[Teachercjc]

After months of searching for the ideal piece of bog wood for mr 400l tank I finally settled on a large piece of bog wood from my LFS. It has been soaking in water for about a month now and it still floats. I've even tried putting it in the tank and covering the bottom with substrate to weigh it down but it still floats to the surface.

Has anyone got any hints or tips on how to get it to sink?! I'm sure my LFS would replace it but its frustrating when you have spent ages looking for the right piece!

 

[Exie]

boil it
drill a hole in it and drop rocks in
zip-tie it to rocks

 

[accordztech]

some wood takes a week to sink, some wont sink at all. Use lots of weights or get rid of it.

 

[Teachercjc]

Unfortunately it's a little too big to boil. I had wondered if drilling holes in it would make a difference tho!

 

[Exie]

only if you fill the hole with something heavy

 

[Cinbos]

Unfortunately it's a little too big to boil. I had wondered if drilling holes in it would make a difference tho!

I actually have a piece too that wont sink. It doesnt necessarily bother me, but post a pic...curious to see if its the same type of wood.

 

[Axelrodi202]

I've seen some people attach slate to the bottom of wood that won't sink.

 

[Teachercjc]

Sounds like a reasonable idea to me! Didn't think of that thanks!!

 

[Merth]

Drill a hole in bottom of wood and thru a piece of slate (tile works great) masonry bit works well. attach with a stainless steel screw. Use two pieces of slate if still wont stay down.

 

[Teachercjc]

Excellent idea. Would the same work with sealant or superglue?!

 

[hobos]

Dont try and glue it bolt it to a piece of slate

 

[Stinkmonky]

+1 on drilling hole in slate. I find local wood and slate it and sell it. If you've got a guest bedroom bathtub you can fill that and soak the wood in there. Make sure the tub doesn't have any soap scum or drippy shampoo bottles around it. Masonry bits are actually pretty cheap.you can find slate, bits, and a drill if you need it at any home depot or lowes. A drill is useful to have anyway. Make sure your slate and drill bit is wet. I keep a moist paper towel present and I wipe the debris and moisten the drilled area gradually. Drill slow and hard. It's quite easy and the product looks fabulous. For additional weighting you can actually bury the slate under the substrate. Here's a piece of wood that I've slated.

 

[Teachercjc]

Will do!

 

[AquaNorth]

I used ceramic tile. Cover the tile with substrate. The tile is a lot cheaper than the slate.

 

[UDGags]

I use the slate, 316SS screw method.

 

[Teachercjc]

Thinks for all your advice. I managed to drill a piece of slate to the underside and bury it in the substrate. You wouldn't know to look at.it!

Just waiting for my grobeam 600's to arrive and I can get on with stocking up on plants!

 

[lochaber]

Stinkmonkey pretty much said everything.

I can usually find a fairly large piece of slate at most big box home improvement stores for a couple dollars. I've also used plain High-speed drill bits (Just don't plan on using them again...).

I've used nylon bolts/screws when I've mounted mine- they won't grip quite as well as a metal bolt, but if you are the sort that's really careful about metal (even stainless) in the aquarium, you can do that. - get the longest that will fit your piece of wood, and drill the hole into it just slightly smaller then the threads, it will probably be more of a friction-fit then actually threaded into the wood. maybe put some glue in there as well.

Not only will the slate add weight, it will give you a larger variety of possible positions to mount the wood, it will make the piece harder to shift (important if you have diggers), but it will also allow the substrate to hold the piece down as well.

Another method some people do is to drill two (or more) holes in the slate, and loop nylon mono-filament or zipties through the slate and through holes drilled in the wood.