I go to the Bahamas every Christmas and have stacks of sand dollars etc…
Are they safe to put in a tank? Also i dont want them in my main display just yet, in a cpl months when i start my frag tank i want stuff to grow on the shells I bring back instead of plugs… Is this feasable?
More then feasible, but check that it is legal. Some places have had so many people taking shells from their beaches it is hurting the local animals.
Personally I would at least soak them in fresh water for a while before adding them.(actually I would put them in a very diluted bleach/water solution for a little bit and then rinse well and soak in dechlorinator, but that might not be necessary) You might also consider soaking them in fresh water there to make sure there are no animals in them before you leave, so they don’t die during your flight and stink up one of your bags.
[quote=“michaelangelo, post:1, topic:2012”]
I go to the Bahamas every Christmas and have stacks of sand dollars etc…
Are they safe to put in a tank? Also i dont want them in my main display just yet, in a cpl months when i start my frag tank i want stuff to grow on the shells I bring back instead of plugs… Is this feasable?[/quote]
just wash the shells and you are fine…i’ve added all sorts of different shells for my hermits…but if they were live sand dollars when you collected them you should boil first then let dry out…you don’t want to import any phosphates or other decaying organic matter
oh yea they are over a year old… I have a collection since ive been going the past 5 years… not alot but a dozen shells in 5 years… Just thought it would be cool to put like xenia or blue clove polyps on them when they are ready to frag etc…
So basically soak them in fresh water and maybe a little dillution of bleach… Not so bad thats actually awesome!!!
Same goes with beaches from jersey? After typing that maybe jersey shells arent so nice lol
I throw shells and rocks and other things that I collect on my vacations. I just put them in one at a time (like one a day or so) leave the bucket of them next to my sump. This allows any dead matter to not overwhelm the system and let the skimmer/filtration take care of it. I don’t wash or bleach anything.
i wouldn’t soak them in bleach unless its a very dilute solution…i’ve always just rinsed with tap water with zero problems
isnt chlorine a natural element in sea water? not to day its a good idea… but if a minute amount of chlorine were to enter the tank, how detrimental would it really be? its the 3rd largest element found in seawater. only behind hydrogen and oxygen (h2o!!! duhhh) actually more chlorine than sodium!!! (NaCl=salt)
someone ponder that for me please Saint:)
I don't wash or bleach anything.Just to clarify I meant in regards to shells, I wash and lightly bleach my salt mixing buckets every now and then (and of course thoroughly wash afterwards) to kill gunk that collects on it.
You can soak in bleach, just make sure you get the bleach out before putting them in, as Jon said, but I see the bleach as overkill IMO.
Chlorine and sodium chloride are pretty different.
[quote=“fishguy9, post:7, topic:2012”]
isnt chlorine a natural element in sea water? not to day its a good idea… but if a minute amount of chlorine were to enter the tank, how detrimental would it really be? its the 3rd largest element found in seawater. only behind hydrogen and oxygen (h2o!!! duhhh) actually more chlorine than sodium!!! (NaCl=salt)
someone ponder that for me please Saint:)[/quote]
yes the element chlorine is naturally found in sea water but not at the concentrations for sale in a clorox container. not only that but the household bleech isn’t just Cl…it contains many chemicals which are toxic to life
ian then im goin to try as you said, lightly wash in fresh water but put in one a day or one a week, no rush and no bother to the system… excellent! Thank you
A significant amount of clean shells introduced at the same time will effect your chemistry and Ian is smart for doing it this way. The same goes for plugs, discs, and dry base rock. I believe Mg is attracted to the surface?(Could be wrong on this)
As far as the bleaching go, the company I work for bleaches tons of decorations daily for use in both salt and freshwater. Afterwards we rinse them well and soak in dechlorinator for several minutes. I’ve wondered for a long time if the dechlorinating is even necessary if we are going to use the décor in salt water, but when we clean things they could be going in either salt or fresh later on, so I think it is a safe practice. What I would really like to find though is a cheaper dechlorinating agent. I have heard there maybe some things we can use from the pool industry, but haven’t had time to fully research it.
genesis is like, a drop per gallon. and small bottle is like 3 bucks retail. how much cheaper can it get?
My whole tank (125gal) is filled with 175 lbs of rock taken from the shores of the grand cayman island…
just bleached it once …then soaked in r/o di water a few days …swish it good …repeat rinse…you are good to go!
hottuna how many fish and corals did you have in the tank when you added the 175lbs of rock? (important details)
[quote=“hottuna, post:13, topic:2012”]
My whole tank (125gal) is filled with 175 lbs of rock taken from the shores of the grand cayman island…
just bleached it once …then soaked in r/o di water a few days …swish it good …repeat rinse…you are good to go![/quote]
personaly i wouldnt have bleached that rock, you really want what ever survived the trip as far as bacteria, bleaching it just kills whats left on it and causes a bigger cycle.
i would think the bleach would of killed and sterilized whatever was in the rocks… just rinsing and adding might of caused a cycle if there were anything in the rock that died off during transport. i dont see how “sterilized” rock would affect much as far as water chemistry is concerned. so would it really matter what was in the tank when the rock was added, unless something in the rock caused a cycle?
doubt it