Snails - Hardening Water And Calcium Sources

[nessar]

I have soft water in my area and my tank water is probably made even softer by the huge piece of bogwood I have for my pleco.

What can I add to make the water harder? I mean something I can keep in permenantly, I dont want to mess about with PH adjusters. I saw something about reef bones, what are these and do they work?

I also need something to add calcium, tried cuttlefish bones but never saw them eating it, any ideas?

edit: I dont have any apple snails currently as they died of a disease a few months back, but they and my ramshorn snails always had the white rough bits on their shells from lack of calcium/water softness.

 

[KittyKat]

Reef bones are my choice for these cases!

 

[nessar]

Reef bones are my choice for these cases!

What do they DO exactly, harden the water? How much do you think I would need? (60 litre tank)

 

[KittyKat]

I think they work because they are (basically) dead coral skeleton (add lots of years to make them into the shape they are) which is rich in calcium, so they will leach calcium back into the water and act as a buffer. Same principle as coral sand in the filter.

For a 60 litre tank, I would start with maybe 2 10*10*20 cm pieces maybe..

 

[loraxchick]

ill offer a different and probably cheaper/easier to find alternative.
Get some clams, have a clam steam, boil the shells, put in ziplock bag and smash with a hammer. Put the crushed shells in the filter or spread them out in the tank. Will slowly raise the pH and buffer the water. For calcium supplements for the snails use Tums (antacid tablets). Always have great luck with the snails eating them, but never had success with the cuttlebones.
I also have very very soft water, and this has worked very well for me. Really, there are 2 considerations for the snails-raising the pH and getting them to ingest some calcium for nice healthy shell growth-hence the tums. Simply buffering the water might not be enough for healthy shells, it would just not degrade the shells by the acidic water leeching minerals from them. They still need to eat the minerals for healthy shell growth.
Hope that helps. And good luck with your snails
cheers

 

[nessar]

ill offer a different and probably cheaper/easier to find alternative.
Get some clams, have a clam steam, boil the shells, put in ziplock bag and smash with a hammer. Put the crushed shells in the filter or spread them out in the tank. Will slowly raise the pH and buffer the water. For calcium supplements for the snails use Tums (antacid tablets). Always have great luck with the snails eating them, but never had success with the cuttlebones.
I also have very very soft water, and this has worked very well for me. Really, there are 2 considerations for the snails-raising the pH and getting them to ingest some calcium for nice healthy shell growth-hence the tums. Simply buffering the water might not be enough for healthy shells, it would just not degrade the shells by the acidic water leeching minerals from them. They still need to eat the minerals for healthy shell growth.
Hope that helps. And good luck with your snails
cheers

Where would I get clams, would the a supermarket have some do you think, you mean live/cooked clams right? (with the actual body removed of course). How much do you think it would change the PH?

Have just ordered some tums.

Also, if I do get something to raise my PH, do I have to be carefuul with how big water changes I do so as to not change the PH suddenly? I currently do 60-70% a week (I have high nitrates)

 

[Alasse]

I use liquid calcium (marine) for my apples, works brilliantly. I add around 2ml for a 2ft (88litre) & 4ml to 2ft (140litre) tank. The other tanks where i dont use this calcium, the snails detriorate until it ends up killing them

 

[loraxchick]

yes you can get clams in the supermarket. Just steam them in a bit of water until their shells open and eat them (if you like to eat clams). Id say half dozen or so would be plenty for the tank. It will not dramatically change the pH right away so dont expect instant results. But as they are in the tank the shells slowly leach minerals into the water which buffers it and raises the pH. I havent noticed any rapid swings after a waterchange. Far easier and certainly cheaper to find clam shells than coral bits and they serve the same exact purpose.
All the best
cheers

edit to remove double post

 

[BigbruiserAl]

My 2p worth, i breed apple snails my current batch are bright bright yellow with lovley shells despite my crappy water ph of 6.4. The snails leech every single thing they can out of the water to help with their shells. I dont like to use buffers so i do 2 things.

Scoobie snacks: 1 cup of dry cat food, 2 crushed alge wafers, 3 calium pills, 1 cup of ready break and mixed all with honey so you have a sticky dough like substance. Place in the ice cube trays and freeze then just drop one in the tank and watch....my 300 apple snails go to war over these.

Tums, yes tums (google) tablets used for Indigestion very rich in calium and the blue poo make sme laugh


Hope it helps

 

[wodesorel]

When I kept apple snails I mixed in aragonite substrate (pre-washed and freshwater safe) to buffer my pH and also provide calcium. I used it for almost three years and replaced it after the snails died, and a good portion of the substrate had dissolved as there was a heck of a lot less in the tank than I had originally put in. It made a very big difference in the pH of my tank, and it helped keep everything stable. (I also supplemented with liquid calcium and iodine from the marine section of the pet store.) Everyone's water chemistry is going to be different though, so even adding crushed shells or coral (aragonite) may not make a huge difference.