shells

Hmmm, I have read that you probably shouldn't do this because the shells leach calcium into the water, raising your KH, which may or may not be a good thing for your tank, depending on what your parameters are like. I have heard of people adding crushed coral to their filters to do this, but not sure what effect the shells would have. I would wait for a few others to chime in on this, as I'm not 100 percent sure.
 
I have heard this as well--shells change the water chemistry so people put them in if they want harder water for certain types of fish.

If you wanted shells for looks, you could buy fake ones, or cover them totally with epoxy so they were sealed. That way they wouldn't breakdown in your tank.
 
ph/kh

It depends on your water. If your ph and kh are high it might not be a problem. My water is quite hard and alkaline and adding shells doesn't change the water chemistry. It's just too hard to disolve anything.
 
well, like iktomiwicasa said, if you have hard and slightly alkaline water, the shell won't dissolve and affect anything. You can get the fish store to test these for you, pH and GH (General hardness). Let us know what these are, but most municipal water tends to be on the hard side (don't know about UK, tho :) )
 
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