I have a pH in the 8 range (it's low 8's if I remember correctly), and it's incredibly hard (I think 300's, according to a strip test though). But, on the other hand, I do also have quite a few snails. The two main snail tanks as of right now have an unknown number of MTS in the gravel. The one tank is a 20g with the MTS, some pond or bladder snails, some rams and 4 asolene spixies. The other tank is a 72g bowfront with I think 14 briggs and the MTS. They haven't been a problem as far as bioload goes, but I was afraid of calcium. The spixis have some nice hard shells, but the bladder snails seem like they might have thinner shell (I can see through them almost... though the one fish has a heck of a time chewing through them). The briggs, well, the two I got from the petstore almost look like the outer shell is going to come off in a big chunk, and one has a chip in the shell near the opening, which happened in that tank. The chip could have been a random thing, but why would the two blues look like the outer shell is about to come off? It's looking like that right where there was a new growth line, and the older shell is what is possibly coming off.
