Best way to raise water hardness

[BassetsForBrown]

I've been noticing the shells of my rabbit snails appear to be deteriorating. I checked my tap water hardness, and it's so low it doesn't even register on the test strips.

How would you suggest raising it? Is it something that must be done gradually to be safe?

It's a 90g tank with angels, horse faced loaches, and rabbit snails

 

[jjohnwm]

I won't comment on how to raise the hardness of your tapwater, simply because your "problem" is something for which I have wished pretty much throughout my keeping of aquariums, dating back to around 1970. Soft water right out of the tap? Must be nice...

It's probably accurate to say that most of the tap water in North America is harder than yours. Lots of aquarists are constantly fiddling with their tapwater to make it better for the fish they want to keep, instead of keeping fish that are better for the water they have. You have Angels, that come from the soft, acidic Amazon, and Asian loaches that I know nothing about personally, but which research seems to indicate would prefer the softer end of the spectrum...and you have the kind of water they want! Congrats!

Yes, there are folks who will immediately pipe up that the Angels have been captive bred for so many generations that they have adapted to harder water, but a few dozen or a few hundred generations in captivity doesn't trump millennia of evolution. Your Angels' ancestors evolved in soft acid water...over a few dozen years they were forced to adapt to something else...but hard water will never be preferable over soft for them. Your loaches were almost certainly caught in the wild, so they are an unknown quantity unless you know the collection site, but the odds are that they have already undergone at least a couple of water-parameter upheavals during their lives; time to give them a break and leave them alone.

IMHO, rather than jumping with both feet onto the slippery slope of constantly trying to change the personality of your water...which usually results in finding out that the water likes the way it is and wants to stay that way...and potentially stressing your fish for the sake of a few snails...well, I know what I would do. Good luck!

 

[BassetsForBrown]

I won't comment on how to raise the hardness of your tapwater, simply because your "problem" is something for which I have wished pretty much throughout my keeping of aquariums, dating back to around 1970. Soft water right out of the tap? Must be nice...

It's probably accurate to say that most of the tap water in North America is harder than yours. Lots of aquarists are constantly fiddling with their tapwater to make it better for the fish they want to keep, instead of keeping fish that are better for the water they have. You have Angels, that come from the soft, acidic Amazon, and Asian loaches that I know nothing about personally, but which research seems to indicate would prefer the softer end of the spectrum...and you have the kind of water they want! Congrats!

Yes, there are folks who will immediately pipe up that the Angels have been captive bred for so many generations that they have adapted to harder water, but a few dozen or a few hundred generations in captivity doesn't trump millennia of evolution. Your Angels' ancestors evolved in soft acid water...over a few dozen years they were forced to adapt to something else...but hard water will never be preferable over soft for them. Your loaches were almost certainly caught in the wild, so they are an unknown quantity unless you know the collection site, but the odds are that they have already undergone at least a couple of water-parameter upheavals during their lives; time to give them a break and leave them alone.

IMHO, rather than jumping with both feet onto the slippery slope of constantly trying to change the personality of your water...which usually results in finding out that the water likes the way it is and wants to stay that way...and potentially stressing your fish for the sake of a few snails...well, I know what I would do. Good luck!

If you don't recommend raising the hardness, is there a way to get the rabbit snails the minerals their shells need while keeping soft water?

 

[jjohnwm]

If you don't recommend raising the hardness, is there a way to get the rabbit snails the minerals their shells need while keeping soft water?

I have no idea if or how it can be done; diet maybe? Maybe a snailologist can weigh in with assistance. I am merely suggesting that, rather than upsetting the apple cart that your fish are happy to ride on...just rehome the snails!

 

[Hybridfish7]

If you don't recommend raising the hardness, is there a way to get the rabbit snails the minerals their shells need while keeping soft water?

Feed them cuttlebone and eggshells

 

[FJB]

The issue is that they naturally live in relatively hard water at no less than pH 7.5 (and into 8's).
Thus, unless you have water with those characteristics, their shells will always be dissolving in low pH, soft water, regardless of what you feed them. The issue is not just the availability of calcium but rather the rate of dissolution of shell material.

 

[RD.]

how to go from soft water to hard water?

I'm looking at making the switch to lake malawi cichlids, having a species only tank Saluoi. I'm from scotland and we have soft water i believe, i've test my tap water and this is what i've got, kH - 3 gH- 5 pH 7.2-7.3 For these type of cichlids i know they like a pH around 7.4-8.4. I'm...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

Just wanted to add, domestic strains of angels typically are a non issue, when raised and kept in hard water. Breed like bunnies, live long healthy lives.

 

[duanes]

If it were me, I'd choose a snail species that matches your tanks soft water.
The water where Sulawesi snails come from is alkaline with pH 7.5 to above 8, so it's no wonder the shells are deteriorating in your tank.
And these snail are known to fail when their natural habitat is not adhered to.
But if you raise hardness for the snails, you will be short changing theft water fish you keep
There are plenty of snails that exist in soft waters and are quite common.

 

[neutrino]

Water chemistry questions are like filtration questions, food questions, etc., there are different opinions and philosophies and you virtually always see the same split of opinions between don't change your water and it's fine to adjust your water.

No matter what anyone says, there's no absolute, cosmic truth here, it's a matter of opinion and philosophy. The long history of hobbyists, breeders, and commercial aquaculture has clearly demonstrated that most fish (there are some exceptions) are perfectly adaptable to a reasonable range of water conditions. If this were not so, a lot of Florida fish farms would have either gone out of business long ago or their fish would be a lot more expensive. There are exceptions, of course, like some (not all) blackwater species that may have certain health issues in harder water or may be fine (within reason) but need softer water to breed successfully.

In other words, you can usually do what works for you, as long as it's within reason and not too extreme.

In fact, if you do enough reading and research into the different water types in SA or the real world variability of the rivers, streams, or habitat of some species, including angelfish and discus (as opposed to traditional assumptions), you find their native water is not always as soft, warm, or low pH as people tend to think. In many such cases 'evolved in soft water' should be amended to 'evolved to adapt to changing conditions over time or geological distribution.' Discus are a great example of this-- regarding what some call S. haraldi and others call S.aequifasciatus:

Definitive guide to Discus: part one - Practical Fishkeeping
"It is only found in clear water habitats, sometimes mixed with white water of pH ranging from 6.0-7.8, these conditions also making it the most easy to breed."

6.0-7.8. That's a wide range, and you can read the 2nd article in the series to see some of the other fish, including angels, that are often found with them. So-- not all discus actually come from very soft, low pH water, only certain species. Not all angelfish need very soft, low pH water, only certain ones (primarily altums).

 

[jjohnwm]

Three words say it all for me:

These. Are. Snails.

Unless the snails are the focus of the tank, and the fish mere sidelines...I still say that you should optimize the tank for the fish, not for the snails. Critters kept together should be chosen for similar care requirements. As duanes stated, there are other snails better suited to your water. Why re-invent the wheel?