I got a wonderful piece of driftwood, it has been cleaned, boiled, soaked and sun dried. Now I'm soaking it so that it will not float. Soaking, soaking and soaking! It still floats!

How long does it have to be soaked before it will stay on the bottom? Are there some that never stay down? Its just such a preatty piece, I would love to use it, but its being very stubborn.

Oh, I have had it soaking for 5 days now with a weighted pail on top to keep it full submedged. I do change the water daily also.

Ive had this driftwood in my tank since July and I have to weight it down with a rock as it still floats.

I know I once had one that was soaked for a couple of weeks,with me constantly changing the water out for clean.I thought that thing was never going to sink!
I now make sure that I buy the "Instant sinking Driftwood"for I have no patience at all.

O.K. Erin, you were suppose to say, "Oh give it time and it will soon sink" or something like that!


And Sharon, that did not make me feel any better either, where did you ever find "Instant sinking driftwood"? Oh, well I guess I'll soak for a couple more days, weeks, months and see what happens!

Thanks guys!

I use Malaysian driftwood and also Bogwood, and they both sink just fine. Wonder what causes some to float and some not? I also used to live right on the Ohio river, and would walk down and pick out some beautiful pieces, bring 'em home, and cook them to death.

Good news! The driftwood is no longer drifting! But not from soaking!

Its sitting very preatty in the center of my bare bottom 80 gal tank. Its slightly been altered though, as it has a terra cotta pot with some pebbles and a silk plant in it, serving as an anchor to keep it from drifting again . Not what I had originally wanted, but I do like the way it looks!

What ever it takes,right? Now we want to see pics of this unique Driftwood.
Here's a little article on instant sinking Driftwood. I usually get the Malasian.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/driftwood.php

Ask and you shall recieve, except I don't think that its all that unique, but it just prefered the top of the water. But there was no getting a clear shot as my goldfish are firm believers that the camera shoots out food!!!

Here we are,
Lets see, we have "Lucky" (remember Fed-X fish, no water in bag) and "Steve",

Now we have "Spanky", "Muffin", and "Steve" again,

We now have "Day Zee", "Sammy", "Ava", and "Bubba" way down at the bottom

Same fish, different places.


And that my friends, is how you sink an unsinkable piece of driftwood!

I had to go back and look again.Your fish were so cute that I forgot all about the Driftwood.

Ha! Youre using the same trick as me! I keep wishing the driftwood would stay down though by itself so I could put it in another position. I dont know if it ever will or not!
I love all of your fish, theyre so shiny!

Thats too funny Sharon! Focus,Focus!


I'm not sure it ever will, mine has shown no sign of staying down! Oh well, the plant will work for now.

What.....That old Driftwood Pot Trick?????? Ah,we've all been there done that!

Well, I tried to get my fish to just sit on the wood to give a more natural look, but they would not cooperate with me, as usual! They blew their Friday night Frozen Bloodworm Smoothies!

I have a large rock on mine to anchor it. I guess it looks OK. *grumble grumble*

I bought a lump of Mopani wood and it sank straight away. I've even got an airstone inside it and it still doesn't float I guess that's why they didn't name it driftwood... Looks nice tho

Edit: I forgot to mention - why don't you just get some plant anchor from the pet store? It comes in a small coil and I think it's soft metal that you can easily wrap around the base of plants to stop them floating away. Maybe this would work for the driftwood if you can secure it on the inside somehow? It adds extra weight and you can't see it