How to kill it all before I scape?

[tcampbell]

No, this will not tell you how to kill anythings, though if done wrong I might kill something I did not want to, or add something which kills everything else in my tank, so I will ask.

I found some wood near a stream when I was hiking two weeks agao. I love the style and thought it would look great in the tank. Took it home and put in a bucket of water and ofcourse iit floated as it was sunbaked dry. Now after about 2 weeks of soaking and changing the water a few times it has sunk, though does have a little sliminess to the wood now.

What I was wondering is how can I make sure there is nothing in it that will harm my tank (live organizisms etc). Can't boil it due to the shape and size, so what is the other option. Just soaking in water can't work, right? Do I add salt? What is the process, please help,..
Thanks

[Aeon]

I've read in some threads here that DW can have slime. Must be rotting plant sap. Maybe just keep soaking it and pour it with boiling water everyday until the slime clears.

[ranmasatome]

Boiling in my opinion is one of the best methods.. If you can get a bonfire going and can borrow a big pot or something from a friend, then it is very much possible.. you can also boil it in portions... don't have to boil the entire thing all at once.. what you want is the hot water to treat each part of the wood...
However, if you really really really can't boil it... then i guess scrubbing, changing of water and dousing it with hot water daily should be the best...

You don't really want to add anything to the wood because it may end up absorbing the chemicals and then slowly releasing it later in your tank.

[tcampbell]

OK. guess I will start boiling water to pour over it. Thanks. Was hoping of something easier which wouldn't add more HEAT to my house! But today is a cool day so should be ok.

[Aquaculture]

IMHO, pouring boiling over the wood would only cleanse it superficially. Think what is 'inside' and invisible to the eye that is scary. I would do as ranmasatome suggested...start a bonfire.

[tcampbell]

don't really have place for a bonfire. The stream I found it was in the mountains a few hours drive away, sogetting to a place I can make a fire is difficult.

[oblivion]

i put the wood in a bucket and weight it down with a stone.
then noiled enought water to fill the bucket and leave the wood steaming inside overnight

i did that everyday for 2 weeks.
to fill the bucket requires me to boil 9 kettles of water daily!
i covered the top of the bucket up, retains the heat longer

[tcampbell]

don't you worry about the plastic bucket melting in the heat of the heat causing something to leach from the plastic into the wood?

[Aquaculture]

...I'm literally making 'soup' outta it. I use a stainless steel cooking pot, fill it with water and put it over a stove.

[oblivion]

don't you worry about the plastic bucket melting in the heat of the heat causing something to leach from the plastic into the wood?

its those kind of hard plastic (cant rem what type its called)
so far no problems.
no melting or any issues seen

[Jungle-mania]

How about soaking it in a strong solution of chlorine solution for 15 mins and then in anti-chlorine solution? Just thinking out loud here.

[tcampbell]

problem with the chlorine is the risk of it soaking out of the water into the wood and then not being removed even after a clean water soak, and possible leach into the tank!

[bossteck]

After the 2-3 weeks of scalding the wood with boiling water, change the water, fill up the container it is sitting in with fresh water, throw in a bag of activated carbon for peace of mind.

After removing the carbon, if you still want to be sure, you can add 1 or 2 feeder fishes to test if the wood is leeching toxins.

[vinz]

Actually you can kill most small organisms with just a 5% to 10% chlorine bleach solution for about 10 mins. It'll even kill moss!

Soak for 30mins to an hour, but rinse throughly and then soak several nights in a pail of water and liberal dosage of anti-chlorine. Remember to wear gloves!

Bossteck's got a good suggestion about using feeder fishes to test the water/wood... but to make sure it's not the tap water issue, use water that you've change out of the tank.

Get a good stiff scrub or steel wool and give the wood a good scrubbing (watch out for splinters). Before the bleaching.

[David Moses Heng]

how about using Potassium Permagnate(spelling?) solution?

[tcampbell]

so many suggestions. Thanks. I need to conisder no what to do.

[Aquaculture]

A thought just came to me after reading the thread again.... merely thinking out loud here guys.

The wood was found along a stream while Tcampbell went hiking. The wood being from nature - I believe would be free of 'preservatives or colouring' with only the occassional rain to moist it. Tcampbell also wrote that it was found sunbaked dry as it took 2 weeks for it to sink, therefore discounting the wood of soaking up unwanted minerals. Taking these into consideration, I don't think there is a need to clear of chlorine. I am guessing that the slim blanketing the wood might be sap left from the 'not so sunbaked' wood. Soaking it 'forced' the sap onto the surface of the wood as it is being taken over by water... I may be wrong here.

My suggestion is to reuse the same container that was used to soak the wood but this time, replace the fluid to boiling water, literally out of the kettle. I reckon the temperature is hot enough to quicken the process of 'treating' the wood.

Sure do hope my analysis is on the right track...

[tcampbell]

aquaculture. That is what I ended up doing. I considered the same think, as I believe it wasn't in am area to be exposed to anything providing the tree didn't growth in a polluted place, so I believe I will be fine. Oh well, if anything goes work it will just give me a reason to rescape and start over with the tank, which is the fun of it anyway.
Strange thing, there was a "fishy" smell to the wood after soaking for two weeks, though the boiling water has removed that.

PS the wood was very dry. and about 20 feet away from the stream along the rocks.

[ankank]

it was sunbaked dry. Now after about 2 weeks (...) it has sunk, though does have a little sliminess to the wood now.

My guess is that the wood is still biologically active. It may appear dead to the eye, but that's just skin deep. Wood that's not biologically dead will decompose in the tank. I guess what you see are the first effects to that matter.

Because of the salt water and the exposure on the beach, driftwood found on the shore may be suitable to use in a tank. Driftwood at a stream is a completely different matter, having soaked in freshwater (which is not antiseptic) and dried only superficially.

I am not a biologist, but I don't think that applying solvents superficially will be enough to "kill" the wood down to the core. It _may_ work with boiling it for a long time, and then thoroughly drying it.