Calcium disks

[SnailerD]

Thanks for the information. I was afraid the fillers in the tablets would be a problem. I am needing something to add to help their shell growth. Those pills don't cloud the water? How many do you use and how often do you add them?

[Pollux]

no they dont cloud the water, if you put them in an area of high flow like a filter they will but soon the particles settle down onto the substrate. i add a couple at a time into a little bowl and replenish as they eat them.

[CrystalTears]

I'm considering buying some plaster of paris, but I don't have a home depot anywhere nearby. I'm going to look at walmart. I hope they have some of the brands talked about in this post.

I'm wondering about what to add to the cookies though... all I have is TetraMin brand Large Tropical Flakes 2.82 oz can that looks like:



Do you think this would work? My snails -love- this stuff. I have some algae disks somewhere but I can't find them. They're probably still packed up somewhere with all my other things. *Sigh*

Is there any way to dry the cookies out more quickly? I'm worried my snails aren't getting as much food as they need so I'm wanting something that will stay there and not cloud my water for them. And key... something that's cheap!

[PaulaO]

No, you can't use flakes or anything that is powdery, even wafer chunks. It will spoil in most cases. Also when you put it in the water, it will fall apart quickly.

You need to put in those little tiny bb looking food things. Sinking pellets I think they are called.

[CrystalTears]

Bah my pic won't show for some reason. *grumps* Anywho... alright. I'll have to buy some sinking pellets then and see how they do. Drats. They just love those flakes lol.

[rpilla001]

you mean that picture.. You had to crop off the .html off the end


Ace Hardware should have plaster of paris

[hellokitty]

Walmart has plaster of paris in the craft section. It is a smaller quantity than the bag at home depot. It is a box for about 5.97 I think. It is by the clay and stuff. I have looked for it before but I havent ever used it. Hope this helps you. Be sure to look at the ingredients.

[CrystalTears]

Oh huh... ok well thanks Rob lol I couldn't figure out what was going on with it. I was pretty tired while trying to do that so... lol guess that was the issue

No Ace hardware either. This place sucks. LOL I have this... place called Leonard's. It's sort of a... home and building supplies type store... so I think it's basically a hardware store. They sell wood and stuff like Home Depot.

I'll try the craft stuff at walmart as that's the closest and I don't want a huge bag. And for about 6 bucks, that'll let me get the pellet stuff to put in the cookies too. Whoo!

I'll try Leonard's if wally world doesn't have anything that appears pure.

[CrystalTears]

Whoo hoo! Got some plaster of paris and some diverse food stuffs and I made my first cookies. They look kinda funny lol but... I let them sit for several hours in front of the electric heater, then put them in the oven at 170 for several more hours and... just as a test... I put one in the big snail's tank and though it had some tiny pieces flake off (the snails ate those rather quickly), it's been in for over 24 hours and they've eaten down into it a good ways and still my water's clear.

[RandySr1]

Here is the tab I made out of plaster of paris and added some sinking goldfish food to it. Everyone in the tank loved it. The plecos in my tank suck on it for a long time too.

[PaulaO]

Yeah, my bristlenoses love to eat the pucks. So do shrimp.

[Pollux]

my corys do too.

[Annie Anderson]

so do my cherry shrimp

[~Donna~]

I'm gonna try making some plaster of paris cookies!
I'm in England and we dont have Home Depot's over here. Do i get one thats got just calcium (someone posted a pic of the ingredients on their bag and it was three different calcium summats or others)? Gonna add some algae wafers in them too!

[Franco]

I don't think algae wafers work with them. They make the disks rot. The only thing that works is a low fat (15% or less---preferably less than 10%) sinking pellet food. Goldfish pellets, kelp pellets, and betta pellets are some that I have tried. I've also put some freeze dried blood worms in there with no ill effects. If you add spirulina powder it makes them fall apart in the water. You can experiment with different recipes but only make small batches so that you aren't wasting fish food.