# Driftwood that just won't waterlog



## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

Pop the hole in slate with a nail(and hammer).
A basic 12-16d nail will do the job on any slate under 1/2-3/4 "


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## bugsy (Oct 12, 2008)

My cousin bought some wood like this and it would not sink either but it looks nice in her garden bed now. She was not a happy camper as the store would not take it back.


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

Not all wood will sink even after being submerged for a long time.

You can weigh it down with slate, or I siliconed my driftwood directly to my tank before filling it with water.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

One thing you can do is drill holes into it where it is not visible so that it helps get the water in the very dry center. One or two holes won't do it you will need a good amount. Other thing you can do is take a peace of slate and drill a hole in the driftwood and attach it to the driftwood to hold it down and the. Put the soil over the slate so it's covered 


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I have a piece of red cedar -not a recommended wood for use in aquariums unless VERY old and very dead-no smell left to it when drilled as smell=sap which had antibacterial properties and will harm fish mine was under water of a man made damn for over 60 years- It was in a 55g tank for nearly 2 years and never waterlogged (had it attached to a large piece of river rock) when I removed it from the rock it shot to the surface and almost slugged me in the jaw!


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## mattjm20 (Nov 2, 2013)

treyLcham said:


> One thing you can do is drill holes into it where it is not visible so that it helps get the water in the very dry center. One or two holes won't do it you will need a good amount. Other thing you can do is take a peace of slate and drill a hole in the driftwood and attach it to the driftwood to hold it down and the. Put the soil over the slate so it's covered
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks, this is what I'm thinking too. Attaching the slate sounds like a pain, particularly with the shape of the wood I am using...


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

If you have a saw available, making a flat on the wood will do a lot to help. For making a hole in slate, it sometimes helps to get the softer slate as it does vary. But I have never seen one that a masonry bit won't go right through. Hard pressed a guy could hammer the end of a spike flat and make it work on many slates. When I'm picking slate I just pick up the kind that is kind of "crusty"? 

When you think about how wood normally winds up when it sinks underwater, much of the time part of it is covered by dirt or silt so having a flat bottom will often look more natural than if it is all on top. I slate almost all my wood just so there is no question about sinking.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

PlantedRich said:


> If you have a saw available, making a flat on the wood will do a lot to help. For making a hole in slate, it sometimes helps to get the softer slate as it does vary. But I have never seen one that a masonry bit won't go right through. Hard pressed a guy could hammer the end of a spike flat and make it work on many slates. When I'm picking slate I just pick up the kind that is kind of "crusty"?
> 
> When you think about how wood normally winds up when it sinks underwater, much of the time part of it is covered by dirt or silt so having a flat bottom will often look more natural than if it is all on top. I slate almost all my wood just so there is no question about sinking.


I'm with you on this one Rich. Slate it up with a stainless screw. I just don't bother with cutting a flat spot and I always use a masonry bit. Never had luck driving a nail through.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

I might mention that the nail is not really as good. But when you just broke the last small drill bit and folks are waiting, a nail does work as a drill bit. Not sure I would want to risk breaking the slate by trying to drive it through. Might work fine or it might make you cut a new piece of slate?

And on second look, the wood in the picture is not on slate but must of been when I was using up tile scraps rather than buying slate.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

PlantedRich is the man when it comes to driftwood so what ever he says is probably your best bet! 


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## Mark Allred (May 3, 2013)

Any Malaysian Driftwood I have ever bought doesn't need to be waterlogged. It's heavy stuff! Perhaps you have something else?


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

PhysicsDude55 said:


> Not all wood will sink even after being submerged for a long time.
> 
> You can weigh it down with slate, or I siliconed my driftwood directly to my tank before filling it with water.


Silicone won't hold well to wood. Over time it will fail.



treyLcham said:


> One thing you can do is drill holes into it where it is not visible so that it helps get the water in the very dry center. One or two holes won't do it you will need a good amount. Other thing you can do is take a peace of slate and drill a hole in the driftwood and attach it to the driftwood to hold it down and the. Put the soil over the slate so it's covered
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I have done this with much success. It allows deeper penetration as it speeds up the process of waterlogging. As mentioned above some pieces just won't water log. Malaysian should not be on that list though.



Mark Allred said:


> Any Malaysian Driftwood I have ever bought doesn't need to be waterlogged. It's heavy stuff! Perhaps you have something else?


This was my first thought. I have collected many pieces over the past year and they all have good weight to them so I don't see how they wouldn't sink. Perhaps they were mislabeled and sold incorrectly. A main pro to Malaysian Driftwood and why it's so popular is because of its weight aside from its beauty.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

One big problem that I find with wood that is totally dry is that it is also almost impossible at times to define what species it might be. That can leave a lot of room for wood being different than expected. In the case of something as vague as " Malaysian driftwood" we might start by asking what plant and where it was collected. I'm certain there are numerous wood types in an area as large and diverse as Malasia so it would seem natural to find different definitions of the term. Did the wood grow locally or drift in from China, India, or Viet Nam? 
Is it an honest dealer but one who knows little about wood or somebody who just found a way to scrape out a few extra meals by hauling in any wood he can find? 
Even the definition of driftwood that I collect is pretty vague as much of it is not drifting at all. 
Driftwood comes with a certain amount of challenge whether it is store bought or collected.


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## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

From my experience only "Mopani" has sunk right away for me.
Depending on the slate thickness the nail is simple(search "punching holes in roofing slate"),it takes me 1 tap with my pointed slate hammer upto 3/4" easy!
On the whole slate idea(rich did have tile in pic), no reason you couldn't use acrylic.
Easy to drill and find.
It's not really the weight of the slate,but more how much sub you can pile up on it!
I'm loaded with slates so I always pop a hole and SS screw(lag) my wood.
I got A&E "java wood" wood last year and had to weight it all.
I have 1 large piece in a 40b that just won't sink completely ever.The fish love it!


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## mattjm20 (Nov 2, 2013)

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the feedback. Once some of this snow melts I'll pull some slate out of my backyard and see if I can get a hole thru it, one way or another. If that doesn't work, I might try adding some small holes to the back side of the wood. 

I've got quite a bit of malaysian d/w that all sunk just fine and this wood looks exactly the same... perhaps it's not malaysian and just looks very similar, but it's definitely not mopani or manzanita, etc.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

mattjm20 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Thanks for all the feedback. *Once some of this snow melts* I'll pull some slate out of my backyard and see if I can get a hole thru it, one way or another. If that doesn't work, I might try adding some small holes to the back side of the wood.
> 
> I've got quite a bit of malaysian d/w that all sunk just fine and this wood looks exactly the same... perhaps it's not malaysian and just looks very similar, but it's definitely not mopani or manzanita, etc.


That should be sometime in late August.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Interesting thought on slate. You've mentioned some in the yard and roofing slate has been mentioned. I often forget that there are several places and kinds of slate. I had not thought of roofing slate as it is not common where I have lived but since it is thinner, it would be a different job to punch a hole through. I was thinking the slate which we see used for floor tile and it is more like a half inch. I have not tried punching a hole in either the roofing slate nor the floor tile but the floor tile made me think it might break before I got a hole punched. The roofing slate looks like a far better thing to try punching. It's hard to remember how many different items we all have when we look just at the states. Throw in the rest of the world and it gets real hard to think of things on the same level.


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

just chiming in on drilling slate - I've had no problem with it using masonry bits, and I've also used regular bits before, but I wouldn't do this if you expect to use the bit on wood again...

As to gluing, I'd go with epoxy. And even then, I'd use it as a secondary method, I'd still want a screw or some sort of mechanical fastener. There is also a chance the glue will peel a layer of the slate off, and let the wood pop up.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

I would advise against any type of adhesive that only catches the surface of the wood. You will likely not get too much penetration into the wood so that only a small later on top is fastened. As the soak get wetter, this layer gets weaker. If it is a type which soaks up, it will stay down but if it is one that does resist soaking, it may be a real problem. At some point after a few weeks months or any time it decides, it may come loose and shoot to the surface. Glass lids, lights, and any plants along the way can be a real mess. There is no real way to say if it WILL happen but the price for being wrong is too much for me to risk it.


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