Trying to raise pH in hard water

[BAT]

Hi All,

I have hard water (off the charts on GH test strips). the pH is 6.8 and I would like to raise it because my snails shells are pitting.

I added some crushed coral and that seemed to help a litte.

My question is - given the high GH, will crushed coral be effective? I thought I read somewhere that crushed coral might be less effective in hard water.

[Galabar]

Do you have a measure of your KH?  Also, you might invest in the API GH & KH test kit, as it may give you more accurate readings.

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Galabar

[Opie]

The crushed coral will always help, but the hard the water the slower the crushed coral dissolves, in my experience. I used it for insurance for my PH

[Schuyler]

I'm curious how that's happening...

Which test strips are you using?

[tolstoy21]

On 11/5/2023 at 2:19 PM, BAT said:

I have hard water (off the charts on GH test strips). the pH is 6.8 and I would like to raise it because my snails shells are pitting.

My water is pretty much the same as yours. I have 0 Kh and about a 9 GH. My PH runs at about 6.4 most of the time.

Oddly, the snails I don't want in my tank do great (ramshorn, pest snails), but the ones I like -- nerites and mystery snails -- never do well. Oh, actually, I have no problems keeping Malaysian trumpet snails. 

I have never tried crushed coral, but I do sometimes use Seachem Alkaline Buffer to boost the Ph in a few of my tanks. 

I wonder if adding more calcium to their diets might help if you can't get your Ph boosted a bit. Something like Hikari Crab Cuisine could possibly work. 

 

[Lennie]

On 11/6/2023 at 5:14 AM, tolstoy21 said:

I wonder if adding more calcium to their diets might help if you can't get your Ph boosted a bit. Something like Hikari Crab Cuisine could possibly work

From what I know, calcium in the diet is good for good shell growth. But acidic ph makes the shell dissolve in the water column as it is mainly calcium carbonate. Ive seen a study about this. For example mystery snail shell being %98.2 calcium carbonate.

so yea having calcium in their diet and the water column is great. But as long as that ph is acidic, I guess just like how a non-inert rock, eggshell, cuttlebone, crushed coral may dissolve, same happens to the snail shell

 

here is the study Ive seen before

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232662023_The_concentration_of_calcium_carbonate_in_shells_of_freshwater_snails

 

btw, in my experience, my zebra snail is the only snail that does well in the acidic environment. Im surprised your experience is the opposite

[BAT]

Thank you all!  The crushed coral is helping a bit, so I am going to keep doing that. I am going to put some in the filter after my next filter clean.

I just started using Seachem Buffer so will see how that goes as well. 

I think the acidity may be coming from the mulm and debris in the gravel? I let the tank go a little wild (due to less attention) and am working to get it under control again. Interestingly enough - the plants have loved it LOL

[tolstoy21]

On 11/5/2023 at 6:27 PM, Schuyler said:

I'm curious how that's happening...

Which test strips are you using?

Ph and Gh are unrelated. Ph is influenced by the presence (or lack of) Kh.  Ph is a measure of a water's alkalinity. Kh influences whether your water is acidic or alkaline. Gh is a measure of mineral hardness, mostly magnesium and calcium. Kh is mostly calcium carbonate. You can have both a low Kh and high Gh at the same time, as some of us do.

[BAT]

On 11/12/2023 at 9:39 AM, tolstoy21 said:

Ph and Gh are unrelated. Ph is influenced by the presence (or lack of) Kh.  Ph is a measure of a water's alkalinity. Kh influences whether your water is acidic or alkaline. Gh is a measure of mineral hardness, mostly magnesium and calcium. Kh is mostly calcium carbonate. You can have both a low Kh and high Gh at the same time, as some of us do.

But if you have high GH doesnt that mean you have high calcium in the water already - and so make it difficult to dissolve more calcium via crushed coral?

[tolstoy21]

On 11/14/2023 at 10:31 AM, BAT said:

But if you have high GH doesnt that mean you have high calcium in the water already - and so make it difficult to dissolve more calcium via crushed coral?

Coral is made of calcium carbonate (a calcium compound) which works to raise Ph as it dissolves in an acidic environment and is different from calcium (an element) in Gh which influences water hardness.

Crushed coral can raise the Gh a tad, but not in significant amounts.  Coral's influence is more on Kh/Ph.

Edited November 14, 2023 by tolstoy21

[TeeJay]

I have the same issue crazy hard gh with zero kh out of the tap. So I use cc or rather arragonite. It just dissolves a bit slower. Most use 1lbs per 10 gallons of water mixed in the substrate. I do that but also keep a media bag of it as well iny hang on back filters as well. This will usually keep me at a steady 5-6kh. 

Yes it does take quite some time to get it to that level. I would say a good 3-4 months before I started seeing steady consistent results. 

Then once I get it to where I want it I'll check the kh about once every 2 weeks or so. At these levels I have no issues with my snails shells. Hope this helps. It's really just playing around with it until you get the right mix that works for you.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/5/2023 at 11:19 AM, BAT said:

the pH is 6.8 and I would like to raise it because my snails shells are pitting.

6.8 is near 7.0 and 7.0 would be "neutral" which isn't too acidic or to basic.  Too acidic and you have erosion.  I would think that your snail has calcium deficiencies. 

KH in the water, carbonate hardness, is the measure of calcium and magnesium in the water.  Above 3 is generally "fine", with 4 being stable and optimal from what I have experienced.  I hope that helps.

My suggestion would be to feed a good snail food.  @Chick-In-Of-TheSea has a rescue snail that might be of interest and help in this situation as well.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I believe that pitting of the shell is generally caused by water that is too soft. Snails need pH of 7+ as well. Crayfish empire has good quality snail foods. You can get a bunch of free samples and just pay the shipping.

Also @BAT don’t you have a lot of snails that you had hatched out? I believe I remember @Guppysnail stating that when there are a bunch of snails in a tank the calcium depletes rather quickly, and so you may need to add a liquid calcium to the tank to keep up.

Edited November 15, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea