Why is driftwood so expensive?

Its ridiculously hard to make. I've tried it as a homemade project. You have to boil the wood. Every time the water turns brown, dump it out, and reboil. You have to repeat this about 20 times until the water is clear. Next, you have to repeat it an additional 3 to 5 times to be sure. Now, it still floats. You have to anchor it down under water for DAYS.. Its a long and hard process.

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RE:

Why is driftwood so expensive?

Even a small piece at my local privately owned fish store, is 20 dollars.

What is that all about?

I wanted to add some to my tank but 20 dollars for a small piece would be ridiculous since itd be unnoticeable in my tank, the larger ones ran $75 - 125

What Is Driftwood

The reason is because if you just put any old piece of wood in there, you have a high chance of it decaying quickly and causing an ammonia spike that will kill your fish. Drift wood that you buy still decays, but not at such an alarming rate.

because it has to be hard wood so only certain types can be used. it has to be boiled or baked. and then it's usually soaked for weeks to get most of the tannins out so it doesn't discolor the aquarium... it's actually pretty time consuming. plus they have to make a profit then.

Because they know you will pay for it... Seriously, There is alot to the supply and demand thing, but that is the jist of it. I find lots of it cheap on ebay and it is all very nice wood too so maybe try there if you don't need it ASAP