drift wood for my turtle tank?

Question

i went to the beach the other day and got some sea water drift wood it is fully dry and has no mold or anything... mayby some insects. can i put it in my fresh water turtle tank and if so what should i do to it before i plop it in

ps it will be fully submerged in water if i drop it in and its about a foot long bye 6 inches wide and i have about 40-50 gallons of water in the tank thanks in advanced

Answer 1

I like the dishwasher idea, if you soak and wash the wood in fresh water the salt will naturally dissipate to a low enough level its pretty basic chemistry. to remove all the insects you can put the wood in your oven at 250 degrees for 3 hours. if microbes are a concern soak in a bleach and water solution 1/4 cup per gallon of water soak for 2 hours rinse well place in the hot sun for NO LESS than 5 days. the sun forces the moisture to the outside of the wood and evaporates it if you see any white dust like material it must be soaked/rinsed again if microbes will not be a prob the oven works great . if you really like the piece of wood you can get a spray on epoxy that will seal the wood and increase the life of it by about 300 years. it will also help seal the pores and keep fungi's and new microbes from getting a foot hold again. but it also seals out water so you will have to weigh it down somehow. you could drill a hole in the underside and maybe put a weight in there i hesitate to suggest fishing weights unless they are of a steel nature lead is probably not a good idea.

Answer 2

I would be careful about putting that in your tank. First of all the wood, although it may look like it is in good condition however the water would make it water logged and could very well cloud your tank which wouldn't be good for the turtles because they drink that water. The insects wouldn't be good either for your turtles considering that they may be carrying something harmful that your turtles should not be eating. Also being that it was found on the beach you want to be careful about the salt content of the wood. The wood may raise the salinity in your tank which would also be harmful to the turtles. Bottom line I don't think that it would be a good idea for you to put it in your tank. If you were to find a cool shell maybe and you boiled the heck out of it to rid it of all salt and nastiness if may have collected I say go ahead and put that sucker in your tank.

Answer 3

Soak it for several days with several water changes to get the salt and ocean chemicals out of the wood BEFORE you install it into the tank with your turtles.

Answer 4

I wouldn't put it in there... that thing is so porous and probably so full of salt, you'll never get it all out. You'd do better with a hunk of wood from a pond, or some other fresh water source.

Answer 5

I would boil it for 15 to 20 Min's to kill any insects or bacteria on it. You can also try rinsing it real well and let dry in the sun. The sun will naturally bleach it.

Answer 6

Run it through the dishwasher, that will clean and kill anything that would hurt the turtle.