Bones

[Aaroneous]

So what are your thoughts on adding old cow bones to a tank? I found an almost complete cow skeleton on the farm years back, gathered it up, soaked the bones in bleach water and rinsed ‘em. I was going to make a creature out of them, but never finished. Used them as Halloween decorations…anyway they’ve just been sitting around for years getting bleached out by the sun and I thought I could make good use of them in my tank. The bone is porous and the hip bones and vertebrae make some cool shapes. The skull would look :smokin: too but Im not sure how the wife would feel about that. Anybody see any reason this would be a bad idea? Its been long enough, I doubt there is any marrow still in them.

 

[vanmo92]

I know cow bones do not occur naturally in the ocean so it is hard to say if it is safe or not.

 

[notquitemusashi]

was it a sea cow?

 

[Aaroneous]

I never knew there really was a sea cow :lol:


From what I gathered, bones are mainly made of Calcium Phosphate. The calcium part might work good as a buffer, but the phosphate would most likely be bad. Im not a chemist so I don’t know if the phosphate leaves when the bone is “dead” or sits around. Structurally its perfect, but chemically Im not sure. Maybe Ill experiment with a small piece in a small tank, or maybe not. Thought maybe I was on to something “outside of the box”
:rollface:

 

[vanmo92]

Ever heard of a manatee. thats the same as a sea cow. (right?)

 

[snorvich]

Why would you want to do this?

 

[Aaroneous]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12492382#post12492382 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snorvich
Why would you want to do this?

Why not? If it was to work, it would be free. Once colonized by bacteria, would provide good filtration because of the porous structure. As I stated before, the shapes are interesting; especially the skull. Its different/unique.

Here is an interesting article I came across about whale bones, and even cow bones, in the ocean and the biological life that was found. I liked this statement "We learn from the uncommon" - Vrijenhoek
http://www.mbari.org/news/homepage/2008/boneworm.html

vanmo92- yeah, Id heard that as a reference to manatees. The one in the picture is an extinct species and I didn’t but 2 & 2 together in my haste. Thought it was an entirely different animal.

 

[LionfishFinatic]

I don't see why you can't. what i would do first is test them in a tub of saltwater for a week or two, let them "cure" test the water and go from there. treat them as uncured live rock or marco rock. The only thing that might happen even if it does work, would be the bones would start to break down underwater and you would lose them forever. than that and possible leeching, I son't see why not???

****Also if they do break down, just go kill another cow and start over


JK JK JK JK JK

 

[LionfishFinatic]

post pics when you do it as well

 

[Icefire]

As he said, it will leach phosphate