Nerite snails tannins ph

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Ch0le

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Hello. I have a 20 gal tall with 6 BHT and 5 emerald corys. Plus I have 2 nerite snails. My GH is 30 and my KH is 40. I read the snails shell could be eaten away with a ph lower than 7. Mine is sometimes 6.8 and sometimes 7.0. I find the api collors a little hard to differentiate. My snails seem alright and my fish now are happy with allmy plants and water. Howerver the Bleeding Hearts still seem to need more cover. I want to give them tanins, but I am worried for the snails. Any suggestions?
 
Several things here, starting with the pH. It is the GH not the pH that matters, as this is the source of the calcium snails require for their shells. As for pH, a difference of a couple decimal points is not going to harm the snails, so I would not worry. And a pH below 7 will absolutely make life a tad easier for the named fish, though again this is minimal, but not worth bothering about.

To the tannins...this is not likely to be what the BH need, as they are not blackwater fish (nor are the cories). But I am assuming you are thinking of light issues, and the BH are found in dark or dimly-lit sluggish streams in forested areas of the upper Amazon basin along the borders of Peru, Columbia and Brazil. So floating plants would be the best remedy here, as these replicate the shading effect of overhanging marginal vegetation which is common to almost all forest streams and creeks in the Amazon basin. Few of these watercourses ever see direct sunlight.

Obviously the snails won't have issues with less light, probably enjoy it too!
 
Somehow got a duplicate post...deleted. BH
 
Several things here, starting with the pH. It is the GH not the pH that matters, as this is the source of the calcium snails require for their shells. As for pH, a difference of a couple decimal points is not going to harm the snails, so I would not worry. And a pH below 7 will absolutely make life a tad easier for the named fish, though again this is minimal, but not worth bothering about.

To the tannins...this is not likely to be what the BH need, as they are not blackwater fish (nor are the cories). But I am assuming you are thinking of light issues, and the BH are found in dark or dimly-lit sluggish streams in forested areas of the upper Amazon basin along the borders of Peru, Columbia and Brazil. So floating plants would be the best remedy here, as these replicate the shading effect of overhanging marginal vegetation which is common to almost all forest streams and creeks in the Amazon basin. Few of these watercourses ever see direct sunlight.

Obviously the snails won't have issues with less light, probably enjoy it too!
Ok. Cool. I have some hornswort and dwarf penny wort in my tank. It will just have to grow a bit more before It will make a good cover. I have a bunch of lower level plant covers for now. Do you think Adding anything for the snails is going to be necessary? Thank you.
 
Ok. Cool. I have some hornswort and dwarf penny wort in my tank. It will just have to grow a bit more before It will make a good cover. I have a bunch of lower level plant covers for now. Do you think Adding anything for the snails is going to be necessary? Thank you.

I know little about these particular snails concerning their calcium need, so I will leave that for other members and not mislead you.
 
I know little about these particular snails concerning their calcium need, so I will leave that for other members and not mislead you.
Thank you. I guess what I want to ask you is that if I have to put some sort of calcium such as a cuttlebone in my tank, will it change the ph in a way that would be unhealthy for my fish?
 
Thank you. I guess what I want to ask you is that if I have to put some sort of calcium such as a cuttlebone in my tank, will it change the ph in a way that would be unhealthy for my fish?

Given the fish species here (Bleeding Hearts and emerald cories (which I assume is the species Corydoras aeneus), adding minimal calcium should not bother them. Just don't get excessive. I've never done this so I don't know the effects of cuttlebone or other similar things, but I would assume the idea is that the snails eat the cuttlebone more than it actually dissolving--but someone can correct my assumption if wrong. Back when I wanted to buffer the pH I used dolomite (or aragonite) but this drives the pH up quite a bit without doing much for the GH (the calcium and magnesium dissolved in the water) unless you have a substrate of this material and that you certainly do not want here.
 
Given the fish species here (Bleeding Hearts and emerald cories (which I assume is the species Corydoras aeneus), adding minimal calcium should not bother them. Just don't get excessive. I've never done this so I don't know the effects of cuttlebone or other similar things, but I would assume the idea is that the snails eat the cuttlebone more than it actually dissolving--but someone can correct my assumption if wrong. Back when I wanted to buffer the pH I used dolomite (or aragonite) but this drives the pH up quite a bit without doing much for the GH (the calcium and magnesium dissolved in the water) unless you have a substrate of this material and that you certainly do not want here.
Thank you.
 

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