Re: [APD] Treating driftwood and plants

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

These are just suggestions fwtw:

I wouldn't bleach the wood. If you use enough bleach to get
far enough inside the "pores" to effectviely sterilize,
you'll end up breaking down a lot of the outer material,
which will decompose much more rapidaly than unbleached.
And it's hard to get all the bleach out of the wood.

The only reason for boiling, if your wood is a sinker, is
to sterilize and to force out some of the tannins and other
"dyes" from the wood so that it will have less of a tea-bag
effect on your aquarium water. 

Again, just like buoyancy, the tea effect varies widely by
type of wood. Some wood colors very little and some you can
boil for hours and still have colored water for several
months.

Generally, household hot tap water (around 110 F to 150F)
isn't hot enough to purge the tanins well. I've heard of
folks taking the racks out of dishwashers and running
through a few cycles but I think this will generally
disappoint. A dishwasher's full cycle is only about 10-12
gallons, and that's not much when you're trying to "rinse
out" a piece of wood that's way too big for the stew pot.

If the wood is small enough, you can try boiling diff parts
of the wood one at a time. Takes longer but works pretty
much the same as total submersion. Or you can soak in wash
tub or rubber maid changing the water as often as you do
your aquarium water until there is little coloration
between changes. 

Scott H.

--- Mark Vanvick <mark_vanvick at choldings.com> wrote:

> I just bought a new piece of driftwood and some new
> plants.What is the best way to treat both of them prior
> to putting them in the aquarium? I have heard that
> boiling the driftwood is best, but the piece is too large
> for a pot.I will need to put it in the bath tub.
> Regarding the plants, I know they should be treated as
> well but I really don't want to use the bleach method as
> I've done before because it seems too harsh.Please advise
> on both of these issues.Thanks.
> -Mark Vanvick
> _______________________________________________
> Aquatic-Plants mailing list
> Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
> http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/aquatic-plants
> 


=====
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