How much calcium needs to be in freshwater for nerite snail?

[evonner]

I have been researching on the internet to try and determine how much calcium needs to be in my freshwater tank for my snails. I keep finding different opinions. I tested my tank water today and found out that the majority of my dGH is magnesium.  So, I really need a realistic target range.

[Lennie]

How long has it been since you had your nerite? How is the shell compared to the day you got it, and how is the new growth if there is any?

that might tell if you have enough tbf. If you have a good growth and shell does not look any worse than the day you got it, you are probably good to go

[Guppysnail]

I find for my nerites the ph being above 7.2 with some calcium in the water they thrive. Some being as long as it is continuously present. They grow slow so don’t need the extra the way mystery snails do. @JoeQ introduced me to Kats aquatics snail chips. It has calcium to consume for them and is the only commercially prepared food my nerites eat. My nerites do enjoy veggies when I put them in raw. 

[JoeQ]

On 3/11/2023 at 4:10 AM, evonner said:

I have been researching on the internet to try and determine how much calcium needs to be in my freshwater tank for my snails. I keep finding different opinions. I tested my tank water today and found out that the majority of my dGH is magnesium.  So, I really need a realistic target range.

This will be my next project (because im ocd!)...... Figuring out the calcium to magnesium ratio in my water, balancing it through the use of making my own calcium solution, and researching if snails also need the proper ratio to absorb calcium such as plants do.... (considering this as fun is probably why I'm never invited to parties!) 🤣

All joking aside, like you I have hardwater which is mostly magnesium I believe. Kats is a good product but IMO its a bandaid. And as I mentioned above, im OCD, I would rather know there is enough bio available calcium in my water, than wondering if my snails are eating their veggies. If and when I find anything I'll let you know.

[Biotope Biologist]

Wondershell although not a miracle product will provide calcium that’ll dissolve into the water over time. I don’t believe there is an exact ratio. This will also raise your kh. Crushed coral is also useful for raising calcium levels.

[Monkeypoint]

I added Wondershell to my 15 gallon for my two Nerite and 1 Mystery snail and my GH went through the roof. I tested for calcium and it tested high. After several water changes (3 or 4) over a period of 3 weeks, GH has gone down significantly but is still high. The calcium level went down as well. So I guess there’s a lot of magnesium in the tap water. But what I don’t understand is why my 55 gallon’s GH is so much lower. 

On 3/11/2023 at 2:10 AM, rockfisher said:

I have a 75 and 55 that are 28 and 36 years old. I have friend that has one that is 50+. As long as there is no defects in the glass like a deep scratch it should be ok. As for the silicone if it hasn’t been dried out in that time which it sounds like it hasn’t I would not worry much. If you are worried about the silicone just redo that.

 

On 3/11/2023 at 12:10 PM, Biotope Biologist said:

Wondershell although not a miracle product will provide calcium that’ll dissolve into the water over time. I don’t believe there is an exact ratio. This will also raise your kh. Crushed coral is also useful for raising calcium levels.

 

[Lennie]

If it is any help, my gh from tap is 0 so I dose equilibrium to my tanks. So all gh is coming from equilibrium. I support calcium in their diet constantly too, except for nerites.

29g has 10gh,

33g has 6 gh. 

All nerites, mystery snails and rabbits have perfect shells on both tanks. So I wanna say 6gh by dosing equilibrium seems enough for my case. 

Seachem Equilibrium analysis:

Guaranteed Analysis Amounts per 1 g
Soluble Potash (K2O)	23.0%
Calcium (Ca)	8.06%
Magnesium (Mg)	2.41%
Iron (Fe)	0.11%
Manganese (Mn)	0.06%

This is how it is dosed to increase the gh in tanks:

To raise mineral content/general hardness (GH) by 1 meq/L (3 dH), add 16 g (1 tablespoon) for every 80 L (20 US gallons) when setting up an aquarium or when making water changes (add to new water).

Leaving it to your math to calculate the calcium content in the 33g 6gh tank 😄

Edited March 11, 2023 by Lennie

[rockfisher]

I know there is a chase for perfect water conditions. After 30 years of fish keeping I can say it doesn’t exist. I have a tone of cCa and Mg in my water. I don’t worry about it any more. I even add wonder shell to encourage breeding. I really think it’s not a huge deal. Even my discus are fine. I if you are really worried think about feeding high Ca foods to your snails. Spinach and collared are pretty high in Ca. I would blanch greens if you use them.

[Lennie]

On 3/11/2023 at 10:46 PM, rockfisher said:

I if you are really worried think about feeding high Ca foods to your snails. Spinach and collared are pretty high in Ca. I would blanch greens if you use them.

Spinach is actually quite high in calcium but also in oxalate! Oxalate sadly block calcium absorbtion. So spinach is not the best food for the snails or most calcium requiring creatures like tortoises in general. But ofcourse an option to feed sparingly for variety in their diet

But rarely I would say, and not for calcium intake purposes 

[rockfisher]

Good to know. Thank you. I was just reading about the wonder she’ll and it says to except at least a 10% jump in GH. 

[evonner]

Wow, looks like I started a hot topic, lol. @JoeQ I believe I am also OCD. I read everyone's replies.  I added 5 nerite snail on 2/23/23.  The ones I can see, look fine and happy. There are 5 in there but finding them is quite the mystery. I got them as a clean-up grew for new tank major algae bloom. They have cleaned it up very well. I do have wafers for them but this is my first time having snails. I have 3 tanks, all of them running different parameters.

My new 29 gallon has all the livestock in it. My pH is running between 7.6 and 8.0. My pH was steady until I added fish and snails to it. My dGH is 11 and my dKH is 7 currently in the tank.  From what I found on the net, these seem to be appropriate. I researched the ways to bring up my KH but I don't really want to harden my what more or bring my pH up higher, that's my fear. Its a community tank and I'm trying to keep the parameters in a range to make everybody happy. I have 5 male guppies, 2 sword platies, 4 regular platies and the 5 snails. Platies and snails are new to me so I'm trying to get this right (OCD).  I use dechlorinated tap water that comes from a city community well. I have 5.0 ppm nitrate, pH 7.6, dGH 15 and dKH 10 in the tap water.

I found a formula on a forum, to use to determine the amount of ca & mag: Using the API Calcium test kit (meant for saltwater), you run the test as the instructions say but then you have to do some math to compensate for the water being freshwater. After you determine how many drops of solution #2 it took to reach the color BLUE. Then use the API GH test kit to get those levels. Here comes the math.

Each drop of solution #2 (ca test kit) roughly equals 10 ppm calcium. 10 ppm calcium is equal to 1.4 dGH.

Example: a calcium reading of 50 ppm (1.4 x 5 =7 dGH). If your GH is 11 dGH (11 dGH -7 dGH =4 dGH) So out of the 11 dGH, 7 of the dGH is calcium and the 4 dGH is magnesium.   Magnesium = 0.23 dGH per 1 ppm (example, 4 dGH divided by 0.23 = 17.4 ppm of magnesium. This what I found on a forum but a chemist might be needed to validate the formulas, lol.  So, when I tested using this formula I came up with 4 ppm calcium and 7 ppm magnesium in my tank water. I'm thinking right now I might have just fried brain cells, lol. On the net I found 25 ppm of calcium in the water is the target for snails. I'm not even close to that.

I have learned in the hobby that messing with your natural water parameters is either a disaster or a major effort. So, trying to bring up my carbonate hardness worth it or is supplementing their diet with calcium enriched food enough for them to be healthy and happy?  My 16 yr old daughter says I love my fish more than her... geez. 

[JoeQ]

@evonner

This is ocd, taking joy in spending your weekend learning molar math just to have a rough guaranteed analysis of the macro solution im making...... never had a day of chemistry in my life, can ya tell!!! 🤣

 

[evonner]

@JoeQ Ha ha ha, never had a day of chemistry in your life but butt. I think we are official geeks.

Random off topic 6 am thought. We should ask Cory if the forum could sport a singles section to meet people we like what we like, lol.

[JoeQ]

@evonner Me doing chemistry maths!

 

[evonner]

That made me smile! Good one @JoeQ

[JoeQ]

On 3/12/2023 at 8:06 AM, evonner said:

That made me smile! Good one @JoeQ

🤣 I've watched that at least 10 times and laughed equally as hard each time! 🤣

[Mmiller2001]

I wish there was a magic number to eliminate snails, but seemingly, there isn't. I've lowered GH to 3 degrees and they still thrive. Their shells took a hit at 3 degrees, but didn't stop them. I would say 5 degrees is all that's needed to keep them healthy.

FYI, I completely eliminated them by a year long pH of 4.9 with heavy CO2 injection.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Mmiller2001

[evonner]

Eliminated them? Does that mean you killed them cuz they need a much higher pH level than 4.9. I'm feeling froggy this morning 🤪

[Mmiller2001]

On 3/12/2023 at 7:04 AM, evonner said:

Eliminated them? Does that mean you killed them cuz they need a much higher pH level than 4.9. I'm feeling froggy this morning 🤪

They could not sustain their shells and all died off. This is the only tank that is 100% snail free.

I keep my main tank at 6.2pH and they are fine. I do keep KH at 1.5dKH in this tank. 

GH in all tanks is 4.5 degrees currently.

[evonner]

In a freshwater tank? What fish do have?

[Mmiller2001]

On 3/12/2023 at 7:25 AM, evonner said:

In a freshwater tank? What fish do have?

Cherry Barbs, dwarf rainbows, harlequins, apistogramas, kuhli loaches, otos, embers and lemon tetra.

[evonner]

Weird. Is your pH stable? How often do you test? Do you have soft water or are you running RODI?

[Mmiller2001]

On 3/12/2023 at 7:30 AM, evonner said:

Weird. Is your pH stable? How often do you test? Do you have soft water or are you running RODI?

I use RODI that I mineralize to 4.5dGH and run 0dKH in the tank at 4.9. I dose 1.5dKH in the main which results to about 6.2pH. My tanks swings 1 to 1.3pH twice a day do to the CO2 injection. My water is semi soft with a TDS of 140 and 185ppm ish.

I run a CO2 controller which has really time pH testing.

PH swing is not an indicator of stability and fish are not affected by pH swings. Stability is maintained by consistent GH, KH and TDS.

[evonner]

But dKH above 3 stabilizes pH according to Cory and Irene. Slight pH swings usually are not a big deal but big swings will kill. I was just curious on how your pH behaves at such a low dKH level. But then yes, consistency matters as most fish can adapt.

[Mmiller2001]

On 3/12/2023 at 7:56 AM, evonner said:

But dKH above 3 stabilizes pH according to Cory and Irene. Slight pH swings usually are not a big deal but big swings will kill. I was just curious on how your pH behaves at such a low dKH level. But then yes, consistency matters as most fish can adapt.

I disagree, any given KH just holds a relative pH range. You have to separate that pH is not an indicator of stability. If I, and many others, have 0dKH, why do are fish not die? Our pH fluctuates daily and multiple times, same as in nature. Water systems go through this same process as CO2 is used up and builds back up over night. What's not changing in our tanks is TDS. By keeping consistent GH, KH and nutrient load, you create the required stability that keeps plants and fish happy.