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Hi everybody...

I have just recently set up my aquarium, and I am currently going through cycling, which all seems to be going well! I set the tank up yesterday, and have seen the cloudy water being produced, which I think means I have a bacteria bloom going on! So far so good!

Anyways, my question is regarding drift wood. My tank is a freshwater, 240 litre, (80gal) and I am currently using artificial plants. My local beach is a very good source of drift wood, and I am wondering if I can use drift wood found along the beach, in my tank. I am assuming som sort of soaking is required...and the fact its from a salt water environment, is not a major issue?

Any help would be most appreciated...

Thanks,

Beno

DW from the beach can be used BUT you will have to make sure there is no pollution and the DW is fully bleached out.

Unless you know exactly what you are doing re the DW it will be safer to buy it from your LFS. I have used DW collected from the beach but that was in extremely clean tropical waters where the DW gets baked in the hot tropical sun.

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Keith

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If you are collecting, getting driftwood from SW sources for a FW tank can actually be beneficial as it helps limit creatures and diseases that could be introduced to your tank.

That being said though, SW driftwood can be a real pain. There are very good bits, but there are also a lot of light floating pieces and soft woods that, although nicely seasoned and weathered, would probably break down in the tank much sooner than you'd like.

So yes you can, and ask Keith said be sure it is a clean source, but also keep an eye on how fast the wood degrades as this can affect your water quality as well as the tank aesthetics. (this goes for FW stuff too, but I've just found it more of an issue with woods from the beach areas)

Same treatment as your normal driftwood, but I'd give it a good 2 week soak with at least 1 WC to try and shift a fair bit of the salt.

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