i have a few shells - an urchin shell, a few cone shells...a common dahinula....cowrie..etc and was wondering if its safe/ok to put them into my tank with my goldies?

Hidy Julie
I wouldn't put the sea shells in your tank if I were you. Shells are sedimentary meaning they are formed from the accumulation of different things...usually limestone based things, which can screw with your ph, and small, well, sea creature's skeletons & what not. Something that freaked me as I began learning about geology is that chalk is made of microscopic marine organisms....I thought, ewww, yucky!
Kristin

Umm......sea shells are made by the animals known as Mollusks. This would include all snails, bivalves (clams, mussels, scallops), octopus and squid (in their case, the cuttlebone is their inner shell). The material is actually made up of calcium carbonate crystals that is layered down by the animal giving it strength. Believe it or not, the calcium comes from the mollusks own blood which is rich in a liquid form of calcium. The mantle of the animal is what concentrates the calcium in areas where it can seperate it out from the blood. More than you wanted to know, eh?

The urchin shell is entirely different as urchins are a member of the Echinoderm family. It's *shell* will quickly dissolve in water and foul it too so I would not put that in your fish tank.

As far as the shells, they should be fine, and will help to keep the pH stable. The calcium in the shell will only be released at a pH below 7.4 (it could be 7.2 I can never keep that part straight in my mind) and will stop dissolving above those same levels. (They use this kind of method in saltwater tanks, this is known as a calcium reactor.)

Make sure they are clean though! Give them a boiling and make sure you get out any foreign material from within the shell itself.

thank you for the good advice now that i took my seashells out. i decided againstt hem

Thanks watermama! I was using the limestoned based terminology b/c of the calcium carbonates....I don't live anywhere near shells...hehehe. I'm actually glad someone on here is as into stuff like this as I am. Learning something everyday.....
Kristin

was just going to agree with everything everyone else said, but maybe not quite so eloquently

I agree with most of the info above, except the pH where calcium carbonate dissolves. It is true that it happens faster at lower pHs but it is more a function of CO2 saturation and hardness of the water. You can get calcium carbonate disolution at the pH found in our tanks 6-8!

thanks for all the info! but will the shells cause health risks towards my fish?

You can use them safely, just monitor the pH of your tank and if it increases to undesirable levels you can always do a water change and remove them.

THANKS!

i use some shells, I have no problems with my levels. but i do a regular 20% change weekly.

A rule of thumb...well more of a precaution...NEVER PUT THINGS FROM THE SEA INTO A FRESHWATER AQUARIUM and vice versa. I placed some shells i gathered from the beach and placed em' in my tank when i was a kid and guess what, all my fish were floating the following morning.

Shells are good PH buffer.. it works best when crushed and placed into a stocking..

Anything from sea can be added provided the source is reliable where you dun see too many dead floating fishes around as this is sign of disease spreading around the area..

and before adding into tank, u need to clean them VERY THOROUGHLY.. soak them in bleach for a couple of days, then boil them in salt water.. why salt water? becuz normal boiling point is at 100 degree celcius, but once salted, boiling point is raised to 110 degree celcius.. a dfference of 10 degrees make it more efficient in killing any bacteria or germs..

hope this helps..

no no no no u can put sea shells in!!!!! but they get very mouldy very fast so unless u wanna clean alot i wouldent