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Post by copigeon on May 9, 2006 22:06:36 GMT
Ive been trying to find a powdered calcium supliment to put in food biscuits for my aquatic snails. And am curious if anyone has ever used limestone flour? For horses. Its essentially powdered calcium carbonate which is limestone...
Any experiences?
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Post by Paul on May 9, 2006 23:23:40 GMT
Not sure about limestone flour but I have some ideas... I was surprised at that mix shown on here the other day that was garden lime. I have some of that, if it's the same stuff, and it burns your skin when mixed with water. I've always been wary because there's allsorts of types of lime available and usually the examples of it's use have been from overseas, so I wonder if I'd be getting the same stuff. Powdered/Crushed oyster shell would be a good idea for the larger snails anyway but I've been wondering if whole oyster shells in the tank would be useful. Land snails can absorb calcium by dissolving calcium carbonate with their foot, so can Aquatic snails? It seems there'd be no reason they couldn't. The shells would also help with pH or at least take some of the damage equally to the snail should the water become acidic. I reckon the easiest way is to crush cuttlefish bones into powder. Daz sells it because it's easier to produce a lot rather than faff doing a little: www.invertsupplies.co.uk/product-26.htmland that is practically the same as the pure powdered calcium carbonate you can buy... and cheaper.
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Post by copigeon on May 10, 2006 11:47:53 GMT
Hmm, the problem is the price difference. 500g for £4 + postage. Or 2kg for £3 sold at a local tackshop. I believe limestone flour is the same calcium carbonate powder they sell for turtles, just in a larger amount. And Ive hear of apple snail biscuit recipes that use "horse calcium" which is I assume the same thing. Depends if they add any other chemical to it or if it is purely powdered limestone. Will have to visit the local mills and find out. If I wasnt trying to produce as much food as I am, the powdered cuttlefish would be fine, but as it stands £20 vs £3... If I crushed cuttlefish bone myself theres alot of fuss involved, and the cheapest place Ive found it is hays, Im still looking at £20 for 2kg of bones. I have crushed oyster shell, thats cheap as chips, sold at the local parrot house 2kg for £2 but, because its still not a powdered form when the snails pass it it just produces an unsightly layer of grit in the bottom of a black sand substrate tank :\ Can be purchased from www.surreypetsupplies.co.uk/
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Post by copigeon on Jul 2, 2006 18:54:56 GMT
I got some limetone flour with my 2 new fulicas. Any suggestions on how often and how much i should use? The snails are about 3cm.
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Post by copigeon on Jul 2, 2006 18:57:53 GMT
does anyone know what kind of shop would sell limestone flour ?
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Post by aprillinda on Jul 8, 2006 2:54:24 GMT
tortoise places sell limestone flour if this helps Shelled Warriors * Tread is locked, because there's too many same named treads around here about calsium. Let's write here next time we have some question or something else to say.. -> petsnails.proboards.com/index.cgi....lay&thread=8421 - CroSSLeSS *
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