Any 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

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/


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On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 14:11:54 +0100, Alan Silver
wrote:

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

Lots of "it depends" like the pH of the water and the type of
cichlids.

Give us some more details.


Steve
--
EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.
Build networks from numeric, text and image files.
http://www.easynn.com

In message ,
writes
On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 14:11:54 +0100, Alan Silver
wrote:

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

Lots of "it depends" like the pH of the water and the type of
cichlids.

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.

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/


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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



"Alan Silver" wrote in message
...
In message ,
writes
On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 14:11:54 +0100, Alan Silver
wrote:

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

Lots of "it depends" like the pH of the water and the type of
cichlids.

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.

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/


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In message , Sean M
writes
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

"Alan Silver" wrote in message
...
In message ,
writes
On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 14:11:54 +0100, Alan Silver
wrote:

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

Lots of "it depends" like the pH of the water and the type of
cichlids.

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.

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/


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--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/
(anything added below this line is nothing to do with me)


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On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 15:06:20 +0100, Alan Silver
wrote:


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
--
EasyNN-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.

"Alan Silver" wrote in message
...
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

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/


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In message , Louamb
writes
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 ?

"Alan Silver" wrote in message
...
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

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/


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--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/
(anything added below this line is nothing to do with me)


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"Alan Silver" 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!**

In message , Happy'Cam'per
writes
"Alan Silver" 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.

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.

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/
(anything added below this line is nothing to do with me)


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