Any places to collect driftwood?

[Kdblove_99]

Looking to collect some local driftwood, Anyone have some places they can share?

Cheers,

Davey

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by Kdblove_99

Looking to collect some local driftwood, Anyone have some places they can share?

Cheers,

Davey

There was a member that had been in Colorado, he has since moved east, but he was collecting wood in the south west corner of Colorado where there had been mining operations in the past.

There are plenty of cotton wood trees around, you can try them, several members have had success with that wood.

[s thomas]

I live in the metro area so my experience with DW is around there...

Cherry creek path runs through denver and has sandy shoreline with good driftwood.

I would also say the high line canal trail, but it has steeper sides down to the water so depending on your mobility it could be tougher.

*EDIT* as helpfully pointed out, the water close to or downstream from city runoff can be an has been reported to be tainted with pollutants and should not be used in your aquascaping unless you have the ability to test their toxicity****

Then there's the platte river trail which has a lot of growth along the river.

Hope this helps and I'd like to know your experience and what you find

[HypnoticAquatic]

do not collect from the platte might want to check out the toxicology reports for it its very very bad and any thing from there has the potential to leach all that back into your tank, think of it like this if u wouldnt drink from it dont take from it.

cotton wood can work but its a soft wood and there are many better options local many people have hardwoods apple,peach,oak etc etc which for smaller pieces hold up much better underwater just try and cure it and remove any bark u can. lol i guess if people are having such a hard time i should start keeping all the trimmings i do and sell them?

[s thomas]

I'm glad you pointed this out. I have a buddy who works for the department of health and environment who does water quality reports and he just busted my chops for the same thing when I asked his advice after posting here.

Yes you should save your extras! Because now that I got put in my place my list is dwindling and I could use some for a scape I'm doing now!

PM me if you have some worth sharing- my needs are meager, it's an 8 gallon 8x11.

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by HypnoticAquatic

do not collect from the platte might want to check out the toxicology reports for it its very very bad and any thing from there has the potential to leach all that back into your tank, think of it like this if u wouldnt drink from it dont take from it.

cotton wood can work but its a soft wood and there are many better options local many people have hardwoods apple,peach,oak etc etc which for smaller pieces hold up much better underwater just try and cure it and remove any bark u can. lol i guess if people are having such a hard time i should start keeping all the trimmings i do and sell them?

if you find any stumps in the 4-6" diameter range, with a little horizontal root structure left let me know lol. I am going to see what a fellow colorado member has in his stash of wood trimmins to see what he has. I am really really getting detailed with this 40B lol

[ShyShrimpDoc]

I did some work for an aquatic toxicology lab here. They showed some nasty levels of contaminants in most of the rivers. If you are looking for driftwood, go up to the head of the watershed, up in the mountains. The water there is as clean as its going to get.

[BBradbury]

Originally Posted by Kdblove_99

Looking to collect some local driftwood, Anyone have some places they can share?

Cheers,

Davey

Hello D...

Drive a little north a few miles and look around the Platte or Poudre Rivers. My tanks are full of pieces I've found locally. Just rinse them off with the garden hose and leave them out in the sun for a couple of days. They'll be tank ready. You may need to pick up a few rocks too, to weigh down the pieces in the tank. But, aquascaping is great fun and the tanks have a much more natural look.

B

[ZLogic]

Wouldn't you want to collect DW from the south end of the Platte since the water runs south to north? I would think a lot of the toxicity would come after the city limits right?

[ShyShrimpDoc]

It depends. There is at least one waste water plant that I know of. The water from those has chemicals that break down into sex hormones and affect the reproduction of some fish in the area. The thing is, these chemicals are at a much higher concentration in the top layer of the silt and the bacterial biofilm than in the water. So if you do collect from the platte scrub it with a brush and soak with multiple water changes. It's still best to go up in the mountains where the river is just starting, get your wood there. Watch for the snails while you are at it. I forget what the species is, but there is a major invasion going on.

[Kdblove_99]

I got a nice piece in Brighton right off I-25 and 52. Anyone know what River/stream that is? I got it like 3 weeks ago. I took it to the Car wash gave it a good rinse, They boiled it for an hour and have been soaking it in a tub of water for 2 weeks now. Water isn't brown at all anymore. But just trying to be safe

[HypnoticAquatic]

nice what type of wood did u get? pics? carwashes are great but a hotsy is even better if you cant boil it due to size or shape. the only thing about collecting from streams near or in the city is that its very easy to have chemicals drain into them via rain, lots of cars leak oil,tranny,antifreeze,gas/deisel which with rain are washed into alot of local streams just something to be aware of and why i like to collect from the land rather than water just much much less potential hasmat waste.

when people start to put there heads to use whats around its funny how much we trash and overlook, i just got a bunch of oak leafs for my crs all free all my wood is now almost always free*exeption found some manzi for $2 enough to fill a 20g @garage sale.

to NOAH if you want i have two trees that you can pick from for stumps but you gotta help me dig it out to keep the root structure, but u get to pick the height and its 100% dead so should just need a little cleaning to make it ready its bone dry so might take a min to sink lol lmk.

[Kdblove_99]

I have no idea what kind of wood it is. Here's a Pic maybe you can tell?

[IMG][/IMG]

[Kdblove_99]

Update: I put this piece in my tank 3 weeks ago and have had no issues..

[HypnoticAquatic]

Here is a pic of the one I got for 2$ gotta love using/reusing things others consider "trash" and making some beautiful scapes with ya know.

Just gotta figure out what to use it for as its a good size