Want to add some coral...

[jakeandwendy]

my sister has some shells and a piece of coral she got from the beach at galveston tx that i think would look sharp in our fw community tank. i know to wash them thoroughly (actually plan on bleaching them). what i was curios about was will they change my water parameters? the coral piece was an actual live coral at one time and the other shell looks like a small conch shell. if anyone has any experience with these please feel free to chime in!

 

[TomStav]

Just to clear it up it's a fossilized coral right... I wouldnt suggest bleaching them, I would boil them for about 30mins and then they should be good to put in.

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[jakeandwendy]

wasn't sure there were coral distinctions but i figured there were! and yes its fossilized. so i'll go for boiling, but they're both fairly delicate. can i just pour boiling hot water over them a couple times?

 

[TomStav]

It's good to boil them for a good 30 mins to get any dissolved minerals out that otherwise could effect your aquarium water, I would just put them in a pot and boil them lightly for a while.

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[jakeandwendy]

ok i'll give it a try. the coral is really beautiful and the conch shell is big enough for the gc crab to get in and out of. thanks for your replies.

 

[fort384]

Adding things like shells and coral to your tank will inevitably raise your TDS, even if you boil them. It will probably result in your pH raising a bit over time. If you TDS (or GH) is fairly low or normal, and your pH is fairly low or normal, it probably won't hurt for them to be in a FW tank.

 

[jakeandwendy]

thats what i'm finding out fort. my ph is pretty low from my source so that wouldn't be a bad thing. i keep a close eye on all my parameters, cycling with fish(d@#nit!) and all. if anything else comes to mind, feel free..thanks

 

[jakeandwendy]

Coral update

wow figured i'd update. put the coral and shell in the tank. took my ph the next day and it was 8.0! from 6.8 the day before. nothing else was different parameter-wise just the ph. i took it out and did a couple pwcs and now its back to normal. any thoughts? i sterilized them both, bleach, then lightly boiled than rinsed and dried again. is this weird?

 

[Crepe]

No. Coral skeletons are made of calcium carbonate. No matter what you do, unless you change the actual chemicals that make up coral through alchemy or something, it will always change your pH. It is the nature of coral skeletons, lime stone essentially.

 

[jakeandwendy]

makes absolute sense! they were pretty in there though...!