how to clean shells and driftwood?

[mdrew]

how to clean shells and driftwood?



I am in Vancover visiting family and found a beautiful peice of driftwood down at the beach in addition to a bunch of beautiful shells that I would love to put in my aquarium. They are from saltwater and my aquarium is freshwater. What can i do to make these shells compatible? fish are angels and gbr. It has been suggested to me that I boil the shells and bake the driftwood in my oven, will that work?



Thank you

 

[riseabovethesun]

Boiling each piece works very well, that's what I have done with all of my pieces of driftwood, I'd imagine boiling the shells would be fine too I've never done it personally.

 

[OrangeCones]

Shells will raise your pH and GH over time, making the water hard. Your fish like softer water.

 

[mdrew]

Thank you all so much for your help!

I will treat the the driftwood and use that but -km still unsure of the shells, its a shame since they'd be such a beautiful addition I wonder if frequent cleaning and balancing would help but I'm a newb so one thing at a time.

I'm thinking I'll do the boiling water in the bathtub or sink, let sit over night and then bake it in the oven at 500f to kill the bacteria, then do another couple rounds of boiling water to
Make sure all of the salt is gone.

I wonder if boiling the shells in water and a ph balancing solution would do some good?

What do you think?

Thank you!

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I think that cleaning the shells is not the problem. It is probably that the shells themselves will react in the water.

 

[lauraf]

Hello; I think that cleaning the shells is not the problem. It is probably that the shells themselves will react in the water.

Yup. Some people deliberately introduce shells if they have fish that prefer hard water . . . .

 

[aakaakaak]

They sell crushed coral and/or shells as substrate for people who need to boost their PH. It also boosts your calcium levels, so if you have snails it helps them.

Saltwater driftwood can be tricky from what I've heard. The salt can leech into the wood and stay there for the long haul. I would suggest really boiling it good and long if you intend it for freshwater.

 

[nanu156]

as long as you don't have anything scaleless the salt is ok. It will turn your water sepia, but most drift particularly the highly desirable malysian drift is salty. Your angels are SA cichlids and thus do pretty well with a higher PH, but honestly if you can avoid messing with things like PH thats a good plan. I have found that the more i mess with my water with chemicals the more messed up it gets.

You can boil, I wouldn't bake it will burn.

I just rinse with super hot water and soak for a bit to reduce the tannis (brown color that leeches into the water) your fish will like it.

 

[mdrew]

i'm getting nervous about the shells. what if i used some kind of sealer to stop the calcium from leeching into my water?

thank you!!!!

 

[aakaakaak]

Calcium isn't bad for fish. It's great for snails. Depending on the type of shells you probably won't see a huge PH spike either. If you start to see it climb to undesirable levels just remove them.

 

[nanu156]

yeah the sealer is likely to be more troublesome then the shells.

The PH change will be gradual and depending on what type of fish you have and your current PH might be just fine.

I mean are we talking about adding like 2-3 midsized shells or a dozen or more?

Also if the shells have a curly shape you need to drill a hole all the way through, fish have been known to swim into shells and not be able to get back out.

 

[mdrew]

yeah the sealer is likely to be more troublesome then the shells.

The PH change will be gradual and depending on what type of fish you have and your current PH might be just fine.

I mean are we talking about adding like 2-3 midsized shells or a dozen or more?

Also if the shells have a curly shape you need to drill a hole all the way through, fish have been known to swim into shells and not be able to get back out.

fish are angels and gbr

i have a bunch of shells so i can add as many or as few are adviseable

none are closed

what do you think?

 

[nanu156]

the angels can handle the PH as long as it doesn't go over 7.5. Start with a couple of shells, watch the PH (with a test kit the ones for pools work well, or you can buy one at the pet store) if it stays the same you can add more if it starts climbing remove some and do a water change. (it will take a long time to climb real high) the PH changes will vary depending on the shells etc. Honestly it will be a try and see.

The angle fish will do AWESOME with the drift wood the extra salinity + the tannis are good for them.

 

[mdrew]

someone where I buy my fish suggested soaking the shells in bleach for one month and then water for one month and then they would be suitable for a freshwater tank. does that make sense?

thank you!

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Lets say that you do get the shells clean somehow. That they may be dirty is not the only issue. The shells are secreted by some animal and are made up of minerals that will slowly dissolve in the water. I believe this is what is meant by the folks suggesting that you keep an eye on the PH if you add shells.

 

[pateceramics]

That's it exactly. Shells are pretty much straight CaCO3 (did I get the chemical formula for calcium carbonate right, all you fellow science dorks?), which breaks down slowly in water and contributes it's calcium to your water chemistry. If it's just a few small shells, I wouldn't be worried at all. I doubt they would break down quickly enough to make much of a change. A wee bit of extra calcium may actually help buffer your water to protect it from ph swings.

People get problems when they add a crushed coral/shell substrate for the look it gives their tank, without realizing the effect it will have on their water. There is a big difference between ten or twenty pounds of CaCO3 and two sea shells worth.

 

[aakaakaak]

I have two clamshells in my tank at work. I have two clamshells in my 10g at home. I have about six in my 29g at home. I scrubbed them off, boiled them for about 30 minutes, then dropped them in the tank. Result: my snails grew.....a lot.

A few shells won't hurt your tank, even if they were from saltwater. Just boil em first.

 

[Kitty_Kitsch]

Treat your driftwood well, I boiled the 2 pieces I have so far for over 5 hours and soaked them for a couple days and the amount of tannins released is still crazy! The first 2 days they were in there the water got dark then lightened a bit, my water changes have lightened it but my water is still sepia colored but it doesn't bother me much.