How much Aragonite?

[reignman40]

I just picked up some aragonite to add calcium to my tank. It's the 20 gallon below in my signature. The calcium is to help the snail's shells and the live plants. I'm just wondering how much do I put in my filter for that size of a tank? I've heard 1/4 cup before but not sure if that's right.

Thanks in advance,
Curtis

[reignman40]

Alright guys =). I know people on here use this stuff. That's how I found out about it in the first place.

[reiverix]

It really depends on how much you are lacking in calcium. If your water is anything like mine then adding aragonite alone will probably not help much. However it is great stuff for buffering your KH.

For me, the telltale sign of a Ca defficiency was twisty java fern and snails with white brittle shells. The only surefire way I've been able to get round this is by adding calcium (CaCl2, but there are other forms of calcium available) mixed in with my change water. If you can get a hold of a water report for your area then you can add calcium as needed until things start looking better. I add around 90ppm to a 50% WC every week. If I don't then things go downhill surprisingly quick.

[reignman40]

Yeah my snails have the white shell thing going on so I know there is a lack of calcium in this tank. However my snails only seem to have the white brittle shells in this 20 gallon with live plants. I have snails in my 10 gallon that don't appear to have the white on their shells, but just plastic plants. I also have red ramshorns alone in my 5 gallon (snail breeding/QT tank) which has no plant life and these snails appear to have perfectly healthy shells. That's why I was hoping I just needed the small amount added by putting some Aragonite in my filter.

[reiverix]

In this case I kind of suspect that the plants are using what little calcium they can get at the expense of the snails. I can't guarantee this though, and am open to other suggestions. Anyway, you could try the aragonite and see if it makes a difference but calcium chloride is cheap, effective and easy to control quantities.

Is there maybe anything in your non planted tanks that are leaching calcium into the water column? Some kind of rock or something in the substrate.

[reignman40]

I don't think there is. I have the same type of rocks in all my tanks and the gravel in my other tanks is just standard deco gravel. Whereas I have pure Flourite in my planted tank.