please tell me theres something to feed calcium to my snails

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You need to find out how hard your water is first.

if you have a high pH that means you water is very hard [ if I recall correctly ]

So if you have a Ph higher than 7.5, I would say just increase your water change freqency.
 
my ph is 7.6 but my hardness is 7x14.9. thats like 105 ppm hardness or sumtin. and i consider that pretty soft./

could u feed them people calcium vitamin tablets? i read somewhere that u ca go to a pharmacy and just buy calcium tabs there
 
Why not try putting some shells into your tank. The calcuim will leech out over time, and perhaps the snails could even get some by sucking directly on them.
 
I tried keeping garden snails a few years ago and their shells slowly degenerated too. They were even trying to ingest each other's shells and managed to do some damage. At that point, I just let them go back into the garden.

Your water is twice as hard as mine! And my water is neutral 6.8 - 7.0. Ha, no wonder my poor ramshorn snail fell apart in a matter of weeks.
I would try putting in some seashells - you could also try some crushed coral.
Do be aware that this will make your water hardness and pH creep upward over time and some fish may not be able to tolerate the change.
 
oh so seashells change ph? i heard you can put those calcium tabs u buy at the pharmacy and feed it to them and i dont think itll change the ph and its at 7.2 right now. for snails 7.2 is better then 6.8. and ph doesnt go by hardness i think its like alkaline and acidic or something
 
Sea shell is just calcium carbonate, same stuff in the calcium tabs. So both will raise your hardness and the pH.

The pH is related to hardness. For technical explanation:

pH is measuring the amount of H+ - hydrogen ions - that is a measure of acidity.

The amount of H+ is directly proportionate to the bicarbonate level (that is KH) <& other buffers>

General hardness (GH) measures the Ca++, Mg++, & other positive ions (but not Na+ - common salt).

If you add Ca++, you are also adding negative ions (you must have electrical neutrality in any substance). In seahells & Ca tabs, the negative ions are carbonates (or bicarbonates), so you are also raising the KH & so the pH as well.

So, unless you are adding CaCl2 <Calcium chloride>, you will end up raising the KH & pH when you add calcium.

BTW, I don't think CaCl2 will be that great for snails. The shell is CaCO3 - remember? So they need the carbonates as well. YOu may as well add the seashell & raise both the KH & GH (& pH).
 
I see also that you are also using peat to lower the pH. The way I understand it, peat removes the CaCo3 from the water - this is how your pH goes down. So you ae defeating the purpose of adding Ca for the snail .... or you adding Ca will counteract the effect of the peat.

I think you are fighting against yourself. You can't really have low pH and high GH/KH unless you add a ton of chemical buffer <this is NOT recommended - makes water unstable>.

The only other way I can see is to have high GH/KH & add CO2 to lower the pH.

You might have to find a happy medium with the pH that will work for both the snails & the fish.
 
The easiest way to add the calcium they need is to go to the pet store and buy the cuttlebone that you use for birds beaks (that white stuff) and break it into pieces. Put one piece in the tank (it will float for a while but eventually it will fall the the floor of the tank) and put another piece in your filter if you have an hang on the back type filter or a place to insert it in whatever type of filter you have. I use the cuttlebone for all my snails.
 
ic wut u mean. not all that science scrap (no offence on the time u put into it) but i guess either high ph or low gh/kh maybe i can put some of that cuttlebone stuff. then i take out the peat. after the snails eat for a lil while. i can put the peat back in? err thatll fluxuate the ph too muchr ight?
 
No prob on the science stuff. I usu. try to explain why something is. I think you can have a better handle on how the tank work if you understand why, rather than just blindly following a "recipe".

Cuttlebone is pretty much Ca carbonate as well - works same as seashells.

I wouldn't move the pH around like you suggested krap. Swings in pH is much worse for the fish than a stable but "wrong" pH. Most fish will adapt to a somewhat higher or lower pH. So unless you have discus or some other sensitive fish, I would adapt the fish to a higher pH - like 7.5 - & leave it there.
 
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