Help!Adding sea shells and stones

[mediterranean]

I am a newie and Have my Fresh Water tank running for more than a week now with no fish.
I want to add some sea shells and stones from the beach into my tank.
I have been told to check them with vinegar and boil them before I enter them into the aquarium.
I was also told that the shells may effect the hardness of the water.
Is there anything else I should do before putting them into my tank? Or shouldn't I add any shells or stones at all?

 

[hurricanejedi]

They can be good to bring your hardness up. Boiling is good to kill anything that might be on them. It should be ok. I put crushed coral and shells in my filter for that exact reason.

 

[grannylvsfish]

Sorry to bring this old thread up but..... My mom has some awsome conch shells, and she wants to know is she can put them in her tank. there about 15 years old. she is not sure what kind of fish to get yet, some days its cichlids ( rams and keyholes) other days is comunity fish

like these.....

can this be done??

 

[DarkSoul]

Sorry to bring this old thread up but..... My mom has some awsome conch shells, and she wants to know is she can put them in her tank. there about 15 years old. she is not sure what kind of fish to get yet, some days its cichlids ( rams and keyholes) other days is comunity fish

like these.....

can this be done??

what lives in these things??

 

[Sammie7]

what lives in these things??

conch? hehe :sim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch
http://www.savetheconch.org/biology.html

I wouldn't bother adding it to the tank, because it will dissolve over time, and it seems that the person doesn't know what they want, so it's best not to go through the hassle. Also the shells wouldn't look as pretty dissolved as they do now...

 

[Mgamer20o0]

and it will also mess with the hardness and ph.

 

[grannylvsfish]

conch? hehe :sim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch
http://www.savetheconch.org/biology.html

I wouldn't bother adding it to the tank, because it will dissolve over time, and it seems that the person doesn't know what they want, so it's best not to go through the hassle. Also the shells wouldn't look as pretty dissolved as they do now...

there not desolved, and there quit beautiful. why would something so hard ( conch ) desolve??

so if it makes the tank PH harder, isn't that what we would want for cichlids if thats what she chose? yeah, this is her first tank in 30 years, remember the old days when you emptied the tank to clean it LOL!! she went thru tons of fish when I was a kid.

 

[spirals]

Conch live in marine water so when the shell is placed into a freshwater tank (which has a different chemical make-up via salinity at the very least) it can cause the conch shell to dissolve. Not only will this eventually completely destroy the gorgeous shell, but it will mess with the water chemicals as well. My vote, don't do it

-kristi

p.s. interesting enough I found "conch" on a jewelry site, its hardness was listed at 2.85 (relatively soft).

 

[jm1212]

i wouldnt add it to a tank with rams or keyholes. both like their water relativley soft, and adding a conch shell will make the hardness rise.

 

[trixx]

conch

what lives in these things??

The Conch is a snail...a tasty one at that. The large variety (as shown in your pic) is a "Queen Conch" (found in deep water) and smaller ones are "Bank Conch" (found in the shallows).

AC folks are giving you solid advice on this topic: It's a lot of effort to ensure you kill all the various micro-organisms that may be lurking in "wild decor" and it requires much more time & effort to ensure your water's stability.

The Conch shell will, indeed, fade over time in FW (as will other SW shells like Cowries, Tridents etc.).

A fun bit of Conch trivia: The Conch shell is the made up of the animal's excrement (yup....it's the snail's poop)! The Conch doesn't change shells (like the hermit crabs), it just keeps "making" it's own as it ages...the bigger & thicker the shell; the older the Conch.