TheEssigs

Hey gang... does anyone have seashells in thier FW tanks?

I have one tank, a 10g, that has a very low ph. It is the only tank, out of the 11 with a low ph. I am unsure what the cause is. Even with water changes, the ph remains low... I dont get it.

Anyway - I wanted to add seashells as I heard that seashells will raise ph.

So, the questions is, have any of you done this? If so....

Was it a success? Did your fish die or sicken? Recommendations?

Dino

We have shells in a lot of the tanks here.

What is the substrate of the tank?

TheEssigs

It's just regular aquarium gravel. I do have a few river rocks in there as well, so I am wondering, now, if that is the sourse.

Chief_waterchanger

Rock are generally going to either have no effect on pH or raise it, very very few drop the pH.

Driftwood or any other decomposing organics in the tank? How heavily planted is it? How often do you disturb the substrate? (Vaccuuming, stirring, etc)

TheEssigs

The tank isnt planted at all. Its my sons tank, and there arent any live plants... just skull thingys, gravel and rocks.

I do not stir the subtrate as there is a pretty big snail in there doing the work for us... he is about golf ball size, maybe a tad smaller. I have a pengiun bio-wheel for 30 gallons on there as well.

Its wierd. All my other tanks are either 7.0 or slightly higher at 7.2ish... so I cant figure it out.

The seashell thing is kind of a last resort thing. The fish seem fine, I havent any fatalities... yet. I am a little concerned doing this as I have read so many people saying that the fish sicken and the salt leeches out and what not... Im kinda in a quandry about it.

The other wierd thing is that the snail is growing, but I know they need a higher ph to maintain a healthy shell... so, whats the deal there? I dunno.

Chief_waterchanger

I would recommend that you vaccuum or stir the substrate, and move the ornaments around and stir under them. Decaying food is probably what the culprit is.

When stirring the substrate or vaccuuming, do half the tank per waterchange.

The snail may just not be doing the whole tank, or may be missing certain spots or something. It may not be able to get underneath or near the edge of the ornaments as big as it is, either.

TheEssigs

Alllllllllrighty then, a vac&stir is in order. I definately try that before the shell thing.