Best driftwood "wood"?

DKRST

What's the best type of driftwood to use in a tank? Cypress, unspecified "bog", "manzi", oak, etc? I'm wanting something that's pleco-friendly.

Can fresh-cut wood be "made" into driftwood by some seasoning process?

Not sure this is best place to post, but it's plant-related at least!

redchigh

I like Malaysian since it sinks... Manzi is ok too.

I've heard of hardwood root wood being used.. (Just sandblast it first), and other hardwoods... (Boiled in water for a day or two, brushed with a wire brush, then boiled, and repeat until the wood doesn't get soft in the water anymore)

Have to make sure they're 'hardwood' though.

DKRST

Interesting to know - I have access to an autoclave (in effect a very large pressure cooker). I wonder if running the wood through multiple cycles of pressurized steam would season the wood properly. I used that method to sterilize some driftwood from an LFS once. It leached a lot of tannins during the process.

redchigh

It would have to be a wood with low levels of natural oils... Thats why I reccomend a hardwood.

You could try it though.. Just replace the boiling with the autoclave. Should still give it one good brush before putting it in the tank though.

DKRST

Any particular hardwood you recommend? I have access to lots of oak, but I think that tends to be pretty acidic. At least the leaves are. May be able to get hold of some maple.

SinCrisis

A lot of it depends on your tastes as well, manzi is a very branchy wood, wheras mopani has larger twists. The bogwood i have is less textured and is plain and simple. All would work for plecos but the smaller branches of the manzanita might not be enough surface area for the pelco to graze on.

eileen

I recently got Choya/Cholla wood on Aquabid. It is cactus wood and it only takes about 2 days to sink. AquaBid.com - Sell or buy aquarium related equipment and fish in an auction format!

It is under mixed lots and driftwood heading on this site. My dwarf shrimps and my bushy nosed plecos love this wood. I also have Malaysian driftwood and I have a peice of driftwood I got in Hawaii on vacation that I boiled and used in my tank so driftwood you find at the beach is fine to use as long as you sanitize it by boiling it. These wood have to be waterlogged for a longer time. I use mable weights I got from the base of old trophys but you can use rocks in the tank or slate rock to weight it down in the aquarium and use clear fishing line to hold it down on these rocks. When it gets waterlogged you can then remove the fishing line.

I like using Java Moss and Java ferns on the driftwood and securing it with clear fishing line. You should try the Choya wood as it is a really nice looking wood and has holes thu it and only takes a few days to waterlog it while the other types take like 3 weeks or more.

I posted pictures of my driftwood with the Java Moss, Java Fern attached. You can see the fishing line in one of the pictures.

Attached Images

	dwarf honey gouarmi 003.jpg (61.5 KB, 46 views)
	sand in aquarium.jpg (72.8 KB, 46 views)

DKRST

Thanks for the feedback so far. I found a post by Byron on the issue as well. Seems I can potentially use Oak.
What kind of "wild" wood can I use?