Seashells in tank

M

Macromatt

AC Members
Mar 18, 2003
88
0
0
51
Clinton Township, MI
www.mattbaclar.com
I recently got home from the beach in Florida... I live in Michigan, Our water here is extremely soft, and I am looking for ways to raise the hardness of the water. Can I put some of these seashells in there to rais the Hardness? I have boiled them already and was planning on doing that, but wanted some input from all the experts out there.

Thanks,

Matt
 
NOt an expert, but I have been using a pile of very large conch shells we found in Mexico for a cichlid tank. Small effect on hardness, but the fish like the caves.
 
Why are you trying to raise hardness? What cichlids do you keep? You can keep shells in an aquarium. They may or may not raise the KH. Depends on the shells. A better way would to be to get some crushed coral and filter through the crushed coral. If you are keeping Tanganyikans you could use epsom salts.
 
I'm keeping Laprologus's, not the shell dwelling species, and I have been adding salts every water change for about a year now, and was trying to see if there was an easier wayto do it... I read somewhere that the minerals in the shells leaches out in the water so I thought maybe it would help.... I'm thinking now maybe it doesn't do it fast enough though.

Thanks for the advice.

Matt
 
It won't make much difference if you just place the shells in the water but if you place crushed coral in the filter and have a flow of water going through the coral then the coral will dissolve in the water. Your pH would need to be lower than 8.2. At 8.2 or higher the coral won't dissolve. The coral won't dissolve quickly unlike salt.
 
deepfriedtofu said:
so is it okay to put sea shells in a freshwater tank?
Click to expand...

If you are keeping Rift Lake Cichlids or other fish from water that is very hard and has a very high ph, then shells are fine, since they will change your water chemistry in that direction. Most common ornamental fish prefer more nuetral (and sometimes acidic) water conditions. For these tanks shells would not be appropriate. With that being said, the effect of a few shells is not that drastic. If you have a mixed community tank and want to add one or two sea shells from you vacation, then it should be ok, provided you don't go overboard, and you keep up with regular (weekly/bi-monthly) water changes.

Welcome to Aquarium Central
 
problem with seashells

I had seashells from hawaii in my tank for about 6 months, bad bad bad mistake. I kept having ongoing cloudiness in tank pet store kept saying white water bacteria bloom, ph jumped to about 8.6 and I couldnt no matter what get rid of the hazy whitish looking water for about 5 months. I finally took out the seashells and after a few weeks tank is for the first time in months looking clear. So I would never recommend any shells for decoration. Also the shells did not effect my hardness I did and still do have 0 ppm of hardness probably due to water softner.
 
The best way to harden the water is to add crushed coral to your substrate. I have a mix of crushed coral and reef sand for my tanganyikan shell dwellers and that seems to work out just fine. I also have shells in there for them, some are ocean shells, others freshwater snails...I have no issues with cloudiness though, the water is crystal clear.
 
kinda off topic but i had a fish get stuck in a sea shell once and he couldnt get out..i tried to rescue him but he was totally stuck....sadly he never found his way and died in the shell
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom