Is It Safe to use a clam shell in my freshwater tank for decoration?

Under Family Category: Home Decoration

i got it from a chinese restaraunt as well as brought it home to put in my tank for decoration,its purify right away is it ok to put it in a tank

7 people have left comments

This should not be a problem if your clam shell has been well clean. What you can do is to boil the shell for awhile and use a tough brush to brush alway any flesh thats still attached to the shell.

The only problem I could foresee is if your tank(or fishes) requires low pH. If that is the requirement, then putting the shell in the tank would make maintaining low pH in your tank harder. The shell will break down through time and buffer the tank to keep it towards netural. The more acidic the tank the faster the shell breaks down. But if yours is a netural pH tank, your shell probably will be there for ages :)

Hopes this helps.

dragonfly_sg wrote on September 10, 2010 - 12:35 am | Visit Link

yes

mickey wrote on September 10, 2010 - 12:35 am | Visit Link

it might still have some sea salt in it. i wouldnt take the risk of having lots of ill fish for a clammy decoration–get–clammy…never mind…

William G wrote on September 10, 2010 - 12:35 am | Visit Link

freshwater clam shells are alright.

Oyster shells will raise your pH.

When in doubt, don’t. If you are unsure of what it is or if there is any food or soap residue on the shell, then don’t use it. The reason why you do not see a lot of shells as deco is because they are not all safe.

Just be careful. Maybe you could put it on the tank stand as outside deco?

lemonnpuff wrote on September 10, 2010 - 12:35 am | Visit Link

soak the shell in a bowl with fresh water… do not use soap! Scrub the parts you can get at with a tooth brush.

Julia wrote on September 10, 2010 - 12:35 am | Visit Link

It depends on what kind of fish you have. Shells raise the hardness and PH of water. If you have south american fish like neons, rams, cories, plecos, ect. they will not do too well because they require soft water with a low Ph. If you have hard water fish like african cichlids, they will appreciate the higher Ph and hardness.

bleedseahawkblue wrote on September 10, 2010 - 12:35 am | Visit Link

Typically, the food consumed at a chinese restaurant is from saltwater. It probably isn’t a clam to begin with it was a mussle. I would suggest not. The reason why is that there are plenty of food chemicals and butter and different things on it from the cooking process. If you did clean it with straight clorox and soaked it in standard tap water for 24 hours, the sea component of the shell would breakdown and begin to raise your ph levels and such. It is not reccomended. There are freshwater clams you can purchase at your local pet store

punxsyparty wrote on September 10, 2010 - 12:35 am | Visit Link

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