Drift Wood and Coral?

I wanna sort of 'cure' the wood for a while before I put it in... So it may take a couple weeks.
I plan to leave them submerged in a freshwater tank and just keep doing water changes so that most of the tannin's would come out and then keep them in my salt water QT for a while and monitor the pH level before I put it in my display reef.

 

Something else to keep in mind. In freshwater setups, bogwood is used to help keep the ph on the acidic side. The tannins in the wood create tannic acid, lowering the ph. It's a nice trick for those of us who have naturally high ph water from our faucets and want to keep fish originally from acidic waters.

It might not make much of a difference with the buffers provided by the argo, but it's definitely something to be aware of. Note that this effect continues even after curing the wood.

 

If I were going to use driftwood I would go with the African Driftwood It is easier to get the tannins out of and it sinks and is really cool in shapes and colors....I live on a lake and have tons of driftwood but never thought to use it in a saltwater tank....and dont htink I would..but the african would be the best......
Danny

 

i had bought a large piece of drift wood for a fresh tank, i had it weighted with rocks sitting on it to keep it down. it still would float after 2 months i gave up on it, i was tired of the rocks falling off it and it poping up.

drift wood is called drift wood because is washes up on the beach, washes up because if floats(barring abig storm).
i have seen some small drift wood get water logged and sink but some pieces just wont absorb enough water

 

Personally if i wanted bogwood or any other for that matter i would have a freshwater setup, don't think it suits a saltwater reef tank, and would'nt chance it, but thats just me, good luck with it...

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/driftwood-38038.html
http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/driftwood-marine-aq-48726.html

 

I have had a piece of drift wood in my freshwater planted discus tank for almost 2 years and that darn thing still floats if I remove the rocks I tied on. I can just immagine how much counter weight I would need in a saltwater tank. It would be even more bouyant there.

As mentioned it can lower the PH, which is fine for Discus but bad for anything native to salt water.

Boiling it and replacing the water and boiling it again will help remove some of the tannins but your not going to get it all.

African Root Wood is the term fish stores use around here for the heavier than water driftwood they sell. Its about as pricy as liverock though =(