[dtbishop]

Hello All,
I am in the process of looking for some driftwood to add to one of my tanks, and came across this website coastaldriftwood.com. The prices seem good and with free shipping. However, the front page says they use a specialty soap to remove dirt in preparation for shipping. It does say their driftwood is used for aquariums, so wondering if it's still a good idea to buy anyways. Anybody here ordered from them before? They have a 5 step process for fine tuning the wood before it's sent out so it all sounds good, except the soap part.
Thanks in advance,
David

 

[ichy]

I guess I would contact them directly and share your concerns.

Just FYI, I have had good luck getting wood off Ebay. Good prices. Just make sure you are buying WYSIWYG.

 

[PlantedRich]

Personal decisions vary but for my own use, I never fully trust things that go in the tank until I make sure. We never know how much somebody making money cares about our success. One way to assure that the things we put in the tank are going to be safe is to do a simple bleach soak. That will neutralize most any potential items like, oil, pesticides, etc. that might be riding along, hidden in the little cracks where we might not see them.
I find a half cup or so of cheap bleach and waiting 12 hours plus drying fully is really cheap, easy insurance. When I've spent hundreds of dollars and thousands of hours to get my tanks, I can spend a quarter and wait another couple days.

 

[GrampsGrunge]

I have to wonder what the 'speciality soap' is. Any soap in an aquarium is not such a great idea, I hope they rinse their product thoroughly.

The only soap I can consider to be even partially safe would be Safer Soap, and I still think it carries a risk. Why are they having to wash their wood in the first place? Wood tends to absorb stuff and I'd be more concerned about the chemicals used to clean it.