I have some beautiful shells from the beach, and have soaked them in fresh water, dried them in the sun, soaked them again and dried them. What else should I do? Can I put these in my tank? They're flat shells.

I can't see a problem with putting them in your tank now. normally, the sea is quite clean so you shouldn't have anything nasty on the shells. If you think about it, you can buy cockles and mussels that have been frozen straight from the shells and they had never caused my Oscars any harm.

iv got a question along the same lines as pooky,i was looking at geting some volcanic (dark red in colour) rock from a beach near me,is there any prob with putting that in a tank

as far as I know, volcanic rock is perfectly okay for a fish tank. However, a lot of it is very jagged and sharp so be careful. Definitely give it a wash and maybe soak it in some water for a few days

just to add, you have to remember that because of the minerals in many rocks, it can alter your pH. So fuel rocks have been in the water for a while, check your pH to see what it's doing. Many people use rock as a buffer to lower the pH. so if you've already got a very low pH, keep a close eye on your pH for quite a while

i have always boiled everything i add to my tank as u never know exactly whats been crawling over it.

i suggest to boil up a big pot of water and toss the volcanic rock/shells from beach into the pot and give it a good boil b4 u put it in yr tank

Before adding any rock to your tank pop some vinegar on it, if it fizzes dont put in the tank

I had a friend who kept goldfish and someone gave her some coral ornament from a salt water tank, her fish kept dying after a while and we finally worked out the ornament (process of elimination) was leaching salt back into the tank and killing the goldfish. Make sure the rock doesnt absorb salt

In the UK it is illegal to take rocks from the beach. The cheapest place to get rocks is from garden centres