[60gallon]

I dont know anything about driftwood but I got a nice piece in the 90 gallon tank I bought last weekend. When I bought the tank it had about an 1" of gravel w/ water just covering the top of gravel and 2 large TX holey rocks.

Im thinking of using the driftwood in my peacock tank. Im assuming since it was in the tank its safe to use?? But im concerned about the white stuff...its a little powdery. Im not sure if its mold or just evaporated water residue. It has a very strong wood smell to it. And the one tip is very black and still damp. How would I know if its safe to use in my tank??

 

[brinkles]

I have a similar piece that stained the water yellow for a few years! It was in a planted tank, no biggie. It's in a cichlid tank now, and the synos are very interested in it. It's covered in java fern, which the cichlids aren't interested in. I got the java to take by rubber banding pieces to the wood.

I believe you can boil it to remove some of the tannin, but it still might soften your water.

 

[ridley25]

Although I've never had a piece that big, (and that's a really nice piece!) I've always had driftwood in my tanks with no effect on my pH.

If you had an empty tank or a large rubbermaid tub you could soak it for some time and measure your pH to see if it slowly drops - this might show you some movement on the white stuff too.

I know not a thing about mould so I won't venture further than that - but I imagine a light bleach bath and a cleaning soak afterwards would deal with most potential issues.

kevin

 

[smitty]

If you are concerned give it a good cleaning with a little bleach then rinse it very good. But I do not see you having any problems.

 

[Bombay]

Check out the ARTICLES section for a new great article on driftwood.
If it has been in a tank for a while, we can assume that some of the tannins have been leached out (but assuredly, not all of them). Your pieces looks too large to boil (to remove more tannins). Nonetheless, you have a nice piece of driftwood there. It looks to be of the dense and self-sinking type. Why not utilize it! I would scrub it down slightly, but probably no need to use bleach. The white stuff is most likely mold. Gently scrub it away the first couple of times i comes back (while in the tank) and either the fish will end up removing it or it will eventually just go away.

 

[60gallon]

Thanks guys.

I took it by the self serve car wash last night and pressure washed it and the white stuff easily came off. I brought it home and baked it in the over for about an hour, then put it in a large rubbermaid to let it soak for a few days. I checked the water this morning and its crystal clear. Im assuming my PH wont drop since my waters KH is 268.5ppm or 15° but I'll leave it in there for a few more days to see if it does drop.

The piece of wood came with the 90 gallon tank that I bought last weekend. It was in the tank for about 3yrs. The tank also had 2 big pieces of TX holey rock with several 2-3" holes in them. :drooling: Those are going in my Moms 55 though.

 

[brinkles]

If you can score some, I suggest trying to start some java fern on it - not only will it add a little color, lately, my mbuna have been spending time picking through it looking for who knows what. It's probably full of little critters for them to eat between feedings. They also sometimes pick at the algae that grows on the top side.

My piece used to be in a 29, and was big enough to just stick out of the water if it got low. White mold would grow on the part exposed to air, and never caused a problem.