any danger in putting seashells in my shrimp tank?

**shrimpbait** · 10th Mar 2010, 20:35

Hi there, i was given 2 pieces of pretty seashells today and am wondering if it'sk to place them in my shrimp tank(sakuras, crs and shrimplets).
How will it affect the water parameters?

Don't wish to endanger my shrimps.
Thanks for your help!

**fotoudavid** · 10th Mar 2010, 20:45

my shrimps tank have 3 sea shells, no problem so far.

**shrimpbait** · 10th Mar 2010, 23:03

perhaps yr tank is large?
mine is a 1half x 1 foot tank, a small tank n the 2 pieces of seashells are about 2 inch in diameter each..
have heard that they'll increase water hardness?

**fotoudavid** · 10th Mar 2010, 23:12

is it??? mine also 1 feet tank, no problems, perhaps because mine is those hardy ones like cherry.....

**lucasjiang** · 11th Mar 2010, 10:27

it will raise the pH slightly.

**blue33** · 11th Mar 2010, 11:48

If you put in the tank, PH raise little but if you put it in the canister or any strong current that blow the sea shell then you will see big change in PH.

**KWL** · 11th Mar 2010, 13:25

it depend whether you shrimps like low pH or high pH

**stormhawk** · 13th Mar 2010, 07:54

To shrimpbait:

If the seashells were not collected from a polluted area, and are not painted, or treated with chemicals, they should be fine in a tank with shrimps.

However, before you add the shells to any shrimp tank, you can do a test with a single hardy shrimp. Place the shell, once they are well-rinsed, into a separate tank. Fill the tank with some water from the shrimp tank, and catch a single shrimp and put in the test tank. Leave it there and observe the shrimp's behaviour. You can do this instead with other cheaper shrimps and/or snails. I usually use MTS/Ramshorn for such tests. If nothing goes wrong with the test shrimp after a few hours, it should be "safe" for use in the shrimp tank.

However, it is no guarantee that it is totally safe for use in the tank. If in doubt, don't use the shells at all. Especially if your tank contains super expensive shrimp.

**globalcookie** · 13th Mar 2010, 15:06

What are the benefits of seashells? Calcium? Increase pH? Anything else? I have not used seashells till date so have no knowledge in it.

One question though. CRS is comfortable in lower pH (eg pH 6.5) while Sakuras being Cherry shrimp goes for higher pH (eg pH 7.0 or more). So what are you getting in your current pH and which shrimp benefits more?