# Other Aquarium Forums > Equipment and Accessories >  How long does it take for driftwood to sink?

## crystalreds

Hi guys/gals,

I've recently bought a driftwood. Have treat and soaked it for about 4 days but it still refused to sink. Any idea how long it would need for the driftwood to sink? Thought of weighting it down using lead strips but am afraid that it would rust in the future.... and eventually affect my crs. 

Please advise....

Thanks

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## richietay

Try boiling it. This may help expel the traped air in the wood allowing it to sink.

Having a 30cm by 10cm size driftwood, manage to get it sink about two weeks.

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## Aquaculture

I too face the same problem. The wood was too big to be placed into any cooking pot to boil. So I just pour hot water into the pail for 2 days.... it still floats. If it sinks by today (day 6) I'll inform you whether the pouring method works. Though I'm sure that the boiling method is way faster.

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## Shadow

If you can't boil it, put in to pail and put some rock or other heavy stuff to force it sink. It worked for me and it took only 1 day. You have to force it sink otherwise it won't work.

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## ballsmyberries

i personally thinks that sinking a DW is much easier than getting all the tarnin out....

i've been like soaking mine since a month and half ago, water still tea colour today...... :Crying:

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## crystalreds

> i personally thinks that sinking a DW is much easier than getting all the tarnin out....
> 
> i've been like soaking mine since a month and half ago, water still tea colour today......


Boiling it would speed up the process of getting rid of the acid. If like me, the pail is too small, I pour boiling water into the pail and tried weighting it down with a bogwood. Amazingly, I noticed that the bogwood helps me retain the heat for a little while longer.

Currently, I've placed my driftwood into my main tank and the little branches has sort of sunk a little. But the thick portion is still slightly above water. I am thinking of weighting it down with lead strips used for fishing. Would it rust as I'm thinking of wrapping it with the strip and leaving it in my tank permanently, covered by the substrate.

Has any one tried this method?

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## bossteck

The reason driftwood/bogwood floats is because it is 
1) not water-logged enough
2) it has air trapped in it

If the problem is that it is not water-logged enough, soaking it in hot or cold water would be equally effective in making it sink. 

If the problem is that there are air trapped in the wood, then the way to force out the air is to make sure you weigh the wood down when soaking it. 

Personally, I find that boiling is more to facilitate the faster release of tannis.

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## ballsmyberries

the wood is too big, so i have to like get a big dustbin just to stuff the wood in and pour boiled water over it, that like a month or so ago......... :Crying:

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## crystalreds

That's a huge piece of driftwood you have ballsmyberries. May I know the dimensions of your tank?

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## ballsmyberries

new tank : 30"x18"x18"

the wood when sinked into my current two feet tank.....it covers [fully used up] nearly 50% of the total tank size not to mentioned that it's got branches that spread to the side of the tank.....to be correct, some kind of bogwood.....

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## tawauboy

use rocks to hold the wood under water temporarily.
when you purchase wood, get those which are heavy. you'll not the issue of floating wood.

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## caribet

I had the problem of the wood floating and but wanted it in my aquarium right away. So I tied on some plastic suckers onto it with fishing string and stuck them to the bottom of the tank glass (through the substrate). Worked a charm and a little while later, it was saturated so I could take the suckers off.

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## quacks

Soaking in deeper water also helps . The water pressure speeds up the saturation of the wood.

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## oblivion

> Soaking in deeper water also helps . The water pressure speeds up the saturation of the wood.


yea true, but most of us are limited to a normal pail depth.... :Razz:

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## DazzleDiscus

I've recently sunk a large piece of DW by using a cleaned storage bucket from my basement. I filled it up with water and put the DW in, placing a big clay pot on top of it in order for it to sink. It took about 2 months to sink completely, but the time didn't matter to me because the tank wasn't quite ready for it. I've also sunk DW in my small garden pond. I weighted it down with the same big clay pot. It was a medium piece, and sank in just two weeks. 

I think that it depends on the type of wood to how long it takes to sink. I have a very small piece of DW (about 5 inches) that I've had in my 29gal for almost 5 months now and it still floats whenever it is unburied from the substrate. This is the same piece that I boiled for 4 days in a vain attempt to make it sink.

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