crushed oyster shells

[mountainfisherman]

can you use crushed oster shell for the media in the tank i found it at the feed mill (chicken food) 100% shells i've seen this used in making your own rock mixed with cement so can you use alone?
thank you

[mountainfisherman]

what 9 views and no opinions the shells at the feed mill are 100% oysters shell and the site i seen said you can you them in portland cement i got it here from RC i know it sounds goofy but southdown is the same as that $50 a bag stuff

[Aquabucket]

What do you mean by media exactly? As a substrate, sharp edges are not recomended for a variety of reasons.

[aurora]

Very interesting thought....

The only thing I would worry about is how clean they are. Most oysters are found in pretty muddy conditions and I'm not sure how much organic wastes and cruds are dried up in there. You may get a huge spike in ammonia if you add them directly to an established tank and that's never good. Then again that same mud may contain alot of micronutrient benificial in a refugium setting. I wonder is anyone ever try it in a refugium.

[mountainfisherman]

well it be going in a new tank so it would cycle and as dirty isn't everthing drity at frist? but i was looking in to it if they can use it to make rock with why not use it for substrate? it would be cheap

[coyoteseven]

I use oyster shell to make my DIY rock and it works great for that... as a substrate I wouldn't. It has sharp edges, worse than crushed coral (IMHO) and smells like a fishkill (bad enough to knock a buzzard off a crap wagon) for awhile after it gets wet. :hmm4: That's why I do my 'cooking' outdoors. :D

Just my 2¢ :smokin:

[mountainfisherman]

well i found southdown going now to get it coyoteseven what you think of using southdown instead of oystershells in the diy rock?

[Richard Tester]

I would use the SD and the crushed oystershell in the rock -- If you mix it right it should look great. and if you used the SD as the sand that is the mold for the rocks some of will stick to the cement in your rocks -- and this is kind of cool -- I think that it is called lace rock. if you do a search for it you should find some pics -- I think it's much more attractive than oyster shell.

[mountainfisherman]

thanks i will look around for more info johnson city not far from my home town of stinking creek TN

[Richard Tester]

that is neat -- where are you now? never heard of stinking creek.

[mountainfisherman]

2nd exit in to tn from I-75 35 mile north of knoxville now in mich by ann arbor

[coyoteseven]

I would love to get ahold of some Southdown/Old Castle, it's distributed initially right out of Ft. Pierce FL and sent to Pennsylvania to Old Castle to be bagged as play sand... unfortunately aragonite play sand is not sold in Florida, at least not within a 100 mile radius of my location.. In order to get some, I would have to drive 175 miles to the other side of the state to get it. And if I mentioned a breath of it being used for aquarium purposes, they wouldn't sell it to me (something about an exclusive right to Carib-Sea).

Any way, I have used aragonite sand and it makes a nice rock, though a little dense without some other fillers like crushed coral, oyster shell, plastic shavings, etc. But until I can get/borrow/rent a 1-2 ton truck to make a 'landscaping' sand run, I'm stuck with crushed oyster shell.

[mountainfisherman]

i just got 3 bads of it i think it would be very dense it is very hard to get aroung here too now what if i put the diy roch in a pond of water i have one in the front yard would that cure them?

[coyoteseven]

GARF cures their aragocrete, I believe (think I remember reading it somewhere on the site :confused: ), in the geothermal ponds around their facility. The final SW cure would more than likely kill off any FW bacteria/bugs/critters that might take up residence while it cured in the pond.

Just a word of caution, curing cement might raise the pH around 9-10 (or maybe only a bit) depending on the size of the body of water, the amount of rock being cured and the amount of water changed during curing (i.e. a running stream versus a stagnant pool).

[mountainfisherman]

well i do have creek around to but wish not to use them as now there getting salty from salt on the roads but the pond is about 8' deep little pond byt the groung water is high here like with a post hole digger you can hit water so i would think the water in the pond rund very slowly just i thought i had to make cureing easyer but i will more then likely do it the hard way i ever try to make rocks from great stuff foam today what weight in it and southdown on the sides of it but it expanded to much to fast for me to put the sand on it

[Richard Tester]

I cured my rocks in a rubbermade tub -- I let them set for 6-8 weeks in stagnant water and changed it twice a week -- after that a dropped in a powerhead and the ph dropped off very fast like in a week -- I gave them two more after that -- but I always checked the ph 2-3 days after turning off the powerhead. now they have been in my tank 14months and are finally starting to look decent.

If I had a creek avail. near me I would have bagged them in a mesh net of some sort and dropped them in -- then pulled them out after a month and tried the stagnent water soak to check the ph.

HTH

oh yeah I think I would rather be up north than in TN. I like the snow:)