# Driftwood for Vivariums/Waterfall



## Neodoxa (Oct 12, 2006)

Hello,

I'm constructing my virst vivarium and have a question about the driftwood in it. I got a couple of pieces that I loved, but they are the light tan regular kind and I am afraid they may rot under the humidity. Will they rot very quickly? Or would they last a couple years in there? Also, I am making a waterfall that trickles down, and I love how it looks if it trickles down the one piece of driftwood against the backwall... If this driftwood will rot away, is there a way I can "seal" off the part of the driftwood that the water flows over? Like, with an acrylic sealer or something? Any ideas with that?

Thanks a lot,
-Neodoxa


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## kyfrogs (Dec 24, 2006)

I've had alot of driftwood that I collected in aquariums fully submerged for more than ten years. It does decompose, any kind of plant material does, even cypress and the others, they just do it at a slower rate. But I would imagine that if it is a fairly hard piece to begin with (not spongy or rotten) you should get at least two or three years worth of use out of it in a viv, that is what I plan on using in my larger viv that I am making. I collect alot of driftwood along a riverbank, pressure wash it to remove the rotten wood, soak it and then boil it to remove any nasties and then use it. 
If you wanted to seal it you could use a thin layer of clear silicone and you probably wouldn't be able to see it once water was flowing over it. I would hesitate to use any kind of sealer other than 100% silicone, just make sure the wood is completely dry and clean and it should stick.


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## Neodoxa (Oct 12, 2006)

Thanks for the reply. I think I will just brush a thin coat of clear silicone onto it where the water would be flowing... just as a protective measure. 

So the plain old driftwood people put in like... iguana tanks and stuff... that would hold up for a couple of years? The really light tan colored stuff that you see most often?

Thanks,
-Neodoxa


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## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

Don't you have Osage Orange in PA? That's a really nice, hard, long lasting vivarium wood.


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## Neodoxa (Oct 12, 2006)

No clue what that is... Haha...

-Neodoxa


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