harden my water

Depending on what type of shrimp you get, soft water is preferred actually.

I keep snails and shrimp with a gH of 1-2

Rather than mess around with the Ph, what I do is add some hikari crab cuisine pellets to the tank each day, both the shrimp and snails love them. Also you could put some cuttlebone in the tank for the snails to munch on and some high in calcium green vegetables like, collards, dandelion leaves, cabbage etc

thanks!

I've put a cuttle bone in the filter, but now I tuck them in the back of the tank out of sight. The shrimp pick at it and it slowly dissolves which helps the snails. It doesn't affect the hardness significantly, my 20g is KH of 4, which is what my tap is, and my 13g has a KH of 2.

-Lisa

Kunsthure said:

I've put a cuttle bone in the filter, but now I tuck them in the back of the tank out of sight. The shrimp pick at it and it slowly dissolves which helps the snails. It doesn't affect the hardness significantly, my 20g is KH of 4, which is what my tap is, and my 13g has a KH of 2.

-Lisa

Click to expand...

where do you get the cuttle bone from? is it the same as what you buy for birds?

yup

KC1 said:

i think my water is pretty soft and i would like to keep some snails. so what can i do to harden my water for some snails and shrimp?

Click to expand...

Seachem equilibrium would be the easiest. You can also use montmorillonite clay, oyster shells, etc if money is tight.

The important thing with snails is to make sure the water has some calcium.

Actually calcium in the water column doesn't do much if not anything at all. Dietary calcium is a LOT more important.

Having soft water with inverts and snails doesn't matter, as long as they are provided calcium in their diet.

with a low pH (less than 7) the shells of most snails will slowly erode and no amount of calcium in the water column or diet will stop it from happening. Even some snails from high pH lakes will still erode in a pH of 7 (rabbit snails, sulawesi nerites).

Dietary calcium is always important for snails, they need it to form their shells. As far as putting calcium into the water column, not so important because in the amounts you'd dose, it wouldn't turn acidic water basic enough to make a difference.

Some snails that do better in lower pH (6.5-7.0) are japanese trapdoor, malaysian trumpet snails and ramshorns.

thanks guy's. any info is greatly appreciated

What about the 3 day fish feeders the little white blocks you put in your tank to feed fish while you are on vacation. The very first ingredient is calcium sulfate. Is that good source of calcium? Thanks