How to Get Wood to Sink in an Aquarium

Weight Method

• 1

  Boil one rock and piece of wood in a pot of water for about 10 minutes. Use a rock that is heavy enough to hold the wood under water. To check the rock's effectiveness, fill a sink with water and put the rock on top of the piece of wood; if the wood sinks, you can use that rock. Boiling soften the wood and kills bacteria in the wood and rock. Also, a commercially purchased rock usually is dyed or has a coating harmful to fish.

• 2

  Create a hole in the bottom of the wood with a chisel and hammer. Make the hole large enough to hold the rock.

• 3

  Insert the rock into the hole you made in the wood, and place the wood in the aquarium.

Other Methods

• 4

  Place the wood in the desired location on the aquarium's bottom. Place one heavy rock on each side of the piece of wood to keep the wood in place.

• 5

  Affix aquarium tubing and suction cups to the bottom of the aquarium to hold down a piece of wood if you don't wish to use rocks. Place one suction cup designed to hold airline tubing on each side of the piece of wood, and string the tubing over the wood to keep the wood in place. You may hide the tubing with aquarium plants and decorations.

• 6

  Apply silicone adhesive to the bottom of a piece of wood and affix it to the aquarium's bottom before putting water in the tank. Silicone is used to seal sheets of glass together in an aquarium and will not harm fish. It has the added benefit of ensuring that the wood will not come loose when you add water.