Natural Decor in Tank

Sports Girl · 08/02/2006, 09:31 AM

A friend of mine took a dive trip to the Channel Islands and brought me back a gorgeous abalone shell (empty). If I boil it for a while, would it be okay to put in my reef tank? Any other suggestions for sanitizing it? Thanks!

BigReefing · 08/02/2006, 10:04 AM

I would boil it in roi water. Then I would let it dry out completly. Then rinse it in roi water agian and put it in. In my opinion that would work well.

marinelife · 08/02/2006, 10:36 AM

lots of nasties in that water, I would not risk it.

Sports Girl · 08/02/2006, 12:57 PM

With those two responses, I'm still at square one (but thanks for the input, big and mar). Anyone else for the tie breaker?

skeeter-doc · 08/02/2006, 12:59 PM

you could always let it sit in some water, then after a week, test the water it is in to find out of anything leeched of the shell, ...

Crusty Old Shellback · 08/02/2006, 01:02 PM

Nothing wrong with the water. I use it exclusivly in my tanks with no problems. I get it from UCSB. As for the shell, it was probably illegal to collect it, no matter even if it was dead so don't tell anyone where you got it from.

You can just rinse it off and put in your tank or if your really worried, soak it in some water with a little bleach. Plain old clorene bleach, no fancy smelly stuff. Then soak it in regular ater for a while and then in water with clhorine remover. Then you should be good to go. I used to do that years ago in my SW tanks to clean my dead coral skeletons I had for decorations.

Or you can just throw it in the tank and don't wory about it, it will be fine.

Sports Girl · 08/02/2006, 01:06 PM

You are right about the shell, blown, I had no idea he was going to do that for me until he was back. (He wanted to bring back live things for my tank, but I nipped that in the bud before he even left...) Thank you, blown and skeeter!

Crusty Old Shellback · 08/02/2006, 01:09 PM

Don't let him bring anything back alive for you tank unless your keeping a cold water system. It won't last as they can't handle the temp change. I talked to a curator of the NSW system at UCSB about this. He's run some experiments and said that nothing survives the temp swing, fish, inverts corals, nothing.

Sports Girl · 08/02/2006, 01:20 PM

I'm well aware of that, my next project is a California coast biotope tank...I'm reasearching chillers as we speak...My friend doesn't have a tank so he doesn't understand that you can't throw anything in from anywhere...Thanks blown!

marinelife · 08/02/2006, 01:44 PM

yeah it was great to come out of the ocean and onto the beach and be covered in oil.

marinelife · 08/02/2006, 01:45 PM

My wife grew up around there and she said she would not trust that water

Crusty Old Shellback · 08/02/2006, 01:49 PM

NP.

I think someone else around here has set up a cold water system. It's probably posted in the SoCal forum.

Here's a link to a web page for the R.E.E.F. at UCSB. Maybe they can help you out some.
http://www.msi.ucsb.edu/Pages/educat.html

I know they collect specimens from the local area but you have to have a permit to do so. Maybe they can help you obtain one. Good luck.

Some related links.
http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/eemb/fac...r/seawater.php

http://www.dailynexus.com/news/2002/1994.html

Crusty Old Shellback · 08/02/2006, 01:52 PM

I've been using the water for a couple of years now and my tank looks a whole lot better than when I used ASW. There are others around here who have been using it even longer. UCSB even uses it in their research labs WITHOUT treating it since they return it back to the ocean.

You can also find out a little more about NSW here in this thread. Some have been using NSW for over 30 years.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=882077

HBtank · 08/02/2006, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by marinelife
yeah it was great to come out of the ocean and onto the beach and be covered in oil.

You don't have to exxagerate to make a point. There is no "oil covering everything" why are you trying to scare the guy?

The islands have awesome water quality, and is also where I get a bunch of my SW for my tank. Much less worrying about a shell...

What makes something safe in a LFS anyways, you think everything there is gathered from pristine virgin waters?

Your responses are pretty silly....

HBtank · 08/02/2006, 02:16 PM

Double post..

Sports Girl · 08/02/2006, 05:28 PM

I didn't want to get anything started...thanks to ALL for the opinions...And especially thanks to blown, if you're gonna do something, might as well do it the best and right the first time, which is my every intention...

marinelife · 08/02/2006, 05:51 PM

HBtank - In July of last year when I left the ocean I had oil on my body, my feet where black and that is no exxageration

blown63chevy uses NSW that is filtered

fishykid9212 · 08/02/2006, 06:21 PM

I took a large shell from the carribean and I just rinsed it in the sink and put it in the tank, no problems at all

Agu · 08/02/2006, 06:59 PM

I pick up interesting rocks, macroalgae, and coquinas from a beach on the gulf and add them directly to my tank all the time (except when there's red tide in the area).

Tanks are 2.5 and 3.5 years old without problems so far.

Clouded · 08/02/2006, 07:10 PM

let it sit in the sun for a week...that will help get alot of the stuff off of it...if you just let it sit out for a while everything will die...its like LR, if you were to let it sit for a long time you could at it to the tank with no problem...once something is dead and gone through the decomp. process...it is harmless.

Crusty Old Shellback · 08/03/2006, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by marinelife
HBtank - In July of last year when I left the ocean I had oil on my body, my feet where black and that is no exxageration

blown63chevy uses NSW that is filtered

My kids and I swim here all the time with no problems. The only "oil" is from our bodys. There are small gobs of tar that comes from the oil rigs that get's stuck to your fet occasionally but that's about it. No big oil slicks here around the islands.

As for the filtered water, it just goes thru a big rock and sand bed filter, that's it. Nothing fancy about that. They use the same type of filters on FW tanks and swimming pools.

Good luck with your tank Sports Girl. I'm sorry your thread degraded like it did when you were just trying to find out a little info on a shell.

08/02/2006, 09:31 AM	#1
Sports Girl Moved On Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Turlock, Ca. Posts: 369	Natural Decor in Tank A friend of mine took a dive trip to the Channel Islands and brought me back a gorgeous abalone shell (empty). If I boil it for a while, would it be okay to put in my reef tank? Any other suggestions for sanitizing it? Thanks!

08/02/2006, 10:36 AM	#3
marinelife Registered Member Join Date: May 2000 Location: Union, Ohio, USA Posts: 6,590	lots of nasties in that water, I would not risk it. __________________ I'm a SaltGeek are You? All LED since 2010. Current Tank Info: 375 Gallon Reef with siporax, all LED lighting, and Red Dragon 3 and Abyzz A200 on 2 closed loops.

08/02/2006, 01:02 PM	#6
Crusty Old Shellback MASVC OG Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Home of the FREE, Thanks to the BRAVE! Posts: 5,089	Nothing wrong with the water. I use it exclusivly in my tanks with no problems. I get it from UCSB. As for the shell, it was probably illegal to collect it, no matter even if it was dead so don't tell anyone where you got it from. You can just rinse it off and put in your tank or if your really worried, soak it in some water with a little bleach. Plain old clorene bleach, no fancy smelly stuff. Then soak it in regular ater for a while and then in water with clhorine remover. Then you should be good to go. I used to do that years ago in my SW tanks to clean my dead coral skeletons I had for decorations. Or you can just throw it in the tank and don't wory about it, it will be fine. __________________ Have you THANKED a Veteran lately for the freedoms you take for granted each day? Best quote ever! "This is a hobby for God sakes and so many people get so uptite. A "hobby" so it should be fun and not a cause to worry or go broke." Paul B Current Tank Info: Tankless for a while. RIP my 8+ yr old pair of Naso tangs, 4 + yr old Moorish Idol

08/02/2006, 01:09 PM	#8
Crusty Old Shellback MASVC OG Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Home of the FREE, Thanks to the BRAVE! Posts: 5,089	Don't let him bring anything back alive for you tank unless your keeping a cold water system. It won't last as they can't handle the temp change. I talked to a curator of the NSW system at UCSB about this. He's run some experiments and said that nothing survives the temp swing, fish, inverts corals, nothing. __________________ Have you THANKED a Veteran lately for the freedoms you take for granted each day? Best quote ever! "This is a hobby for God sakes and so many people get so uptite. A "hobby" so it should be fun and not a cause to worry or go broke." Paul B Current Tank Info: Tankless for a while. RIP my 8+ yr old pair of Naso tangs, 4 + yr old Moorish Idol

08/02/2006, 01:44 PM	#10
marinelife Registered Member Join Date: May 2000 Location: Union, Ohio, USA Posts: 6,590	yeah it was great to come out of the ocean and onto the beach and be covered in oil. __________________ I'm a SaltGeek are You? All LED since 2010. Current Tank Info: 375 Gallon Reef with siporax, all LED lighting, and Red Dragon 3 and Abyzz A200 on 2 closed loops.

08/02/2006, 10:04 AM	#2
BigReefing Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 454	I would boil it in roi water. Then I would let it dry out completly. Then rinse it in roi water agian and put it in. In my opinion that would work well.

08/02/2006, 12:57 PM	#4
Sports Girl Moved On Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Turlock, Ca. Posts: 369	With those two responses, I'm still at square one (but thanks for the input, big and mar). Anyone else for the tie breaker?

08/02/2006, 12:59 PM	#5
skeeter-doc Moved On Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: TX Posts: 1,643	you could always let it sit in some water, then after a week, test the water it is in to find out of anything leeched of the shell, ...

08/02/2006, 01:06 PM	#7
Sports Girl Moved On Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Turlock, Ca. Posts: 369	You are right about the shell, blown, I had no idea he was going to do that for me until he was back. (He wanted to bring back live things for my tank, but I nipped that in the bud before he even left...) Thank you, blown and skeeter!

08/02/2006, 01:20 PM	#9
Sports Girl Moved On Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Turlock, Ca. Posts: 369	I'm well aware of that, my next project is a California coast biotope tank...I'm reasearching chillers as we speak...My friend doesn't have a tank so he doesn't understand that you can't throw anything in from anywhere...Thanks blown!

08/02/2006, 01:45 PM	#11
marinelife Registered Member Join Date: May 2000 Location: Union, Ohio, USA Posts: 6,590	My wife grew up around there and she said she would not trust that water __________________ I'm a SaltGeek are You? All LED since 2010. Current Tank Info: 375 Gallon Reef with siporax, all LED lighting, and Red Dragon 3 and Abyzz A200 on 2 closed loops.

08/02/2006, 01:49 PM	#12
Crusty Old Shellback MASVC OG Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Home of the FREE, Thanks to the BRAVE! Posts: 5,089	NP. I think someone else around here has set up a cold water system. It's probably posted in the SoCal forum. Here's a link to a web page for the R.E.E.F. at UCSB. Maybe they can help you out some. http://www.msi.ucsb.edu/Pages/educat.html I know they collect specimens from the local area but you have to have a permit to do so. Maybe they can help you obtain one. Good luck. Some related links. http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/eemb/fac...r/seawater.php http://www.dailynexus.com/news/2002/1994.html __________________ Have you THANKED a Veteran lately for the freedoms you take for granted each day? Best quote ever! "This is a hobby for God sakes and so many people get so uptite. A "hobby" so it should be fun and not a cause to worry or go broke." Paul B Current Tank Info: Tankless for a while. RIP my 8+ yr old pair of Naso tangs, 4 + yr old Moorish Idol

08/02/2006, 01:52 PM	#13
Crusty Old Shellback MASVC OG Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Home of the FREE, Thanks to the BRAVE! Posts: 5,089	I've been using the water for a couple of years now and my tank looks a whole lot better than when I used ASW. There are others around here who have been using it even longer. UCSB even uses it in their research labs WITHOUT treating it since they return it back to the ocean. You can also find out a little more about NSW here in this thread. Some have been using NSW for over 30 years. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=882077 __________________ Have you THANKED a Veteran lately for the freedoms you take for granted each day? Best quote ever! "This is a hobby for God sakes and so many people get so uptite. A "hobby" so it should be fun and not a cause to worry or go broke." Paul B Current Tank Info: Tankless for a while. RIP my 8+ yr old pair of Naso tangs, 4 + yr old Moorish Idol

08/02/2006, 02:16 PM	#15
HBtank Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Huntington Beach, CA Posts: 2,957	Double post..

08/02/2006, 05:28 PM	#16
Sports Girl Moved On Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Turlock, Ca. Posts: 369	I didn't want to get anything started...thanks to ALL for the opinions...And especially thanks to blown, if you're gonna do something, might as well do it the best and right the first time, which is my every intention...

08/02/2006, 05:51 PM	#17
marinelife Registered Member Join Date: May 2000 Location: Union, Ohio, USA Posts: 6,590	HBtank - In July of last year when I left the ocean I had oil on my body, my feet where black and that is no exxageration blown63chevy uses NSW that is filtered __________________ I'm a SaltGeek are You? All LED since 2010. Current Tank Info: 375 Gallon Reef with siporax, all LED lighting, and Red Dragon 3 and Abyzz A200 on 2 closed loops.

08/02/2006, 06:21 PM	#18
fishykid9212 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Southern NH Posts: 1,470	I took a large shell from the carribean and I just rinsed it in the sink and put it in the tank, no problems at all

08/02/2006, 06:59 PM	#19
Agu Registered Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: Sarasota, Florida Posts: 30,279	I pick up interesting rocks, macroalgae, and coquinas from a beach on the gulf and add them directly to my tank all the time (except when there's red tide in the area). Tanks are 2.5 and 3.5 years old without problems so far. __________________ Less technology , more biology . Current Tank Info: 30 gallon half cube and 5.5, both reef tanks

08/02/2006, 07:10 PM	#20
Clouded Moved On Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Beaverton, OR Posts: 193	let it sit in the sun for a week...that will help get alot of the stuff off of it...if you just let it sit out for a while everything will die...its like LR, if you were to let it sit for a long time you could at it to the tank with no problem...once something is dead and gone through the decomp. process...it is harmless.