will any and all driftwood eventually sink?

Question

I know that there are some naturally sinking driftwood. My question is if a piece of driftwood floats, will it eventually sink if it gets waterlogged? And how long should I expect a 12-15" piece to take to sink?

Answer 1

If your wood refuses to sink, try a 2 week soak in a tub or large bucket of water. Usually, it will become water logged and sink while it leeches out all of it's tannins that stain the water (and might leave rings on the tub walls). If you HAVE to have it in your tank right now, use heavy rocks on each end and in the middle to force it to sink. If it takes too long (it may have been treated so it cannot absorb water, but that is very unlikely if it is specifically for aquariums), just ditch it and get new wood...

Soop Nazi

Answer 2

Before I add a new piece of driftwood to one of the few tanks I have, there's a couple of things I look for. Any signs of parasites on the wood or some fungus(depending how bad) I would not use. Using a medium to fine brush, scrub the driftwood with really hot sea saltwater. Next fix up a container big enough to submerge the driftwood in and be sure to treat the water the same way the aquarium water is treated. Place a brick on the wood to keep it submerged for a couple of days to a week. Then transfer to your aquarium when it stops floating. 35yr exp.