Wood not settling

I bought 2 pieces of grape vines from a petshop. I placed it in my tank but it floated (obviously, because it was bone-dry). Secured it with fish line and some rocks. One seems to have soaked up the water but the other one still floats to the surface. It's been now 6 weeks in the water. It does not leech anything. What am I to do? Boil it or leave as is?

 

It is always advisable to boil the wood before putting it in the tank, as this will help to sterilize it.

Boiling it should also assist in absorbing water and could make it negatively buoyant.

I have boiled my driftwood for approx 2 hours and left it in bucket of water, fully submerged for 4 weeks, changing the water every 2 to 3 days with hot water.

If that does not help then you should tie something to it to make it negatively buoyant, place it in the tank and after a couple of months it should be completely soaked.

Or you can do some DIY with some suction cups……dunno how this will work, never tried it.

 

Go look at the photo's of the tree that I made here; http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?9384-Merlin-s-new-home... I've done this on big pieces of wood before and it works. Just be sure to use a strong nylon thread, as it won't rot. Also, make sure that whatever you sew the wood onto will be weighed down by the substrate. I've also used thin pieces of slate before and drilled holes through it for the thread.

 

or you can use some aquarium silicone and silicone it to a flat piece of slate or rock and bury that in the substrate. try boiling it and see if that helps if it doesnt you could always try one of the other methods mentioned here. i usually just throw mine into one of my moms fishponds and leave them there weighted down. within a month or so the stuff sinks and on the plus side i aquire some really nice bloodworms which the fish in the tank enjoy rooting out and devouring hehe

 

Thanks for the advise, guys. Will try out all of the above. Us newbies will just have to experiment until it's right

 

i would also try buying a couple of coach screws, and simply screwing these deeply into the wood so that none of the metal sticks out, this way it wont crack your tank glass and it wont be visible.., this will weigh the wood down nicely and if you have a planted tank the plants will benefit from the added iron..

 

Remember, if using screws, to make sure that they're stainless steel. Otherwise they will rust pretty quickly!

 

S/S Grade 316 aka A4-70

 

How to make wood stay SUNK 101

* Buy wood from reputable LPS (Wood from the wild is illegal collected. Wood from your garden is more than likely got fertz and pestercides on)
* Go to tile shop and pretend to be interested in tiles. Find one that is small enough to fit in your tank, and ask for a sample. (FREE)
* Go to Builder's and buy yourself Epoxy. Sica make an awesome construction grade one, which will hold anything, but pratleys will suffice- you cheepskate!
* Go to a craft shop (some builder's may carry stock too) and buy polystyrene sheet that is same size as your tile.
* Wash wood well
* Wash is again, and this time do a proper job with a nail brush
* Let wood dry
* Support the wood on top of the tile using bricks, buckets, your missus shoes, whatever is lying around. Just support the wood in the way you would like it to stand.
* Epoxy the wood to the tile,
* Let it dry for the period recommended on the packaging. (usually 24 hours)
* Put the styrene on the base of your tank (i.e no substrate)
* Put the tile on the styrene
* Put in your substrate and cover over the tile.
* Viola


Now for those of you who are recomended boiling the hell out of the wood... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE explain to me where you get a pot big enough(that the missus will allow) that holds the wood? Please explain how you can keep it boiling for hours and hours on end. And please explain to me how this continual boiling and boiling doesn't cause the wood to break down faster in your tanks?

 

this is not realy a big deal, stainless steel screws are way (AND I MEAN WAAAY) more expensive, even HT steel (8.8) is quite a bit more expensive, so i dont think you will have any issues using common mild steel (4.6) bolts. lots of guys with planted tanks put nails (mild steel) in their gravel to enrich the substrate with iron and i dont think i've ever heard of negative effects on fish, except for one poor sod (cant remember who) that put a nail every square cm or something like that under his substrate and ended up with a funny discoloration on his plants etc, but no ill effects on fish i think (read this yesterday on this forum)

oh ya and what @Zoom said

found that thread! http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?10766-Problem-with-my-substrate-I-think

 

Oops, sorry mydummyname, totaly forgot that some of the planted tanks do benefit from the added iron. I've just always used stainless in my tank wood as I don't like the rust colour seeping into the wood! However, I'm aware that mild steel nails are often added into the plant substrate, specifically for the leached iron!

 

Does anyone know if they sell slate at LFS's? I'm in the JHB area!

 

why not just go look for slate at a nursery? or even offcuts at tiling places?

I gave up with my vine ever settling by itself so cable tied (GASP!) it to some big rocks. works to keep my wandering anubias attached to the vine too much easier than trying to deal with fishing line one handed