Tank "decor"

Hi everyone. I haven't been around for awhile and I missed reading all this good stuff. There is something I am curious about. In all the tanks I have seen, I never see anyone use sea shells or possibly old clam shells for decoration. Is there a reason for that or is it just preference? Same with dead corals. Is it just not considered authentic? Any thoughts?

 

long back i used many sea shells and it looked pretty good IMO. but then as i got more and more coral slowly i had to take them out to make some room for them. ill see if i can find a picture. (idk if i still have any)

 

I used decorative coral and shells in my fish only tank. Even had a huge 10" conch shell in there. Problem is one of algae growth. You have to keep cleaning them.

 

Well, my guess is that it's personal preference. Rock looks more natural. However, you can add shells or dead coral if you want, it just shouldn't be the main structure in the tank. There isn't enough surface area for the bacteria to colonize where rock there is much more.

 

I was driving, and swerved a little bit, even though both hands were on the wheel. Someone honked at me.
I have a ton of shells in my tank. They look nice in the black sand. The hermit crabs also used them a couple times as well. I also have two pieces of fake coral that look pretty real.

 

i used to have shells in mine... they look pretty natural to me...



shells, once there is no longer a snail living it, begin to deteriorate. I had one the size of a softball that after about 6 months was more holes than shell. The Ca in them precipitates back out.

So, like said above, don't use them in the structure bc they will collapse eventually.

Sometimes I use left over nerite shells to glue frags and zoa colonies to it.

Live Rock/Base rock is dead coral... so really, that's what you're using. Dead coral (like a big branching dead euphenellia) is pretty much as pourous and beneficial as regular LR... there just ins't much of it compared to a big chunk of rock...

 

Thanks! You guys are giving me some really good info.