Brimstonepdx

I had bought a bottle of Kent Marine Liquid calcium for my snail jello making experiment. Now I am wondering if I can just add it directly to the tank. I know it would be good for the snails but would it harm my other fish? And if it wont directly harm the fish would it raise the pH lvls?

Brimstonepdx

Any of our more experienced people have suggestions on this one?

Tony G.

patiece my friend, im sure someone will see this thread shortly

Butterfly

Hi some times people don't know so they don't post a response as the 30 views of this thread bears out So you haven't been ignored
Now I don't know that a little bit in the water column would hurt but doesn't look to me like it would be as readily available for your fish as a real food like the snail jello would be.
carol

Brimstonepdx

I've got tons of patience just thought id give it a bump since it had been 2 days (at the time) since post and had fallen to the 2nd page with out answer.

Thank you Carol back to cooking jello after this heatwave is over

SWilkins

It will make your water harder. I personally don't use the liquid calcium I go the cheap route. I use DAP plaster of paris and make my version of a calcium supplement recipe I got from applesnail.net hee hee...I call them "Sherry's stinky snail snax". Too easy to do I put them in all my tanks ranging from guppies, endlers, convicts, dempseys, mollies, angels, BRP, kribs..... I just add this and that from my snail and fish food supply to make it appetizing for the snails and the fish like them too. You can use them as vacation feeders and they are much cheaper and probably better than the ones you can buy. Oh on the snello....let the last ingredient be the fish food or whatever stinky you are adding. You would not believe how much worse it smells if you heat it....yes I of course learned this the hard way!!!

Hey....what kinda snails have you got....yes I have them too another addiction.

Butterfly

I'm getting snails in the mail WAHOO!!!!
I'm doing the happy dance

Snello?? Did you coin a new word?

lorabell

can we get the recipe??for both of those things u make....?

SWilkins

No I can't take credit for that it came from somebody on applesnail.net LOL but after I made it my evil side kicked in "add evil laugh here" I kept offering everybody snail jello :;laughin g:; I would have loved to share the faces that I got from that "add evil laugh again here".

About the recipe there are several different ones listed on applesnail that are really easy....I just can't seem to leave well enough alone and had to add my own little bit of this and that plus I make loads at one time and put the snello in the freezer and the "Sherry's stinky snail snax" in a rubbermaid tub with all the little things that come in medicine bottles to keep the moisture out but you can freeze them too. If you want my recipe I will try to write down everything I threw in there for you. Mine never turns out the same but everybody loves it....except my family.

http://www.applesnail.net/forum3/vie...php?f=2&t=6645

pepetj

I just saw Kent Marine homepage and they state that their liquid calcium formulation will not affect pH or buffering capacity (KH, GH in freshwater).

You already have a pH of 8. I guess it is safe to use but I don't see the need for it. You have plants that come from natually hard-water environments, as well as some of your fish, except for the Gouramis.

Most likely, if you used baking soda, the most your pH will rise is likely to 8.4 or 8.6 (I don't recall exactly).

Calcium is usually available as needed in FW tanks. Unless you use mostly water collected from rain, use R/O processed,or otherwise demineralized water.

Peter Hiscock, in his book Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants (2003), page 72, notes that Calcium is a macro nutrient for plants (they need it in relatively big quantities, not as trace elements). he refers that calcium is most likely present in sufficient quantities in most water supplies. He warns to be careful when adding Calcium since an excess will limit the availability of other nutrients (for plants at least) and raise, as SWilkins said, the hardness of water.

That said, some claim (like Carl Strohmeyer, for Americana Aquarium Products, if I recall accurately) that not all calcium measured (as in calcium carbonate tests: CaCO3) is actually bioavailable and therefore a slow release of calcium in ionized form (Ca++) is a good idea (then again, he sells "Wonder Shells", a product that does precisely that but I trust him).

I keep invertebrates (various types of snails, FW clams, Yellow Nose Shrimps, FW craigfish) in diverse tank settings, from soft to mid to hard to low-end brackish.

My Apple Snails growth rate is indeed slowed down by lack of calcium (from the same hatch those in soft/acidic water ended up noticeable smaller than those in other tanks).

Pepe
Santo Domingo

lorabell

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh boy...I know what i'll be doing this evening!!!...lol...I do hope my ramshorn will try it.....thanks soooooo much..SWILKENS.....by the way do u also have MTS ?...I do beleive it was u that directed me to the ramshorns for my puffers...I am trying to get a hold of MTS for my 55 (sand)...Thanks again!!!!!!!!

SWilkins

Me MTS HUMMMMM...yep bad case of it.

Butterfly

I believe she was referring to Malaysian Trumpet Snails
We know you have the other MTS LOL


Carol

Brimstonepdx

Thanks again Pepe, apparently my search skills are severely lacking I was having a hard time finding info about it. Hooray for learning new things.

SWilkins they are the big Mystery/Apple snails

With the points brought up I think ill just stick to making the jello. This time I made sure to get gelatin instead of pectin :P

lorabell

lol...WE all have MTS!!!!!(well I do thats for sure)...but..I am trying to purchase some MTS!!!! (snails)...lol( the kind I want to purchase I dont have yet).......lol

SWilkins

I am going to have to steal Shawnie's saying...I was having a brunette moment. I was probably trying to do more than one thing while I was reading that....but probably not just one of those moments LOL. Sorry. Yep I do have those snails too but I don't see them very much they pretty much come out when lights go out. I did catch a few the other morning munching on the snail snax but I usually only see them first thing in the morning if then.

Carol your snails are packed carefully in their box and ready to be shipped out first thing in the morning. I will send you a tracking number so you can see where they are too. I can't wait till you get them...

lorabell

lol...lol....I made some of your snello tonight,I did garden veg mix ,peas(baby food)I blanched some greens...I cant even remember the kind (then did it in the food processor),shrimp pellets and fish food..I hope thats all good ...and I really hope they like it..I was thinking of doing some small bits of shrimp or sardines in there next time ...wondering...can u do that?? I cant wait to see if they go for it

SWilkins

You sound like me...LOL...I threw in some shrimp pureed in the blender, some greens pureed too. I dissolved some people calcium tablets and stirred them in too. Looked really nasty and did not smell very well but the snails love it. Not to mention the shrimp and fish love them too.