Calcium and snails

[grumpystiltskin]

I want to get some calcium for my snails, dry powder that i can mix up myself,
ive come across a site that sells calcium in powder form, but four types
Calcium carbonate'
Calcium chloride
Calcium nitrate
Calcium sulphate
Which one is preferable ? or are they all equally as good?
All these products sell for $2.50 lb a lot cheaper than buying liquid calcium
One has to be thrifty these days :smile:

[Melody]

For the environment I use Calcium Carbonate. Make sure its a high grade though with minimum impurities. If its sold for animal or human consumption, it should be a high grade. If its for gardening or the like, it could be a much lower grade.

[Melody]

Oh and Calcium sulphate (Gypsum) is what I'm currently trying - great for snails and the Livebearers too, I'm told.

[grumpystiltskin]

Thanks Melody
There is a place here in town that has all the ferts i need ,plus it has the calcium products, and value for money the dry powder is so much cheaper than the ready made liquid we can buy,not having a lot of work through winter has prompted me to tighten the purse strings lol.

[ChrissyFishy]

How do you know what grade it is? Is it on the container or is there a percentage? :FishQuestion:

[hp10BII]

Pharmaceutical grade is as good as you can get, food grade would be high quality too.

IIRC Kent's Turbo Calcium is mainly Calcium Chloride.

I came across a table before that may have listed the soluability rates of the various calcium sources. Didn't think it is a big issue until you see chunks of calcium sediment still lying on the bottom of your tank hours later. If I ever come across that table again, I'll post it.

[Melody]

I don't remember ever reading the bottle of Kent's calcium... <checking bottle> but there it is in black & yellow! That makes sense.. isn't chloride the top ion in the sea? Well, after sodium...lol. Nothing like announcing that I'm only into freshwater hmm? :laugh: Thanks for enlightening us. I'd love to see that table if you find it.

[ChrissyFishy]

would calcium rocks act different in fresh water than they would in salt water? disolve different I mean? Slower or faster or whatever? I can find a lot of information about calcium in salt water tanks but not very much for fresh. :no: