Making driftwood for aquariums is one of the easiest things to do. What driftwood is and how to Make Driftwood for Aquarium. Driftwood is a form of aquatic plant that has been submerged in water, which causes it to rot faster than other types of wood.
This makes driftwood great for use in aquariums because it absorbs toxic chemicals from the water and provides shelter for fish and invertebrates. In this blog post, we will go over 14 steps to make driftwood for an aquarium!
Steps for How to Make Driftwood for Aquarium
- The first step is to gather driftwood. We recommend that you use pieces of driftwood that are over six inches long because smaller pieces can be hard to work with and shape into something magnificent!
- After the driftwood has been gathered, it should be boiled in water for about an hour or two, depending on how much driftwood there is. This will cause the bark and other unwanted parts of the driftwood to peel off, leaving nothing but a smooth piece of driftwood!
- Be careful not to boil your driftwood too hot though, this may result in burning yourself when working with it later. Boiling also serves another purpose besides stripping away bark. It kills everything living inside the driftwood!
- Now that the driftwood is boiled, it can be cut into smaller pieces for your aquarium. Make sure you leave about an inch of space between each piece because this allows more room for roots to grow and provides a better environment for live plants inside the driftwood.
- After cutting up all of your driftwood, soak them in water overnight, so they have time to absorb some moisture before being placed in the aquarium. If there are any cracks or holes on your driftwood, fill them with epoxy putty, which will help support plant life within the driftwood while also preventing leaking from occurring if saltwater is used instead of fresh water.
- Driftwoods should be submerged under enough water where only half of its base is poking out of the water.
- Once driftwood has been placed in your aquarium, you can start to plant some live plants inside them! If driftwood does not have any cracks or holes, it will be necessary for there to be a little bit of gravel at the base so roots can grow and attach themselves into place.
- Driftwoods will slowly release tannins into your tank, which help prevent algae growth on driftwood as well as provide nutrients for photosynthesis. This necessary process uses light energy from sun rays to create sugars needed by plants and animals within the aquarium (and ultimately releases oxygen).
- Tannin levels depend on how much driftwood is in the water column, but they should become more prominent over time with regular water changes.
- Driftwood should be kept in the aquarium for six months to a year before being removed and replaced with new driftwood so algae can grow on it!
- This will provide ample food source of nutrition for your fish while also sheltering them from predators who would have otherwise had an easy time catching prey hiding among driftwoods, nooks and crannies.
- After removing driftwood, scrub it down with fresh water to get rid of any algae that may still exist, then place it into a pot outside where sunlight can shine directly onto the driftwood! Over several weeks your driftwood will turn white again, just like when first obtained from nature which makes this process one of my favorite things about using driftwoods inside an aquarium; they are constantly changing!
- If driftwood is not placed outside, it can be left to dry in a dark room with low humidity for several weeks until the bark peels off again. Once this happens, driftwood will have become wholly bleached and ready to place inside your aquarium once more.
- Driftwoods are great because they provide something unique that cannot be replicated by fake plants or other decorations, even though there are many types of driftwood available at pet stores today!
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