# Holding down driftwood



## Bunsen Honeydew (Feb 21, 2017)

I am setting up a 92 gallon tank and growing quite impatient with my driftwood. Has anyone ever tried attaching the wood to a large piece of eggcrate or something similar and burying that in the substrate and adding rocks? Some of my pieces are quite large, and I don't want them to get loose and come up through the top and lights. Are there any concerns doing something like this?


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## Leeatl (Aug 8, 2015)

Actually that sounds like a good idea . I use fishing line and tie a heavy rock to the wood and try to bury the rock in the substrate . After a few weeks the wood will stay on it's own and I can remove the rock and just bury the end of the wood in the sub . I have a bunch of eggcrate around so I may try that next time . Thanks for the idea :grin2:


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## Dman911 (Nov 24, 2016)

I wood (<--- see what I did there) soak it in de-chlorinated water before putting it in, but if you don't have the time then I see no reason that would not work.

Dan


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## Bunsen Honeydew (Feb 21, 2017)

Dman911 said:


> I wood (<--- see what I did there) soak it in de-chlorinated water before putting it in, but if you don't have the time then I see no reason that would not work.
> 
> Dan


It had soaked some, just not enough to sink yet. I want to get the wood and plants in before adding fish, and my kids really want the fish. ?. I also have a fairly large piece of wood that will be hard to soak. The best container that I probably have for it is the tank.


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

A slate tile from a home improvement store works well. On a large piece, maybe two.

Drill a hole in the slate, then just screw it into the bottom of the wood.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

I do not find eggcrate to be what I like and prefer slate tile for a number of reasons. 
Eggcrate is really a garish color that sticks out too much when a bit of it gets uncovered. It also tens to be a debris trap as stuff gets down into the squares where it is hard to suck out. Usable but not what I like. 
Slate can be found in many colors to come closer to matching my substrate in the places where it does get exposed. It can also be found in some pretty soft types to make drilling/cutting easier if tools are short. Either material can be placed using screws but fishing line is a really handy item for the wood that we don't want to cut but use in the weird shapes. Drilling the wood where the line will be hidden and using slate can let you use the weight advantage to avoid more rocks on top if you don't want to appearance. The tile itself is often enough weight as it can be double layered if needed. 
Slate is somewhat harder to cut/fit/work but tends to suit me better long term. 
If going to a tile shop, find them in an off time and explain why and what and you may be gifted a tub full of nice soft tile? I find folks love to help as it is often stuff they can't sell and they love the PR aspects.
I do a bleach soak of the wood and tank combined when starting a new setup where both need the treatment. Just rinse to dilute the chlorine to near tap water, rinse and let dry until all the smell is gone. At that point treat it the same as tapwater as that is the only difference in bleach and tap.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

Another vote for slate.


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

Slate tile is not always an option, just depends on the shape/layout of the driftwood. I like your idea of the egg crate and I really wish I had tried that. I'm at 4.5 months of my large driftwood being completely under water and it still wants to float like a cork.


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## r.s.hutchinson (Jun 4, 2014)

I cut plexiglass to shape and screw the wood to it. Then weight that down with rocks and substrate.


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## Bunsen Honeydew (Feb 21, 2017)

I ended up buying some 12 by 24" tiles that are close in color to my substrate (sand). Man, they take forever drill though. I may just wrap then in a few zip ties, and use those as attachment points. I have to deal with making a cutout for my overflow now though. Hoping to get it into the tank today.

I also wanted to add that I agree wrt the the tile adding weight. I have a mess of wood that I want in there, so I will probably need all the weight that I can get.


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## astex (Aug 13, 2009)

I made slate chains out of the tiles meant for walls (2" x 6") and wrapped it around the driftwood. Wire ties are the best for this. It allowed me to concentrate the weight where it was needed most without having large pieces of slate buried in substrate. I went with a dirted substrate and sand so didn't want large pieces of rock just sitting on top of that.

I still have one long log that hasn't completely sunk after 1 year in water, the thinner end sinks, but the root side insists on bobbing to the top.


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## Bunsen Honeydew (Feb 21, 2017)

I ended up not drilling the tiles, since it was so time intensive. I wrapped the tiles in a series of zip ties to give me anchor points, then zip tied the the wood to them. I did have my largest piece pop up on me, but it appears that I missed the anchor tie on that one. I had to get armpit deep in cloudy water to blindly fix it, so we will see how different everything is when the water clears up.


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Tiles are a hassle. Just bolt a takeout container to the wood and fill it up with rocks and substrate.


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## Bunsen Honeydew (Feb 21, 2017)

The way that I did it would have been super easy if I had done it before adding substrate.


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## RobnSonji (Oct 6, 2013)

depends on the buoyancy of the wood

if it is really buoyant.... whatever you anchor it to make sure it is more than sufficient to keep it down.....otherwise it may lift an entire section of your substrate :-(


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## Cheetah2 (Nov 24, 2015)

I assume metal screws are safe inside a tank? Maybe I'm confusing it with salt water and corrosion.

I removed a huge piece of driftwood because my plants needed more space. Now it's dry and if I add it back I'll have to start over. It took 4 months last time, and the dang thing became buoyant on one end after only a few days out of water.


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## Bunsen Honeydew (Feb 21, 2017)

RobnSonji said:


> depends on the buoyancy of the wood
> 
> if it is really buoyant.... whatever you anchor it to make sure it is more than sufficient to keep it down.....otherwise it may lift an entire section of your substrate :-(


Ideally, I would have started with a bare tank, added the tiles with either zip tie strips or some kind of attachment means attached, attached the wood, then placed rocks on tile for additional weight. You could then fill the tank to see if they are still buoyant. That would then give you the weight of the substrate of extra to ensure safety. I like the zip ties, as they allow me to move things some still, though I wish that I would have bought longer ones so that I didn't have to connect 3 together to get around a tile.


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## Bunsen Honeydew (Feb 21, 2017)

Not exactly what I had planned, but I think it turned out OK. I can't wait for the dust to settle.


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## Bunsen Honeydew (Feb 21, 2017)

Looking a little better with a couple of pieces being moved and a water change.


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## Bunsen Honeydew (Feb 21, 2017)

Okay, the tank is shaping up pretty well. I am picking up plants today, and if my cycle keeps going, I could add fish next week. Ammonia is negligible after 12 hours after a 2.5 ppm dosing, and nitrites have come down to 3 ppm. 

Any suggestions on the scaping before I plant it?


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