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I have snails in my planted 10 gallon tank so i remove them regularly and stick them into my 20 gallon community tank where one of my yoyo's makes quick work of it. I put usually a couple small snails in there per day 2-10mm in size and i was just wondering if these shells cause any problems to water? Such as raising PH etc. They dont come out when i vacuum the gravel so i was just wondering if i shoudl try and pick them all out by hand or will they not really cause much harm. Thanx.

Hi,
Snail shells are primarely a carbonate, which could
affect your water chemistries. BUT, it would take
thousands of them to do that. Actually crushed
oyster shells are used in place of aquarium gravel
in freshwater tanks to maintain the high pH necessary
for the African Rift Fish. They are also used in
saltwater tanks to maintain the high pH, and to
provide other elements necessary for marine life.

My primary concern would be the ability for particles
to get trapped inside the shells that could lead
to the polution of the tank. Bits of food, or parts
of the previous inhabitant decaying could cause problems.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Simple, do not worry about it..

You do water changes right? No worries there okay.

-- Gomer

The snail shells are just too small and too few for them to affect the water. But like frank said, dirt could get a problem, but a simple solution is putting a gravel vac over them to suck out the dirt, or simply turning them a little to move it out.