Coral Gathering

[StrongBad]

I am curious if I can use coral I find washed up on the beach in my reef aquarium (cycling) without doing anything special? The coral in question came from a beach in Hawaii. Also, are shells and sand dollars ok to add?

 

[lando]

Are you taking about dead coral skelotons? I believe collecting live wild in Hawaii is illegal. You run the risk of oluting your tank anytime you add something fromthe beach to it.

 

[StrongBad]

I imagine the gift shop I got the coral from came from the beach. Who knows? As for being dangerous to add to the aquarium......why?

 

[ellisz]

coral from the gift shop would be dead coral skeletons. Would probably be ok if that was the look you were going for.

 

[StrongBad]

They are small pieces, I want to use for some rubble around the base of the live rock.

 

[ellisz]

I used to use that stuff in my first SW tank about 10 yrs ago. Worked well. It will get algae on it and turn live after awhile. I used to bleach mine to get the white look back. Little did I know

 

[BillyZ]

the standard disclaimer always applies; check local laws before collecting, even dead "thiings" from teh beach. Some places discourage beach collecting because the nefarious types will dive to collect and claim they "found it on the beach". So, if it IS ok to collect, you should be fine but be sure anything you collect is cleaned throughly (without any bleach or solvents) before putting into your tank. The risk of pulutants is completely dependent on the beach itself. Some are cleaner than others. But there is always risk of disease or other harful critters ending up in your tank.

Check the laws, use caution when choosing and cleaning, and you should be ok.

 

[ellisz]

I used to soak shells and dead skeletons that I bought at gift shops so there was not collecting issues. I used a 5 gal bucket filled with water and a bit of bleach. That was the only way to get them clean. Let them soak a day and then soak them in plain water for a day or 2 after, changing the water if the bleach smell persists. I did this for many years with no problems.

 

[StrongBad]

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions!