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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / October 2004Any problem with putting sea shells in my tank ?
Hello, We have just come back from holiday and, having done the obligatory days on the beach, have returned with a small collection of pleasant shells. These came from the North-East coast of England if it makes any difference. Is there any problem with putting these in my cichlid tank ? Obviously I would wash them first, but do I need to do anything else ? TIA  SignatureAlan Silver PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/ >Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > >TIA Lots of "it depends" like the pH of the water and the type of cichlids. Give us some more details. Steve SignatureEasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks. Build networks from numeric, text and image files. http://www.easynn.com >>Hello, >> [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > >Give us some more details. Sorry, I was a bit vague ;-) pH of the water is about 8, but this is an estimate as my test kit ran out and I haven't bothered replacing it as I so rarely used it. The cichlids are Malawis. Please see http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/Mark3/ for more details of the tank and fish. Hope this is enough. Thanx for the reply. SignatureAlan Silver PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/ adding sea shells to a freshwater tank won't be a good idea since it can cause a ph spike. I learned the hard way lol > >>Hello, > >> [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > Hope this is enough. Thanx for the reply. >adding sea shells to a freshwater tank won't be a good idea since it can >cause a ph spike. I learned the hard way lol Except that this is a cichlid tank, and I want hard water. The substrate is crushed coral and shells !! I wasn't worried about the pH, I was more worried about diseases, parasites and anything else that may come in with the shells. Thanx anyway >> >>Hello, >> >> [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] >> http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >> -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- SignatureAlan Silver PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/ (anything added below this line is nothing to do with me) >pH of the water is about 8, but this is an estimate as my test kit ran >out and I haven't bothered replacing it as I so rarely used it. > >The cichlids are Malawis. That's OK then. The shells will help maintain the slightly alkaline water that is preferred by Malawi cichlids. Steve SignatureEasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks. Build networks from numeric, text and image files. http://www.easynn.com I've had seashells in my cichlid tank for a few years now. What I do is boil them for about an hour so all the bacterias are gone. > Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > TIA >I've had seashells in my cichlid tank for a few years now. What I do is >boil them for about an hour so all the bacterias are gone. Thanx, that was what I guessed, but I wanted to check. Did boiling them spoil them at all ? >> Hello, >> [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >> http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >> -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- SignatureAlan Silver PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/ (anything added below this line is nothing to do with me) "Alan Silver" <alan-silver@nospam.thanx> wrote in message > Did boiling them spoil them at all ? Hi Alan Don't bother boiling them, thats just overkill. However, there might be some remains left in the shells of whatever was inhabiting them at some stage. Fill a small bucket up halfway, add some salt (alot) and let them sit for a week, replacing new water every 2 days or so. The shells will be fine in the tank after this. If you have enough shells you can crush a few them, put them into an old nylon stocking and add that to your filter aswell. The more the merrier Imo. :) If you ever come across crushed coral at the LFS this can be added too in liberal ammounts. -- **So long, and thanks for all the fish!** >"Alan Silver" <alan-silver@nospam.thanx> wrote in message >> [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >week, replacing new water every 2 days or so. The shells will be fine in the >tank after this. Thanx, that sounds even easier !! >If you have enough shells you can crush a few them, put them into an old >nylon stocking and add that to your filter aswell. The more the merrier Imo. I don't have that many, just a few nice ones picked up on the beach. >If you ever come across crushed coral at the LFS this can be added too in >liberal ammounts. The substrate in this tank is basically crushed coral and shells. A few of the smaller shells survived the crushing, but it's mostly bits. Ta ra and thanx for the reply. SignatureAlan Silver PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/ (anything added below this line is nothing to do with me) > "Alan Silver" <alan-silver@nospam.thanx> wrote in message >> >> Did boiling them spoil them at all ? > Hi Alan > Don't bother boiling them, thats just overkill. However, there might be some > remains left in the shells of whatever was inhabiting them at some stage. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > If you ever come across crushed coral at the LFS this can be added too in > liberal ammounts. I personally would at the very least let them soak in for a long while then boil or bake for a short period (an hour seems a bit overkill, 20 mins should be sufficient). Since these are sea shells, saline conditions may not be effective at killing pathogens. Heat denatures proteins however, so this would work on any sort of critter present, regardless of its saline tolerance. At the very least, rinse in totally hot tap water by putting the bucket under the hot tap and letting it run for 5 mins or so to completely replace the cold water, then let it set until it's cool enough to handle. This is assuming your hot tap comes out at 120F or higher. <snip> >> Don't bother boiling them, thats just overkill. However, there might be some >> remains left in the shells of whatever was inhabiting them at some stage. >> Fill a small bucket up halfway, add some salt (alot) and let them sit for a >> week, replacing new water every 2 days or so. The shells will be fine in the >> tank after this. <snip> >I personally would at the very least let them soak in for a long while >then boil or bake for a short period (an hour seems a bit overkill, 20 [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >enough to handle. This is assuming your hot tap comes out at 120F or >higher. Thanx for the reply. I hadn't thought about the saline tolerance, makes a lot of sense. Maybe I'll try the very hot water idea and see what happens. At the end of the day, if they get spoiled it's not terrible. They're just some nice shells we picked up on the beach, it's not like I flew to Indonesia specially to get them !! Ta ra SignatureAlan Silver PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/ (anything added below this line is nothing to do with me) As long as the shells are not contaminated with something, you will be fine. The will in fact help to keep your water buffered. If they were South American cichlids and you were trying to keep your water at neutral or slightly acidic, I would say not to add them. The truth of the matter is, that pH does not matter a whole lot. You do not want it to be fluctuating all of the time but as long as it is between 6 and 8.5 or so, cichlids will be fine (with the acception of Discus and Angel Fish). The fish have been breed in a hatchery most likely; and they probably did not take any special measures to mimic rift lake conditions. They will be more colorful if your tank water resembles that of the rift lake from which they came. > Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! > -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
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