# Lake Ontario Driftwood?



## Bretzz

(Dont really know what category this fits into..)

I'm looking for some cheap decorations to put in my tank and I was wondering about drifwood from Lake Ontario. I wanted to just go to a beach somewhere and pick up a few nice pieces.. has anyone done this before?

I'm worried about the quality of the water in the lake, would boiling the pieces make them safe?

Thanks


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## ryno1974

Here come the flames   

I have a ton of driftwood from Lake Erie, Ontario, and Huron. To be clear though, it is illegal to take any rock or wood out of the provincial/national/conservation parks. There, disclaimer out of the way.

If you get some, do not destroy anything - look for something already drifted up on the beach. Then you should boil / soak it depending on how big it is. I think you said a 20 gallon, so boiling it in a nice big soup pot should work fine. Boil it and drain it, and repeat a number of times until most of the brown water stops coming out. You will never get it all, so once you put it in your tank it will discolour the water a bit. Boiling also kills off parasites etc.

Not that I recommend it, but I have taken rocks and wood from beaches and just rinsed them off and used them straight in a tank. Never had a problem, as I have always believed that any critters living in the wood would become food for my barbs. Again, not recommending this kind of approach, but it is one extreme, the opposite being boiling and sterilizing everything you get.

Good luck , post some pics of whatever you choose to do.


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## Bretzz

Well I wasnt planning on ripping trees apart 

I have a 30 gallon, I'm just looking for a few smaller pieces so boiling it shouldnt be a problem, thanks for the help


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## Joeee

ryno1974 said:


> I have a ton of driftwood from Lake Erie, Ontario, and Huron. To be clear though, it is illegal to take any rock or wood out of the provincial/national/conservation parks. There, disclaimer out of the way.


O_O
It is? My mom does it all the time...


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## ryno1974

Its illegal. Even deadfall off the ground.


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## Bretzz

As long as no cops see me! :O


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## b.appel13

Yes its illegal but not too inforced. I went to rock point this summer and got all the rock for my 40 gallon from the beach, talked one of the workers there and told them what I intended to use it for and they were ok with it. 

Its the people that take the drift wood to burn or take LARGE amounts. They want to leave it as natural as possible. 

As for preparing the wood boil boil boil. Let it sit in the sun then boil boil boil. If possible let it sit in a large thing of water with no fish for a month then add to tank. 

The rocks I used I boiled 4 times and have been in a set up tank for 1.5 months with no fish, Im now looking to add fish.


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## PACMAN

Rock Point is awesome. Went camping htere one weekend and had soo much fun!


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## b.appel13

PACMAN said:


> Rock Point is awesome. Went camping htere one weekend and had soo much fun!


Ya its nice its alos close to here (40 mins) its nice for local I prefer algonquin and kill bear, Pinery is nice too.


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## Bretzz

Got these at Ajax Rotary Park today.. well down the path from there.

Couldn't really find a nice piece of driftwood but I've got this, thinking I might have to cut it at the red line I put there.

Also got some rocks 

I didn't get thrown in jail so I'm happy 

Now I'm probably gonna whittle it down with a pocket knife for nice colour, and then start boiling it!


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## arktixan

All my rocks, and wood came from Lake Erie, by my Trailer near Cayuga (sp?)


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## MT-ED

Collected driftwood, rocks, pebbles, gravel, etc from the shores of Lake Superior a few days after 9-11.










The tank has moved twice since then. Still has the same decor.I never treated anything beyond giving the rocks a light rinse.

Martin.


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## PACMAN

MT-ED said:


> Collected driftwood, rocks, pebbles, gravel, etc from the shores of Lake Superior a few days after 9-11.
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> The tank has moved twice since then. Still has the same decor.I never treated anything beyond giving the rocks a light rinse.
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> Martin.


Although it is full of illegal materials, it does look gorgeous! Au Naturel


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## Holidays

MT-ED said:


> Collected driftwood, rocks, pebbles, gravel, etc from the shores of Lake Superior a few days after 9-11.
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> The tank has moved twice since then. Still has the same decor.I never treated anything beyond giving the rocks a light rinse.
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> Martin.


What kind of fish you got in there now?


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## PACMAN

Holidays said:


> What kind of fish you got in there now?


yeah, do you have a current full tank shot?


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## MT-ED

I'll have to take one.

Martin.


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## Explorer guy

*Driftwood finds!*

I've recently grown to a 120 gallon, and although the contents of my previous 55 (which were finds of Tobermory with rock, most of my substrate came from my own beach back in Lake St. Clair 10 years ago.... NEVER had an issue ever) I have recently added some lave rock and feather stone from a friend who's family owns a garden centre (Big Al's charges TOO much) and with proper research and prep ( boil boil boil) my tank water conditions are african cichlid perfect. With the newer (and 2 times bigger!) tank I did purchase 2 bags of peastone gravel from big Al's and well... Got suckered into $60 worthy of driftwood as well. Today I found 2 really fantastic chunks of driftwood, so I'm giving it a go and I have them soaking right now in a saltwater bath. I gave them a good scrub in the bathtub first, and we will see what happens! Hopefully my $200 worth of starter cichlids will do just fine when I attempt to re-decorate in a couple weeks (or whenever I feel the wood has stopped leaching brown enough!)


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## adrenaline

It will leach brown for a while. Learned this the hard way... It just slows down a lot until it fully stops. But it's nothing bad for the fish. I found the quickest way to remove it was with filter floss wrapped around my filter intakes. Just be weary as it collects debris fast if the waters really brown. 

Or since then I've gotten a Diatom filter. Wonderful little sucker it is. water never looked better!

I've always wanted to scavange up some nice peices of large driftwood. Can't stand Big al's prices on wook someone found on the floor somewhere which they cleaned up a bit


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## Explorer guy

I've had the wood soaking in a rubbermaid bin for 2 days now and it seems the water is actually clear.... I'm thinking I may have lucked out and found some pieces that may have leached all their brown out in the Humber. I'm going to let them soak for a good week with daily water changes now (first soak was in a strongly salted bath after I gave them a good brush scrub in the bathtub) just to be on the safe side. I can't wait cause they are some real beauties. However.... I did find a source online that I can buy a VERY large bulk from for a reasonable price, I'm toying with it and obviously I'd never use 50 lbs. Myself so I dunno!


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## Explorer guy

Ok, here's my driftwood, found along the Humber River near a little parking spot off the Queensway. Soaked it for a week, changed water daily. No brown leaching, been in the tank now for 2 days water tests are all perfect, no brown water and no dead fish!


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## getochkn

I got some soaking right now but it seems to be a bit soft and squishy? Should I chuck it or will it harden after soaking more?


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## Explorer guy

getochkn said:


> I got some soaking right now but it seems to be a bit soft and squishy


um.... I would say it's rotten and will only become more "squishy"!!!


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