Can I put this in my reef tank?

[Tcox]

Hi RC,

My mother in law (famous last words right?) harvested a barnacle cluster from a local beach. They are dead and dry as a bone. Would it be safe to cure the heck out of this cluster for a month or so then incorporate it in my tank?

 

[mcgyvr]

I've put many into my tanks before straight from the beach/rinsed off in water or after a good bleaching..
No need to cure the heck out of it..

Its fine/safe

 

[billdogg]

^^^What he said^^^

A grouping of barnacles at the front and center of my tank was home to a black sailfin blennie for several years. He has since passed on, and the barnacles have become so encrusted with corals that you can hardly tell what they once were.

 

[Tcox]

Thank you all! Go team!

 

[Ron Reefman]

I collect stuff from the beach several times a year, some of it like your barnacles, but most of it live. I find porcelain crabs, pistol shrimp, tiny serpent stars, anemones, clams, chitons, limpets and more. Most have been freshly washed up on the beach after a storm and stay alive living in sponges or attached to bigger shells. I've never quarantined any of it, 85% to 90% of it survives and I've never had any issues. The small stars don't do well out of the water even when living inside a sponge. The crabs and shrimp do much better, nearly a 100% survival rate. I've been doing this for about 10 years and all 4 of my tanks have been problem free.