Sea Fish Ornamental
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 5 pcs Aquarium Tank Plastic Sea Fish Ornamental Decor  US $5.83
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 5pcs Aquarium Tank Ornamental Plastic Floating Sea Fish US $5.16
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Sea Fish Ornamental
Is it true that putting sea shells in a tank or pond helps the PH level and is good for ornamental goldfish?
A man at an aquarium told me this once so now I always throw a few shells in with my fish. Only a few of course, and prewashed.
Shells will tend to buffer the pH of a tank up to about 8.0. The effect is slow, depending on the water pH and how much shell.
What actually happens is that if you have acidic water, below 7.0, the acids in the water will begin to dissolve the shells. This release calcium salts into the water, and that brings the hardness and ph up a little. Once the pH gets up around 8, no more dissolves, and the pH wont go any higher.
Now if your tap water already has some hardness and a pH of 7.5 or more, then the shells wont have any effect.
If you are using soft rainwater with a pH of 6 or so, you may see the pH creep up over time, although each time you change the water, it's going to drop again.
But, after all this, goldfish are NOT fussy about pH or water hardness, so it's usually best to just leave the water alone and keep things stable. Dropping a few shells in probably wont do any harm either, just it's not something the fish NEED.
Ian
Setting up of an aquarium of ornamental fishes : Method demo