Which Calcium Supplements to use?

[JamieXPXP]

I bought a purple mystery snail yesterday to put in my 20 gallon because I really like having them in my tanks as they are peaceful and fun.
ive never had any luck with snails though because my water is a little too soft for their shells. I have tried cuttle bone and eggshells neither of those work that well for me. I feed veggies every other day but I want to try a liquid calcium for a little extra just in case. my PH is 6.6 if that helps

I was thinking of picking up Api's Marine Calcium Solution or I can use calcium powder for reptiles which I have a container of without D3. I heard of people using the powder on aquariums but not sure how much or how often to use it if I can use it. thoughts?

 

[Freshwateramateur]

you can also use tums to add calcium the are only made of calcium carbonate, they will dissolve and the snails can eat off of them. If you buy liquid or powder from a fish store I'm sure they will have dosage instructions on the label

 

[JamieXPXP]

ah I forgot about tums. I was going to see if I can get non flavoured ones a while ago but forgot about it lol. yeah there is on the liquid but there is no instructions on how much of the powder to use unless I mix it into foods. I will see what kind of tums I find at the drugstore tomorrow after work. is flavoured tums ok or non-flavoured is better?

 

[JamieXPXP]

how much powder would I need to dose with if I used the reptI powder?

 

[Freshwateramateur]

I don't think there's anything wrong with using flavored tums maybe the snails will like the taste. And make sure you have a GH test kit so you can monitor how much is getting dissolved

 

[JamieXPXP]

oh that would be a good idea. I will have to pick one up before I start dosing then

 

[JamieXPXP]

I did pick up some flavoured tums today, so hopefully it will help and the snail will like them. I will be getting the test the next time I go to petsmart to help keep an eye on the gh

 

[toosie]

KH is a measure of carbonates and bicarbonates. GH is a measure of calcium and magnesium minerals. Because tums are calcium carbonate, they may affect both GH and KH but I would be more inclined to monitor the KH. You can get both in a GH/KH test kit though so that might be the way you want to go, and then you know what both types of hardness are at and can monitor both. They are not often the same.

 

[tjander]

IMO flavored TUMS is not a good idea. There are other chemicals in the flavoring. I would stay with the LFS products that are meant for aquatic life.

 

[JamieXPXP]

oh really? I keep hearing mixed things about flavoured tums. looks like I will be trying something else. I have been using berry flavoured tums for the past few days

 

[tjander]

I just think it’s best to stay with aquatic products vice trying to use other products not intended for the aquarium.
There are some expectations but I feel that unless you know exactly what your doing you run a big risk

 

[FishRFriendz]

Seachem Equilibrium provides calcium and magnesium. The calcium is CaSO4 calcium sulfate which will raise your GH.

Egg shells, cuttle bone, tums and most other forms of DIY calcium are calcium carbonate, which raises KH. Some species of fish, plants and invertebrates will prefer lower/low KH.

KH will help provide a stable PH, so it's something that should be balanced against your other requirements.

I use RO specfically to start off at 0 KH, it helps me keep Caridina shrimp, rotala sp bonsaI (all ammania species prefer low/no kh), and any natively soft water/acidic ph fish. Getting caclium into a tank is not something to cheap out on.

There's also CaNO3 calcium nitrate, which is both a fertilizer and a source of calcium, used in hydroponics.

 

[tjander]

Good explanation thank you