[JWhipple]

My wife and I went up to Norwalk, Ohio this past weekend and found an excellent source for a LOT of free, awesome looking, free driftwood!

The Norwalk reservoir had so much that we had put together such a collection that we had to spend over an hour just going through it all figuring out what we could fit into a carry-on bag (that we did have to buy) so we wouldn't need to check the bag and pay extra for it.

I brought home enough driftwood to fully decorate ALL the tanks in my house - to the tune of over 250 gallons worth.

I've got everything sitting in a tub right now to draw out the tannins, and have been changing the water out daily.

After about a week I will pull everything out and boil it for about 30 minutes each to kill off any bacteria.

All in all, I figure if I had bought all of this stuff, I would have spent in excess of $300.

The only "fun" involved in all of this was explaining to the TSA X-ray lady what I was doing with all the wood in a carry-on bag LOL! Once I explained everything, she actually took some notes so she could do the same thing LOL!

 

[quiksilver]

you know what would happen if everyone did it though.

 

[macclellan]

What kind of wood is it?

You must not use much DW in your tanks if you could fit 250g worth in a carry on bag...

Oh, as if there isn't enough DW in Florida!?!?! Hah!

 

[JWhipple]

Not around here there isn't... Nothing that I would want to put into a freshwater want that is. Every body of water near me is either brackish or saltwater (I live on the east coast on a barrier island).

No, i don't use too much - just enough in each tank to help keep the water soft without bringing the PH level crashing down too quickly!

 

[macclellan]

The wood in my tanks I collected on atlantic beaches. It's not like contact with salt destroys wood for freshwater use or anything.

 

[Number6]

The wood in my tanks I collected on atlantic beaches. It's not like contact with salt destroys wood for freshwater use or anything.

not to mention that there are many "things" that could be introduced from wood from fresh water sources that would not be introduced to a fresh water aquarium from wood from a Salt water source...