Oyster Shell cured for LR

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dfwsoundtech

Im fairly new to the hobby and wondering what some of ya'lls thoughts would be about curing large clusters of dry oyster shell in a fuge. My mother lives in southeast texas near port arthur and has a pile of oyster shells (was intended for the driveway but didnt get used) that has been sitting dry for several years. Im wondering how beneficial it would be to throw some in my fuge and let it cure into liverock just for use in a refugium. I know it wouldnt look good in the main tank. But I thought with all the calcium content it may do well. Thoughts?
 
Hi,

Shouldn't hurt but it may raise PH a bit. Only issue I see is that it will trap a large amount of detritus and may then turn into a small nitrate factory. I would also wash the snot out of them before putting them in the fuge, also toss in a few small pieces of LR to help seed it quicker. Interested in hearing how it turns out....keep us updated.

Cheers,
 
Thanks Bimmerz, Think I may start with a small amount and see what happens. My mom literally has a dump truck load that is free for the taking so I plan to go fill several large boxes. I plan to go down there in a few weeks to get some. If anyone else wants some to try Im sure she will be happy to get rid of it. Limited on how much i can bring back at a time being its about a 350 mile drive. but I go visit about every 3 to 5 weeks. The clusters are are from fist size to some nearly fottball size. all very very clean and has been in the sun for 2 to 3 years. what i looked at has no flesh matter what so ever left on it.
 
If you run a ca reactor you can use it for media. I used to buy bags of thick crushed coral and there was ton of different types of shells in there


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if you are worried about the ph, just fill up a 5g bucket half way and poor water in to it and see what the ph levels are doing. or even cure it for a couple weeks in buckets before putting them in the fuge. just my .02
 
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