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What is the best Driftwood for my Pleco's
1 - 10 inch Royal
1 - 5 inch dull eyed Royal
2 1 inch Vampire's


Malaysian Driftwood or African Driftwood

It's not so much a question of which country it comes from. What does matter is how hard the wood is. If it's really hard, they may not be able to chew it.

However, even the hard mopani wood (which is from africa, but there are OTHER african trees too) gets pretty soft once it's been in water for some time.

I think Kev's been recommending cherry wood, so if you can find that somewhere, it would do the job (at a local timer merchant, perhaps?)

--
Mats

Dennis,
My 6" L-330 seems to enjoy the Malaysian driftwood.
If I can find any dry cherry wood, I'm gonna place some in the tank and see how that goes.

Does anyone have any experience "drying" wood?
I know there are some cherry trees growing wild in the woods behind my Mom's, but it's been raining off and on, and the wood is still green.
How long does it take to dry?

Thanks,
Steph

catfishgrrl wrote:Dennis,
My 6" L-330 seems to enjoy the Malaysian driftwood.
If I can find any dry cherry wood, I'm gonna place some in the tank and see how that goes.

Does anyone have any experience "drying" wood?
I know there are some cherry trees growing wild in the woods behind my Mom's, but it's been raining off and on, and the wood is still green.
How long does it take to dry?

Thanks,
Steph

Drying wood can take quite some time, it would obviously depend on the dimensions, and drying conditions. I suspect you dont' really need to dry it for "firewood" dryness to put it in the tank, as it'll get wet again... But it's probably a good idea to leave it to dry for a little bit just to get rid of any things living in the wood, if that's the case. A few weeks in a dry place should be OK I think

Bear in midn, you're not supposed to cut branches of live wood in the woods, unless you own the land yourself, or have the land-owners permission.

--
Mats

Cherry is a hardwood, You might have good results and less "drying time" by boiling the wood for several hours, and make sure you don't use too much of the bark if you are worried about parasites. This wood will change the hue of your water slightly.

I'd cut the wood when the sap is down, ie in the autumn or winter. It will take longer to dry out now that the sap has risen. Not sure how relevant this is to wood destined to go in a tank of water but it makes sense to me

If someone has experience with certain types of wood, and claims no ill effects I would, (no pun intended), follow their advice. It is becoming more and more clear that most trees produce from one to hundreds of different chemical defences from alkaloides to hormone disrupters to nerve toxins, some even secrete toxins into the soil to prevent competition from other plants, (allelopathic chemicals). That being said, it is also genarally concluded that as you move away from the tropics, the frequency and concentration of these chemicals in trees generally decreases, so cherry may be a good bet. My advice is to find a local creek, pond, lake, or, beach and pick up peices of driftwood you like, take it home soak it for a week or two to give it some saturation, (so it does float as well). The time the driftwood has spent in another body of water should help to ensure that leaching has stripped most harmful toxins from it. Good luck, those Peckolitas and Panaques will thank you by living longer healthy lives.

Awesome Advice.....
Thank you.

natefrog wrote:If someone has experience with certain types of wood, and claims no ill effects I would, (no pun intended), follow their advice. It is becoming more and more clear that most trees produce from one to hundreds of different chemical defences from alkaloides to hormone disrupters to nerve toxins, some even secrete toxins into the soil to prevent competition from other plants, (allelopathic chemicals). That being said, it is also genarally concluded that as you move away from the tropics, the frequency and concentration of these chemicals in trees generally decreases, so cherry may be a good bet. My advice is to find a local creek, pond, lake, or, beach and pick up peices of driftwood you like, take it home soak it for a week or two to give it some saturation, (so it does float as well). The time the driftwood has spent in another body of water should help to ensure that leaching has stripped most harmful toxins from it. Good luck, those Peckolitas and Panaques will thank you by living longer healthy lives.