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I'm redoing the hardscape of my main tank and I bought a largish piece of driftwood for the centerpiece. However, it's been an awful pain trying to keep this thing underwater. I just tried using aquarium silicone to glue it to a rock (which would then be buried under the substrate) but as I was positioning the wood in the tank last night it broke free from the rock, so I think that once the silicone gets wet, the bond loses its strength. I'm thinking of trying that again and letting the bond set for a few days rather than just overnight, but if that doesnt work, any other suggestions?

Usually you can hold these things under water for a few days/ weeks until they become water logged, but this is one of those pieces that would probably take months to sink on its own, so that's not really an option.

I would hate to have to drill a hole in the rock to screw the wood onto it...

Thanks!

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When you were soaking it did you use hot but not boiling water or did you just use room temperature water?
Hot water will cause the pours to expand thus allowing for more water to be absorbed by the wood.

If the piece fits in the oven you can use a low temperature of 150F-200F to dry it for the silicone.

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You could even just tie it to a rock with some fishing line. Works for me. Then when it has been soaking for a few weeks you can just remove the line.

I do agree with babel on the hot water if you haven't tried it yet.

I have soaked it it hot water with not real difference. It's just one of those pieces that's so dried out it's just not going to stay under on its own for quite while. I will try the fishing line method, though... that actually sounds pretty good.

Thanks both of you

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NowherMan6

Is it possible to screw it to a thick piece of slate?
To do this you would have to use a stainless steel screw or the plastic screw which could be a bit difficult if you could not do it correctly.

Keith

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I used to tie a piece of fishing line around the nub of a few suction cups (one of the strong black ones) and stick them to the bottom of the aquarium, then tie the ends of the fishing line around the wood to keep it down and in place. I do this even with pieces that sink to keep them from being bumped around too much when I clean (or by my bigger bottom feeders).

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Keith, that's the one method I want to try to avoid doing... sinc eI don't own the tools to drill through a piece of slate. it's probably the most effective method though.

And thanks for the idea, illustrae... that's pretty clever, I may try a hybrid concept of all of these. Thanks!

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