ShrimpKeeper
Aquarium Advice Newbie
When adding new plastic decorations, driftwood, etc., how should you go about preparing it for your tank. Rinsing and then soaking in declorinated water?
Plastic Decorations
- Thread starter ShrimpKeeper
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
It will depend on where you are getting your plastic decorations from. Take plants for example: Plastic plants from pet stores typically are 100% plastic while plastic plants from say, a Michaels or Target or Walmart, etc. may have a metal core that is surrounded by plastic so you treat these differently from Pet shop plants. The same applies for all kinds of plastic decorations. Just because it's plastic does not mean it's tank safe. If you are getting your decorations from non pet shop sources, check to make sure they are fish tank safe before adding them.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
G2-B
Aquarium Advice Regular
Driftwood needs to be boiled 4-5 times, each time for several hours, to remove the tannins in the wood. If you fail to do that, your water may get seriously brown, water change after water change and it will take forever to get rid of it. It may also lower pH excessively during that time.
ShrimpKeeper
Aquarium Advice Newbie
What about for coconut shells do you also need to boil them? I got them from Etsy so I don’t know if they are boiled already. And do you need to boil it in only treated water and how do you know when to stop boiling it ?
They dont sell coconuts in your local grocery store?
Boil them for 10 to 20 minutes. Repeat until they are no longer releasing tannins. No need to use treated water. The boiling should remove any chlorine and most of the chloramine, and whatever is left is going to be negligible when dispersed in the water volume of the aquarium.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
You have to be careful when getting items for your tanks when they don't come from the pet industry. In the case of the shells, they could have a coating on them that is toxic to the fish/shrimp, could have been cleaned with toxic chemicals, etc. If you are sure they are raw shells, you soak them until they stop releasing tannins ( changing water multiple times when it gets dark) unless you are adding them to the tank for the tannins. If that's the case, you don't need to boil them past a few minutes just to kill any microbes that may be on/in the shells.
ShrimpKeeper
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Thank you. I got them from a shop on Etsy that makes items for freshwater dwarf shrimp so they were made specifically for shrimp in my tank and have drilled holes for the shrimp to swim into and everything I just don’t know if the owner of the shop boiled them and everything I messaged them and they said I could boil them for ten minutes but that tannins aren’t bad for shrimp and fish. The lowering of ph is concerning though because I have nerite snails and their shells already are showing decay like chipping and I think part of it might be the low ph and acidity although I’m not sureYou have to be careful when getting items for your tanks when they don't come from the pet industry. In the case of the shells, they could have a coating on them that is toxic to the fish/shrimp, could have been cleaned with toxic chemicals, etc. If you are sure they are raw shells, you soak them until they stop releasing tannins ( changing water multiple times when it gets dark) unless you are adding them to the tank for the tannins. If that's the case, you don't need to boil them past a few minutes just to kill any microbes that may be on/in the shells.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Okay. I know on Etsy there are a lot of things that could be in a fish tank but not all of them should be in one so as long as you trust the seller.....
#1, you need to know the pH of your water. If you don't have a test kit, take a sample of your water to a local shop to get tested then buy a liquid pH kit.
You have to be careful when mixing shrimps with snails. With the exception of Trumpet Snails and possibly a few others, pretty much all snails always need hard alkaline water. The trumpets can adapt to softer water but as you suspect, shell growth is going to be poor in soft acidic water. On the other hand, not all shrimp live in hard alkaline water. In your case, Nerites do best in alkaline water and since they need to go into saltwater to breed successfully, hard alkaline water. So if your snails are showing signs of shell damage and your pH is not above 7.2, their shells will eventually dissolve. That's not good for them.
In regards to the coconut shell(s), remove any fiber that may be on the shell then do the 10 minute boil and see how dark the water becomes. If it's very dark, repeat the boil with clean water. The question of tannins lowering the pH will be slow but the possibility exists that your water change schedule can alleviate that problem.
So you have to first check out if the shrimp you have can handle a soft acidic water and if your current pH is below 7.0 where it's affecting the nerites. Those answers will bring up new decisions you may have to make regarding keeping the snails and shrimp together.
Hope this helps.
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