My boss owns a patch of land up in the mountains with tons of manzanita in it. I asked if she could bring me a couple of dead branches so I could use them in my planted aquarium, which she did.
The pieces she brought came with a lot of texture and character, I tried boiling one piece first to release the tannins and loosen up the bark, but all it did was make the wood dark and mushy.
I tried sanding down another piece, but it's rough since there's still a lot of dead bark on it.how exactly do I go about smoothing down the wood to a fine clean texture like the driftwood you see at pet stores? are they sanded down first then boiled, or vice versa?
What tools are necessary for preparing and cleaning driftwood? I bought 180 and 220 grit sandpaper, but the process is a lot harder than I thought. The driftwood I see for sale is cleaned all the way to the core, from every nook and cranny.
См. статью: How to prepare driftwood for a planted aquarium?