Prepare waterlogged wood

[RichardChen]

Help help help.

I bought a piece branch wood today in the fishstore in Houston.  The store owner told me to use wish washer to wash the wood and tie it with rubber band and rock to weight it down until it sink.  Is it the best the way to prepare wood for Cichlid tank?

Thank you.

[wvgdiscus]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

What the heck is wish washer?

All you need to do is boil the wood for an hour or so. It will sink & not tan the water doing this.

[Spot86t]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

Maybe he meant Dish Washer??

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

Ive heard of people using a dishwasher to treat the wood. I would be too scared that there would be soap left in the washer that might get in/on the wood.

[RichardChen]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

Yes, dish washer.  
After I boil the wood for an hour, do I leave it in the water and cool down or take it out and wash and soak with cool water from fuccet?

Thank you.

[CichlidFan]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

Remember, there's no such thing as a silly or stupid question, it may save the life of all your fish to make sure before you add anything new to their environment..... a dish washer sounds odd, but I could see where it would work....Good Luck, let us know how it turns out for you.

CF

[wvgdiscus]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

After boiling it let it cool down (this should only take a few minutes). Then place into the tank.

[RichardChen]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

I will boil it instead of using dish washer.  I don't like to take a risk on an established tank with 30 adult fish and a few frys in the tank.

WVGdiscus,
After boiling the wood in the water for an hour, do I take it out of the water for it to cool down, or leave it in the water to cool down?

Thank you all

[Spot86t]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

I would leave it in the water to cool down, or transfer it to cool water.  It is more prone to absorb air if you air dry it.  This way it will only absorb water and will be heavier - meaning you won't have to use a large piece of slate to hold it down.  You might get lucky enough that it will stay on the bottom without any additional weight.  

When boiling or soaking - always use dechlorinated water.  Boiling will remove chlorine from water, but it won't remove chloramine and that's what most water companies use anymore.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

I use the big crawfish boiler and boil the wood all day.....it helps a great deal with removing the excess tannins....they just dunk it in a bucket of cool water with heavy de-chlorinator.

Leaving boiling water to cool is gonna take some time.

[RichardChen]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

EK,
Hey long time no talk.  How long would you boil the wood, it weights 4 lbs?
My pH is around 7.2 to 7.4.  Will adding the wood drop the pH below 7?
Will adding Anubias and java fern also lower the pH below 7?

My plan was to add the wood first then Anubias and java fern later but I don't want to upset the Africans in the tank.  What do you think?

Thank you.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

Depends on the wood....I have had some from various places that just don't sink.

The tannins is what will effect your pH and honestly it will probably not show any difference, do you have something in the tank that will buffer the water? The ferns and anubias are slow growers and in low lighting it will be even slower so they will barely effect pH if any.

If you have something in there to buffer the water then I would just throw it all in together.

[RichardChen]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

I need a lesson in "buffer."
The decorate rocks are probably limestone.  I have to test it with acid to see if it reacts with acid.  I don't mind to buffer the water pH by replacing the substrate in the tank.  I do want to avoid spike in pH and hardness though.  Any suggestions?

Thank you.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

Adding a media bag full of some crushed coral or the like will help.

[RichardChen]

Re: Prepare waterlogged wood

EK,

Currently both Eheim 2217 are packed with everything came with them and a bag of Purigen I bought a month ago.  Purigen made my water clear. Thanks to all the fellows here who shared experience of Purigen with me.  There is not much space left in Eheim.  How much of the crushed coral do I need to put in the Eheim in order to buffer the water or see the pH and hardness rise?

I saw bags of crushed coral in Petsmart all about 20 lbs bags.  There are two kings of them.  One kind is sand and the other kind is in small pieces like little pebbles.  What kind is right?

Thank you.