Which calcium for MTS?

[fish_4_all]

Well I plan to try this again but I want to get things right this time so my MTS don't die. I am fairly certain, after eliminating everything else, that it is a calcium issue. My plants are probably using it up and the pond snails are using it before the MTS get any use out of the little that is in my tanks.

The question is, what calcium should I get in order to help them survive and turn over my gravel without adversely affecting my tank chemistry?

 

[Tostada]

Sorry to make an unhelpful post ... but WOW ... the only problems I've seen people have with MTS is having them overrun their tank and not being able to get rid of them.

I'm no expert, but if your plants are sucking all the calcium out of the water, I suppose you'd need something like a 14-day feeder block that they could actually crawl on and get some calcium. The Penn-Plax ones have the most calcium I've seen (Meijer has a 2-pack for $1.99 if you have them out there).

 

[gfink]

I thought adding crushed coral to the filter would add calcium. It will also effect other parameters. I also have problems with very soft water, and my apple snail's shell deteriorated over time.

 

[7Enigma]

Crushed coral is calcium carbonate which will increase the calcium levels in the tank but will also increase the KH of the water over time. This is a good, slow release method of ensuring calcium is present in the tank, but I prefer to use calcium chloride, since I like EXACT values.

This can be purchased by any chemical supply store, and as long as your dosing small amounts and doing normal routine water changes the small amount of salt will not harm anything in the tank (plants will actually probably like it, since they use chloride sparingly). This is preferable IMO since your not changing the KH of the water (which will raise the pH), and you know exactly how much is being added.

It's also possible they make calcium sulfate, which would be preferred over calcium chloride, but I'm not sure... One thing also to consider is the ability for these substances to dissolve in the water, obviously crushed coral stays as crushed coral for a while in the tank because calcium carbonate does not readily dissolve in water. Calcium chloride readily dissolves in water and that's why I prefer it.

 

[Guest]

FWIW, i actually feed my snails repti-cal. I have tons of it laying around for my frogs/toads/geckos.

It is cheap and lasts forever. I just soak their foodstuffs in a solution of dissolved repti-cal and tank water when I feel they need it. I figure you could even just srpinkle it in the water/on the substrate even.

 

[joannde]

If you don't want to use vacation feeders (which might cloud the water) you can put a small (nickel sized) piece of cuttlebone (sold in the pet bird dept) into the tank. You can also feed high calcium foods like kale (microwave it for a few seconds to soften it a bit).

 

[fish_4_all]

Lots of good ideas and hopefully I will be ready for them when I get some more. I think I actually starved them because my gravel was so clean, which makes absolutely no sense. Not with BN in both tanks. Maybe I vacuum the gravel too well. 8O

If I get reptical, does anyone know how much I would dose to get the correct ratio of CA:Mg? isn't it 4:1?

Maybe I will just order calcium sulfate from gregs or his GH booster so that I have the calcium in the tank. My pond snails seem happy but they do show signs of lack of calcium so think I need to suppliment anyway. I need it for EI anyway so might as well get it.