Snails And Ph

[three-fingers]

I'm thinking of buying some MTS or more likely spike tail MTS (i figure if i get too many these will be easier to sell on, plus they look cooler) sometime in the near future, and on the snailshop.co.uk it says:

pH 7.0 - 8.5 (less than 7.0 and shells corrode)

Well my pH is 6.5, so i was wondering if adding 'kent marine liquid calcium' rom my lfs or 'snailstrong liquid calcium' from snailshop(snailstrong is twice as expensive) would stop the shells corroding?
And would either alter my pH or anything else?
Thanks .

 

[voo]

I've never used either of those products, but i think adding calcium might alter your pH? I'm not sure.
What other fish do you have in the tank? Is there any reason why you cant bring the pH up to 7? If not, then you could try adding coral grit to your filter. It'll slowly bring up the pH to 7 and keep it there.

 

[Lynz781]

If you end up getting some of those spike tails, you could send some babies my way

I am in the same posish as you. Do you happen to have any wood in your tank? Cuz thats what makes my water acidic. But I need it for the clown plec I have. My pH is around six too. But with water changes you can temporarily change this. I am also adding liquid calcium and don't know if this helps. I also thought abotu adding cuttle fish bone as I read on the snail shop that it depends on how acidic the water is to breakdown and release the calcium, which is fine as my water is acidic but yeh in general, acidic water is baaad.

I've got an apple snail I've had in my tank for over a year now. He's HUUUGE but has a badly corroded shell. But he's still going.

What I need to do is set up another aquarium without wood so that the pH will stay around neutral but I ain't got no room.

Also we have soft water which is not desirable when it comes to snails.

 

[littleme1969]

As said above Wood will bring down PH. You need to counteract this in some way.
What is your tap water PH? Find this out by leaving about 12 hours after drawing off then testing.
Are you adding any Co2?? this again can reduce the PH of your water very quickly . If you have PH so low then you probably have a low Hardness too. Its good to get a test kit and test both your tank and your tap water, then work out what is causing the drop if any.
I had the same problem in my tank as I have breeding plecs and so large amount of bogwood. I got round this by adding Crushed coral to both my filter and my substrate and doing 40% water changes a week (not easy in a 95g tank lol) But it does the job great. It takes about 2 weeks after adding it for it to stabalise your tank, but keep up until it does. Ph of about 7 is far better for most fish anyhow.
I did read somewhere that if your PH gets below 6.5 it can kill your bacteria levels quickly, thus causing an amonia and nitrate spike. But I think thats if you have a sudden crah rather than a long standing low PH problem.
Sorry for prattling on..lol

 

[three-fingers]

Hmmm. Looks like im not going to get snails for a little while . I too have wood for my sailfin plec, and my tetras probably appreciate the slightly acidic water(they spawn quite alot). I'll try adding the crushed coral to my filter next time im at the lfs and have money(could be a while ) to bring my pH up to 7. One question though,after it reaches 7, does it keep going? .
Thanks for the replies .
Also, if anyone happens to know if calcium alters the ph, please let me know .

 

[fishwatcher]

I have tons of MS snails in my tanks. I also have a small piece of cuttlebone in them. They all are doing great, reproducing a quick as you please. My ph is 6.4-6.6 in each tank, and they all have a piece of driftwood in them. I think you should try it, if the snails won't cost much. My apple snails do ok, but I can tell their shells aren't as strong as they should be. But, again, they keep growing!

 

[littleme1969]

Hmmm. Looks like im not going to get snails for a little while . I too have wood for my sailfin plec, and my tetras probably appreciate the slightly acidic water(they spawn quite alot). I'll try adding the crushed coral to my filter next time im at the lfs and have money(could be a while ) to bring my pH up to 7. One question though,after it reaches 7, does it keep going? .
Thanks for the replies .
Also, if anyone happens to know if calcium alters the ph, please let me know .

The Crushed coral will act as a buffer. and no, it wont keep going up It usually will raise PH about 0.5 and not much more, depending on how much you are adding to your tank.
Calcium .. you would have to add alot of the stuff to get any PH change. Its very expensive also. Crushed coral is the same stuff only in solid form and cost far less in comparison.

 

[voo]

I use CO2 in one of my tanks and so i use the crushed coral (usually used in marine tanks), in my filter to bring the pH to around 7.

I bought the smallest bag they had, but only needed a cup full. That would last you a year? The cupfull that is...I havent noticed mine go down at all and it's been 2 months at least.

 

[three-fingers]

Ok, thanks people . I'll start using the crushed coral as soon as i have time to go to the lfs and buy some and as soon as i have any cash .

 

[voo]

It's only £2-3 for a small bag of it. If you was near i could have given you some of what i have.