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use of coral fragments from beach in my tank

1747 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  houstonhimself
Aloha, I'm new to the cichlid world and also at using forums, please bear with me :) :-? . I recently purchased 3 1" yellow lab cichlids from my LFS. They currently reside in a 10 gal bare bottom tank with 1 coral fragment that I collected years ago from a beach. I cleaned it with high pressure water, then soaked it for approx. 1 wk. Its been in thier tank now since Apr. 21st. They absolutely love it, and can be found hanging out under or around it. They even like to pop out throgh a hole that goes right through it from time to time. Any way, my question is this: I live a block away from the beach, and even my yard has nice coral fragments in it (pets dig them up) :). If I clean them up properly (any suggestions) could they be my main decor in the tank? If so, is there a limit as to how many pieces I could use before it would if at all alter the water chemistry? Thank you all for your input. (MAHALO)
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Just make sure you clean them up well and they should be good to go. The only thing coral would do is make your water hardness go up, but many cichlids like Malawians and Tangs love that. The only ones that would not are Central and South American cichlids like angels, discus, Red Devils, etc.
just brush off all ur coral througholy then boil it like three times for an hour letting it cool slowly each time in the pot of water. i tried that and it really helped clean the coral out i think it may have even leeched some of the calcium and stuff out of it. (had to brush it off again after boiling) well good luck
I'll definately clean them up good :). I hope to have them in the tank soon. Does anyone know if I could create formations by gluing them together with aquarium safe silicone? That was an idea I had. Thank you
kuilima said:
I'll definately clean them up good :). I hope to have them in the tank soon. Does anyone know if I could create formations by gluing them together with aquarium safe silicone? That was an idea I had. Thank you
Yes, Aquarium safe silicone is just fine. I have also heard that some people using super glue to bond broken coral pieces back together
You can use GE Silicon I for anything going into your tank, it is only like $4 at Home Depot.

Good luck with you tank :thumb:
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