# Driftwood & Shrimp: Good or Bad?



## bostoneric (Sep 7, 2011)

driftwood is great. dont worry about PH drop with driftwood. if you are using buffering substrate and RO water you'll have a steady PH.


----------



## DETAquarium (May 7, 2014)

I would definitely recommend driftwood. Excellent place for shrimp to graze.


----------



## SueD (Nov 20, 2010)

I have RCS in one 5g tank without driftwood that have been breeding like crazy. So I move a bunch out to thin the colony and put them in a 20g that does have a nice piece of driftwood. No difference. These are now also breeding quite happily.


----------



## NeMox69x (Aug 1, 2013)

Driftwood is the best hard scape you can have for shrimp.


----------



## Oceangirl (Feb 5, 2013)

I love my driftwood, If my tanks weren't such a mess I'd post 8 pics of shrimp tanks all with lots of driftwood. I have lots of nano pieces and just bought like 8 more yesterday. I love driftwood, new stuff turns your tank water tan but i like it for anti-bacterial properties too!


----------



## Lonestarbandit (Feb 7, 2013)

My shrimp only tank inhabitants love their driftwood. I don't monitor the ph as all seems well plants are happy as are shrimp but imagine it doesn't drop it too far.

Sent from my VS930 4G using Xparent Red Tapatalk 2


----------



## christinenha (Sep 2, 2014)

*Thanks!!*

Thanks everyone for the replies! I purchased some driftwood which should be arriving in a few days. It looks like there are several ways to cure it to make it suitable for a tank. I was thinking of boiling it for a few hours until the water turns clear. Which methods have worked for you?

- Christine


----------



## umarnasir335 (Mar 2, 2014)

Boil it for a good 2-3 hours. Then, if the wood already hasn't sunk yet, submerse it in an empty bucket for at least a week. The wood should be more than usable by then.
Congratulations on starting your shrimp journey!


----------



## Sluuuder (Feb 7, 2012)

yeah make sure you wash it (hot water only!!!) and then boil it. your shrimp will love it! Mine spend all day on mine!


----------



## Ebi-san (Jul 16, 2014)

If you plan on ordering more, some places sell them precured. Boiling for hours should do, depending on your size and how much tannin it releases, it can sometimes take longer than 2-3 hours before the water clears. It can usually still slow release a bit, but nothing enough to alter your water. This should also kill any fungus spores that may be on it. Although some people soak it for few weeks to get the fungus for the shrimps to graze on.


----------



## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Just be careful not to leave anything boiling without you watching.
Girlfriends six year old nearly pulled a pot of soup off the stove a year ago.
My bad for not paying attention to where she was and for leaving the kitchen while trying to also watch the football game.
Gotta small TV in the kitchen now.


----------



## christinenha (Sep 2, 2014)

*Thank you!!*

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! I purchased a "small" driftwood on Amazon for about $9.00 that turned out to be almost a foot long. Most of it fit in a large pot, so I boiled it for four hours and then left it in a bucket full of water over night. The water is pretty much clear at this point, but as I am not setting up the tank until tomorrow, I will be soaking it for another night just in case. You guys are great! Thanks again!


----------

