Often, this wood doesn’t even originate from an aquatic environment-and never from saline or brackish water areas. When aquarists talk about driftwood, we are generally referring to minimally weathered, branching pieces of hardwood with very specific qualities that render them safe for use in our home tanks. Steeped in salts and generally floating, this wood has no place in a freshwater aquarium. In its broader use, the term tends to refer to the heavily weathered and eroded pieces of dead wood (ranging from small branches to entire trees) that wash up on shorelines from time to time. In this article, I’ll be looking at various types of commercially available driftwood and their relative benefits, as well as providing some insight on utilizing them in the aquarium.Īlthough it may seem obvious, it is important to note that aquarium keepers-and the general public-often have a very different concept of what driftwood is. In this regard, it is almost like a living thing that will change over time while interacting with your tank’s water, filtration, and inhabitants. It can serve many useful functions, including water conditioning acting as a substrate for biofilm, algae, and mosses and providing a source of food for a number of fish. One of the most interesting properties of driftwood is that its benefits in the aquarium extend beyond mere decoration. However, when done well, a driftwood-dominated aquascape is one of the best ways to create a natural habitat for fish, while also providing an awe-inspiring display for the home. Unlike artificial plants, resin ornaments, or natural stone, real driftwood can present a number of challenges to the aquarist. This shift has brought about an enormous interest in natural décor-in particular, with something common to many freshwater habitats worldwide: driftwood. Recently, the predominant trend has been toward creating a more natural look, as aquarium owners seek to capture a little slice of nature in their living rooms. The art of decorating the inside of our home aquariums has evolved considerably, reflecting not only personal taste, but current trends and cultural backgrounds as well. With exotic grooves, knots, bends, and twists, no two pieces are alike.Over the past 50 years, much has changed in aquarist culture when it comes to developing an aquarium’s milieu. At Wanderers, we give second life to these organic pieces of art. See and feel the difference in quality but never in our prices!ĭriftwood is nature’s beauty preserved in time, shaped exactly as it was intended.
We are one of the only driftwood shops in the country who hand-collect and naturally-purify our entire collection. Our natural purification process leaves us with a beautiful, safe, reclaimed piece of nature to enjoy for years to come. This eliminates bacteria, fungi, algae, microorganisms and pollutants while mitigating tannic acids that cause the wood to float.
Each piece of driftwood is collected by hand before being scrubbed, sprayed, sunk and scalded repeatedly under heavy stone for a minimum of 120 days. We source from all around the Great Lakes region, the largest freshwater system in the world. We uniquely specialize in bringing hand-collected, naturally-purified, artisan driftwood of the Great Lakes to our patrons. Wanderers is a small, family-run driftwood shop that beganĪs a personal hobby in the Spring of 2020 when the Covid-19 Pandemic began.