Hmmm, it seems to me the 2nd one will work to increase KH. The 1st one says it can lower the PH of the water, which is not desirable. That said, if folks are using these in aquariums with good results, they may be a good alternative. I'd have to do some research before I could say one way or the other.
I use mystery snails as the gauge of whether or not water is appropriate for snails since they're both longer lived and have thicker shells than ramshorns. I have a friend who uses Seachem Fresh Trace to raise the dGH of his water to at least 6 (that's what it was when I measured it) - this seems to work pretty well for his mystery snails, though he does have some shell erosion on the adults. I have another friend who raises hers in water with a dGH of 8 (comes from the well that way) and hers do very well. I'm shooting higher because I want to succeed this time!!!! I'm tired of having my beautiful mystery snails die on me.
Baking soda will work to raise KH if you want to do that - many folks have used it in aquariums with good results. GH is a little more complex, which is why I go with the seachem product. I've used many seachem products for years with good results, so I figure I can't go wrong that way. They're probably not the cheapest way to go, but I think the extra expense is worth it.
