jjdaugh

I just got back from the beach, and have tons of shells that would look great in my tank. Anyone done this?

There are conflicting stories out there about lime content, pH levels, cleaners etc. I am guessing if I scrub them down (with no cleaner) and boil them for 10 minutes, it would be fine.

Thanks

clinton1621

The shells are made out of calcium so they will leach out and increase your hardness, so it depends on your current hardness and ph levels along with what fish you have as to whether it will have much of an impact on your tank... I dont think cleanliness would be a problem as loong as you do what you said

Butterfly

They will slow dissolve in your tank and raise the ph BUT.... it will be a gradual rise and take a good while for it to happen and if your doing regular weekly water changes they may not raise the ph at all. The reason being you will be removing the tiny bit the shells would be dissolving each time you do a water change. Is that confusing? I hope not
I would probably boil them to kill any bacteria or germs that may be on them. In case there were any pollution where you found them boiling them should clean that off also.
Carol