oyster shells in cannister

Hi All,

Just upgraded to a bigger cannister filter and has got some extra room.
Was wondering, it it is ok tp put oyster shell in a cannister filter?
Anyone tried before?

Thanks for answers.cheers.

[issacyeo]

yes u can but i feel it would be a waste of media space.

Not only what Bro Issac had advised you, bro. I had tried it before. All the fish waste will gather in the space that water flow will not able to reached. In the end, you will see alot of fish poo when you wash them.

[Jon-san]

Waste of space vs chemical filtration vs coral chip disintegrating into powder form and getting blown into your tank. Dilemma! Why not just use Baking Soda?

Originally Posted by issacyeo

yes u can but i feel it would be a waste of media space.

Agree with you. Mine is a 4 by 1.5 ft tank and currently running with 2 canister filters (2 and 3 tray). I have one of the canister output go through a ohf just for oyster shell. So, to get rid of the ohf, I thought of upgrading the 2
Tray to a 4 tray and transfer the oyster shells to canister instead.

Originally Posted by sloke

Not only what Bro Issac had advised you, bro. I had tried it before. All the fish waste will gather in the space that water flow will not able to reached. In the end, you will see alot of fish poo when you wash them.

Oh. That will be a problem.

Originally Posted by Jon-san

Waste of space vs chemical filtration vs coral chip disintegrating into powder form and getting blown into your tank. Dilemma! Why not just use Baking Soda?

Baking soda? You mean to wash the filter?

[llewellyn]

Originally Posted by jaicharu26

Baking soda? You mean to wash the filter?

nope, its for the same reason why you need oyster shell in the first place .... to buffer your PH.

[Fins&Tails]

Break the os into smaller pieces. Place them on their sides in the canister tray so water can flow evenly throughout every piece

Originally Posted by jaicharu26

Baking soda? You mean to wash the filter?

Yes buffer is important to lower the pH fluctuations. Baking soda aka Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO3) will seperate to Na+ and HCO3- when add to water and HCO3- will neutralize any H+(Acidic) or OH-(Basic) thus keeping pH constant.

Buy the pure baking powder like "Arm & Hammer", available in supermarkets for cheap.

Hope that helps.

[Jon-san]

Baking soda also helps to raise the water's carbonate hardness (kh) as well. With sufficiently high kh, ph fluctuates lesser = more stable ph.