sea shells in tank

I just got back from a weekend at the beach and found a few seashells there that I would like to place in my tank. Is there any harm in doing this? I didn't think there would be, but I wanted to make sure. I have washed them with fresh water and let them dry. Any other precautions I should do?

 

Go ahead and put them in.

No problem if well cleaned up.

Just make sure no bits of animal left in. --- I used to clean up sea shells I collected by putting in an ant hill for couple of weeks.

 

I would bake them or boil them just to be sure there is nothing on them that may harm the tank. 150F for about 1 hour should not harm the shell

J

 

the only bad thing i can think of about having shells is if you allow dirt to settle in them.a clean sand bed won't collect debrea like one with lots of shells.but if it looks good and you want them,just blow the dirt out once in awhile.i simulate a mini huricane once in awhile anyway,just to allow the filter to suck up all the sediment

 

I tried that and it didn't take long before they were covered in purple coraline algae and you can't even tell what it is now it looks like a rock.....