Cleaning driftwood

[hotsauce4887]

I got some driftwood and soaked it ,then it released tannins so I soaked it in bleach water.All it did was make the fungus on it easier to kill if you scape it off.Then I let it sit for a couple days stirring it and All it did was turn lighter ( bleach does that ).Then I let it dry and it was covered in white stuff ( bleach ).My grandmother is really country and said it won't do harm if put in dish washer on heated cycle ( with no soap ) and I have read that.Is it safe? give me the

[MatsP]

It will do fine in the dishwasher. I would avoid using bleach - it will penetrate the wood, and then slowly bleed out into the water is it sits in the tank. Leave it in a bucket for a VERY long time (changing the water regularly), then clean in in the dishwasher and put it in the tank.

The only things that I'd clean with bleach that would go in the tank is plastic/glass items (including nets if you want to ensure you don't transfer badness from one tank to another), and still rinse them well before they go in the tank. Anything porous (wood, ceramics etc), I would avoid using bleach on.

--
Mats

[racoll]

You have happily soaked a piece of wood in bleach!, but are worried about an empty dishwasher cycle?

I would definitely not use that bit of wood in any tank with loricariids (plecos) as they will ingest some of that bleach-impregnated wood when they scrape on it. Not worth the risk.

Should be okay for other fishes, but do as Mats says and soak it for a long time (a month), perhaps with the regular addition of a dechlorinator to neutralise that bleach.

Tannins are best dealt with by either using carbon filtration, or just learning to love them.

[Rinaag]

I recently added driftwood, following and modifying advice found here on PC. (I'm a newbie)
Boiling the driftwood is a way to help sterilize (assuming it fits in a large pan). Folks also suggest running it thru dishwasher with no soap a few times after scrubbing it down.
I chose to boil it, then let it sit 3 - 6 hours (in this 'psuedo-heavy water'), change darkened water; boil again, let sit... etc. I did this for a three or four days; -- reminding me of quieter days when I let the teapot humidify the house...
Even tho I live on a local creek I felt more secure buying drift wood at LFS (I think it is already a little processed/cleaned); mopani and grapewood tho you can read here that local native wood is a good and less expensive option (preferably not pine and a few other 'caveats').
Alot of tannins were released in the 'boiling and sitting' procedure. The advice was to let it sit in bucket a few weeks to a few months. I was hoping the boiling and sitting process would hurry to stabilize the tannin 'release'.
I ended up using the grapewood after about a week (it still wanted to float), but kept the mopani in my heated hospital tank for a few weeks to allow it to continue to 'cure'.
BTW, be sure to check out Shane's World articles (by various folks). I also used the Search function here on Planetcatfish whenever I had a question... e.g. could type in 'driftwood'.
Hope this gives you more choices. Good luck!