Fruit flavored tums?

[vanillaXtiffy]

It seems to me that there aren't any plain tums or at least that I could find and I wanted to make some snail jello. At the store they only had berry flavored and mint. I got the berry flavored (figuring if I can't use them on the tank I can always just throw them in the medicine cabinet), is it okay to use this or not?

[paperdragon]

Yeah, the berry ones are fine. :)

[Damodred]

Yep, it's fine to use them. Do be aware that they will cloud your tank significantly if you just drop them in. I'm not sure what effect they'll have in the snail jello. If you find that they still have an unsightly clouding effect, you can crush up calcium pills (preferably without vit. D) and put the powder in your snail jello as you're making it. None of my snails (common ramshorns and Colombian/giant ramshorns) have shown any interest in eating the Tums, but the dissolved Calcium in the water is a benefit nonetheless.

[SHAWNIE]

wow Im so learning new stuff every day!!

[vanillaXtiffy]

Okay thanks. Just wanted to make sure it was a safe addition to my tanks. The water I use is very soft, so I think the added calcium will make all my inverts happy.

[excuzzzeme]

I have the assorted fruit flavor tums as I cannot find any regular ones either. I have been using them for about 6 months with no ill effects except that they do cloud the water as mentioned. The shrimp seem to enjoy it on occasion. I hope it helps the snails shell as well.

[vanillaXtiffy]

Okay, good to hear. Thank you. That's the same thing I have, assorted fruit.

[pik01]

Okay thanks. Just wanted to make sure it was a safe addition to my tanks. The water I use is very soft, so I think the added calcium will make all my inverts happy.

calcium is for building new shell, hard water is for preventing erosion of established shell. Depending on how soft your water is and its pH, you might want to buffer with crushed coral.

[vanillaXtiffy]

Ooh, I did not know that. If I put more shells in my tank would that raise the hardness too?

[stezatois]

from what i can gather the fruit ones are popular enough to simply drop into the tank lol

[stezatois]

talking of which i better go make my snail jellos, mum keeps complaing about the jars of baby food in the cupboard lol

[Hollygirl]

I found the cloudy water to be aggravating with the TUMS so I add Jurassi Cal to the jello. You can find it in the reptile supply section of most pet stores.

[Lupin]

Tums does cloud up the water however the plaster of Paris pucks seem to negate the cloudiness and there is no harm done in cloudiness but it does look unsightly. Still redundant to have both.lol You could try Caltrate if you can find one without Vitamin D. The one with Vitamin D can work temporarily, just not long-term use. The unflavored Tums do not attract the snails as much as flavored ones do.

[vanillaXtiffy]

=P I was going to make those plaster of paris pucks instead but I seem to have misplaced my box of plaster of paris. I made the jello and it came out pretty well. I used carrot baby food, crushed up the fruit tums (that part was hard, my boyfriend helped with a rolling pin), crushed up some fish pellets and threw in some thawed out blood worms. Hopefully they like it.
Thanks for all the help everyone! Also thanks to Msjinkzd for all those recipes in her recipe thread =)