crushed oyster or coral?

Question

i want to put crushed oyster shell in my fish tank they are coldwater fantails how much do i put in a stocking please.

its a new large tank my ph is 6 4 and the shell is also used for calcium.it was on the advise of the store that i use a lttle crushed shell but i dont know how much

I have a external filter which is new as with the tank
i am told it takes some time to get established but where in the filter as there are a few layers in the filter case.???

Answer 1

Coral sand as used in marine tanks could be used instead of ordinary gravel and looks quite nice. Crushed oyster shells is often used in ponds so tends to be in quite large chunks so would be better used in a filter. They both contain calcium carbonate to buffer the PH but this is quite slow to dissolve.

6.4 PH is not bad as long as it remains stable and you remember to change the water regularly. Around 7.5 would be better which could be adjusted with PH buffers bought from the pet store but this only works temporarily and fish can be shocked by any rapid changes.

Fine coral sand may not be ideal for goldfish as it would get dirty and they love to dig. Crushed oyster shell would be better if you like the look of it but even this is not so easy as gravel to clean.

I would change the water 10% a week and make sure the tank is clean to reduce acidity and maybe add some buffer.

Answer 2

crushed oyster shell is used to stabilise the PH of the tank the best place is to use a handful in the filter if it's an external if not then a couple of handfuls in a decorative location in the tank would be best as for the stocking leave it out

Answer 3

I am not familiar with crushed oyster, but I use crushed aragonite in my tank as the substrate. It dissolves very slowly and doesn't add too much calcium to my tank.

Answer 4

Why do you want to raise the pH for goldfish? They don't need anything like that done for them. Just remember to do your regular (weekly) partial (25-30%) water changes and they will be fine.

Raising the pH is usually only done for African cichlids from the rift lakes where the pH is around 8-8.5.

Answer 5

why would u want to do that? i've got large empty shells (pretty ones) and small stones rather than gravel which is horrible to clean (i've got a pump and 2 pleccies). crushed shell would be a bummer to filter properly or for pleccies to clean. stocking? sorry, can't picture this... why dont u get some nice decorative quartz stones, pink or green....??

Answer 6

I think you'll find they gradually dissolve I know the sea urchin shells did

Answer 7

coral