Snails and Water Hardness Question

[Pranicmegan]

I'm still relatively new at this, but I've been researching lots.

I read that snails need calcium in the water for their shells. So I'm wondering if having lots of snails in your tank will reduce the calcium levels thus affecting the water hardness.
I'm not an expert on water hardness and ph, but I've worked out that water hardness has to do with levels of certain minerals (or something) and calcium is one of these.

I've read a lot on PH and water hardness, and frankly I'm lost. All I have managed to do is work out they are connected somehow, but how I am cloudy about.

If I have a snail explosion will it drop my PH and should I worry about it?

Also ... I am TRYING to maintain a PH neutral tank which I'm finding next to impossible .... I read here on the blog to give those chemical PH adjusters a miss so I have .... so I thought maybe a few extra snails would keep the water more neutral ... ??

We are always in drought, hardly any rain to speak of. I do collect water when it rains .... but not near enough to keep up with weekly water changes. So I just don't know what to do.

At this stage I HAVE given up trying to maintain PH neutral ...

 

[rkilling1]

Ca++ and Mg++ make up the majority of GH (General hardness) . These do not in themselves effect pH. IE Lowering your GH will not have an effect on your pH. Now KH (carbonate hardness) is the parameter that does have a direct effect on ones pH.

 

[Purrbox]

Rkilling1 has already answered your original question about calcium.

I would strongly recommend that you stop trying to control your pH. A stable pH is much more important that a "ideal" instable pH. The only time you really need a specific pH is when trying to breed certain fish that won't breed in other conditions.

 

[Pranicmegan]

Yes I have given up attempting to control my PH.

I just asked this question in the slight hope that snails may help without too much fussing about.

The only fish I am sort of concerned about is the Black Ghost Knifefish, as I've never had one of these before.
But so far he seems ok with the tank slightly alkaline. (sigh)

Purrbox ... can you explain to me, or link me with a good (easy to understand) article on what you just posted ... about General Hardness and Carbonate Hardness ?

This seems EVEN MORE complicated that working out the Cycle and I thought THAT was hard!

 

[jsoong]

Try this one:
Beginner FAQ: Water Chemistry

 

[Purrbox]

Purrbox ... can you explain to me, or link me with a good (easy to understand) article on what you just posted ... about General Hardness and Carbonate Hardness ?

I believe that that you probably meant to address this to Rkillling1, but which part are you have a problem understanding?

Basically while GH and KH are both referred to as hardness, they are measuring differnt types of hardness which don't have much if any relation to each other. KH is a measure of carbonates, the buffer that keeps the pH stable. GH on the other hand is mostly a measure of Calcium and Magnesium.

 

[Pranicmegan]

Thanks Rkilling1, Jsoong and Joy.

I'm sorta getting my head around this.