscience and not let guilt sink you along with your driftwood 🤪
I just soak mine for a few days, then add to the tank, I don't mind the brown water. I wish it lowered my ph but no luck.
How can I simulate a snow cap on a piece of driftwood without painting it? Or is there paint I can use?
Thanks so much!
I’m not aware of any paint but maybe some silicone and white sand?
Hi, I just purchased a big piece of Grape wood driftwood for my freshwater tank. I have been soaking it for 24 hours now. I poured out the cold water and poured hot water over it again. It's now soaking for another 24 hours. I have a bin that it's in. Can I run boiling hot water over it in the bin and let it soak for 20 mins or so then repeat to speed the process so that I'm not waiting a week to put it in? I'm attaching plants to it as well. The peroxide step...What's the ratio? I'm soaking in a 5 gal bucket. Need to know how many bottles to get. I'm actually out of peroxide lol. Also, it's slimy. Do you now what can cause that? Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks for an awesome vid!!
You can use the boiling water method. The slime is normal - just either bacteria or fungus coating the wood when it is new. Since there are no fish too worry about in the bucket you can dump a half bottle in there without having to worry about anything.