Driftwood, what types do you use?

BK · Post by BK » 27 Apr 2003, 21:11

hi,

Just out of curiosity i was wondering what types of driftwood you guys use with your plecos.

I try to provide a mix so my plecos can choose what they like. I have Malaysian sinking, African sinking, cypress, several pieces of 5 or 6 ormiscellaneous types (some hard, some soft), and even a natural cave thatâ??s the very old remnants of a driftwood pine knot (no sap left and the walls are only 1/8 inch thick).

what types do your plecs seem to prefer? mine don't really show a great preference one way or the other.

any body know any species of trees that grow along rivers in peru that become food for peruvin panaques?

thanks
BK

Ben · Post by **Ben** » 28 Apr 2003, 05:37

I use both Bog wood, and pine driftwood from local beach. Most seem to prefer the bog wood, it'd much more dense. My royal sticks exclusively to the bog wood, but my clown plecos really like the local driftwood, probably easier for them to rasp.

One thing that I like with the driftwood, is that it's salt water driftwood. I boiled the heck out of it before using it, but it still slowly releases small ammounts natural salt into the water.

BK · Post by BK » 28 Apr 2003, 05:57

when you boiled the pine driftwood did it stink like pine sap. i had some really cool looking pieces of drift wood i haven't used because when i boiled them they smelled like pine sap and some sap came out (unlike the pine knot cave wich didn't meel or excrete sap). i heard that pine sap could be harmeful to plecos.

Ben · Post by **Ben** » 28 Apr 2003, 08:42

Nope, no smell at all. It was very well seasoned drift wood that I used. It was almost white from sun and salt bleaching, and was very very light. I couldn't smell any of that distinct pine smell in either boiling, baking, or cutting the wood.

BK wrote:when you boiled the pine driftwood did it stink like pine sap. i had some really cool looking pieces of drift wood i haven't used because when i boiled them they smelled like pine sap and some sap came out (unlike the pine knot cave wich didn't meel or excrete sap). i heard that pine sap could be harmeful to pl*cos.

Vik · Post by **Vik** » 28 Apr 2003, 18:05

Is pine bad for plecos? I have been reading lately that using natural woods/rocks is okay in the aquarium as long as it is boiled. However, pine is the most natural tree we have around here and I had some curved pieces that I wanted to use as tunnels and caves, will it harm my fish? I boiled it and it smelled very pine-like, should I not use them?

Post by **Silurus** » 28 Apr 2003, 18:09

Pine sap contains resins (which is what gives pine wood its smell), which function as a sort of defense mechanism. Needless to say, this stuff is toxic to fishes.
Because of the nature of the resins, it takes an extremely long time to get all of it out of the wood.

BK · Post by BK » 29 Apr 2003, 08:55

what is your opinions on slate weighted driftwood? i personaly despise it. it is a hassle to move for cleaning and i find lots of waste gets trapped underneath the slate plate (at least with the substrate i use). i much prefer heavy sinking woods or boiling the wood to get it to sink.

DeLBoD · Post by **DeLBoD** » 29 Apr 2003, 09:47

Rather than using slate to hold it down just drill a holes in the wood and insert plastic coated weights to make it sink .
Still needs boiling to leach out toxins though.

BK · Post by BK » 29 Apr 2003, 15:26

Rather than using slate to hold it down just drill a holes in the wood and insert plastic coated weights to make it sink .
Still needs boiling to leach out toxins though.

if going through the effort to boil it why use weights at all? i have yet to run across a piece that boiling wouldn't sink.

I boiled all of the 16+ pieces of driftwood in my 120 gallon to get them to sink and i feel it was well worth the effort. they are easy to move and repositiion. the only pieces that gave me alot of grief were the large cypress chunks, i had to boil some of them for an hour or two every night for a week.

DeLBoD · Post by **DeLBoD** » 29 Apr 2003, 15:53

I have a chunk of oak which I have soaked for 2-3 months and boiled for hours on end and the dam thing still wont stay still ,yes it sinks but drifts about if un weighted.

http://website.lineone.net/~delbod/Oakwood.jpg