Driftwood in a dishwasher?

[halak]

I have read a few times that to cure collected driftwood, it's possible to put it in a dishwasher and run it without detergent on the hot cycle. I am thinking about doing it, but wouldn't it stain the inside of the dishwasher due to the leaching tannins?

[maddog10]

It could stain the inside, but I do not think the water sits idle in the dishwasher. I think it is always flying around in there. Just don't know what it will do. Can immediately run a cycle through with detergent when you are done.

You try it out first Viktor and let us know how it turns out

[DonkeyFish]

I may be paranoid (totally likely), but I wouldn't want to hot wash anything porous for a tank in a dishwasher. Nightmares about detergent residue baking into the wood would keep me up at night. And if you use (or have ever used) that jet dry stuff in the separate little compartment thing, who knows how long that stays in the system... and I wouldn't know how to try to get it out if I wanted/had to.

But that's me... Like I said, I'm a worrywart. And them thar new fangled washey machinery things just bewilder me.

Would be good to know another solution other than the hugea$$ pot of boiling water on the stove for hours and hours!

I'm with maddog--ditto on the try it while we all stand behind you and cheer

[halak]

I forgot about the jet dry part. I don't think I can take out the rest of the liquid from its compartment. I don't think I will do it-sorry. I will just do it the way I have always done-put a part of the wood in a pot with boiling water, and then rotate it, and then rotate it again, etc. Thanks for your insights.

[neilanh]

Is it a large piece? I once did a very large piece in the biggest stew pot I could find, just by boiling it on the stove.

Don't ask me how long I boiled it for, but I was determined to get all the tannins out.

[halak]

Yes, it is a large piece. I just finished reading about my dishwasher, and there seems to be no way of not having it use the jet dry liquid. We bought it almost a year ago; if I had our older one (really old that did not work well and could not use rinsing aid liquid), I would not hesitate to use it for driftwood. So, I will just boil it in a large pot while rotating it; this worked before.

[SCMurphy]

Do you want to toss it in my back yard pond to soak?

[ddavila06]

you could use your bath tub...just pour hot water and let it sit there overnight...should it stain the sides overnight you can use oxi clean, bleach or just about anything there...

[halak]

Sean,

It's been in my in-laws' backyard pond for about a month, but I don't think it's ready yet, and I am itching to put it into the tank. Thanks though. Last time I had big pieces, they were in the pond duirng 3 months of winter, and afterwards they sank staight to the bottom of my fish tank.