Hello all - new to the forum

**carl87gt** · 12-29-2011, 02:43 AM

Hi everyone - new to the AC community. Had a 45 gallon aquarium for years then it developed a leak and my wife gave it away by mistake (long story for another thread maybe).

Got back into the hobby about 7 years ago with a 40 gallon and later traded up to a 75 gallon about a year later. Love my tank but want something bigger. My current tank has a very nice wood base with a very nice wood canopy. Looks like a nice piece of furniture. Want to find something similar but bigger just can't find a lot out there with wood canopies (for less than a couple grand!).

I have one 10 inch Oscar now and would like to convert to African Chiclids but nobody wants my Oscar so we will just wait till he dies of old age. (Free 10 inch Oscar to good home if you want him!)

Bought a nice piece of driftwood from Craigslist tonight (http://stlouis.craigslist.org/for/2770043654.html) and was looking for ideas to get it to sink (floating now) and found the AC forums in my google search. Hope I can help to contribute and share ideas with other aquarium enthusiasts.

Carl

**DougStanley** · 12-29-2011, 02:48 AM

Hi and welcome to AC

, you could put it in a large garbage can and weight it down until it sucks up enough water to keep it down. I would also boil it for a couple of hours to help make sure it doesn't have anything harmful in it

**Cyberra** · 12-29-2011, 02:57 AM

^_^ Welcome to the community

**carl87gt** · 12-29-2011, 03:06 AM

Originally Posted by DougStanley

Hi and welcome to AC

, you could put it in a large garbage can and weight it down until it sucks up enough water to keep it down. I would also boil it for a couple of hours to help make sure it doesn't have anything harmful in it

Thanks Doug - it is 11 inches by 14 inches by 30 inches - don't really have anything big enough to boil it in. I have a big smoker so I could boil it on the smoker if I had a tub big enough. Trying to find slate at lowes and home depot now (online). It was used previously in an aquarium but has been dry for a couple of years so it might take a while to get water-logged. A post I found from 2008 suggested several cycles in the dishwasher (without soap obviously!) so I might try that but I would need to first empty the rinse aid dispenser.