Cuttlebone and Water Hardness

f8fan

f8fan

MFT Staff
#1
Nov 19, 2004
1,765
8
38
Bangor, Maine
#1
I have read that cuttlebone will increase the hardness of your water. I have really soft water from my tap, and have had difficulty keeping ghost shrimp alive - once they molt - they die. So, today, I purchased cuttle bones from the bird section at Petco in an effort to increase my water hardness.
These 11 ghost shrimp live in my 5 gallon tank along with my betta. How much cuttlebone should I place in the filter and how often? I put a quarter-sized piece in there tonight and noticed that it dissolves pretty quick. How often should I add cuttlebone? Should I add it to the filter or just plop it in the tank? And either way - how big of a piece and how often?
Thanks!
 

f8fan

f8fan

MFT Staff
#6
Nov 19, 2004
1,765
8
38
Bangor, Maine
#6
Sure - I'll give it a try, Jen. It's cuttle bone from a cuttle fish so I can't see how it would hurt....


Edit after 20 minutes after it being in the tank
Well, I put a quarter sized piece in the tank and they pecked at it once or twice, but then lost interest. They would peck at any new entry in the tank to see if it was food, I think. Now it's just floating in the corner....and they are looking at me like :eek:!!!!! gimme some krill! You're not serious! That isnt our supper tonight, is it????
 

Last edited:
radamsk1

radamsk1

Large Fish
#9
Apr 23, 2005
153
0
16
45
Long Island, NY
#9
I would monitor the KH to determine what's enough to raise it to the levels you're looking for. Once you get the idea, you can adjust the amounts added with water changes to maintain a specific water hardness.

I've always stayed away from fish that required hard waters since my tap is also extremely soft like yours, with 0 KH levels. It makes it quite hard to do my marine tanks since I can't get the pH levels up to around 8.3... imagine trying to do that with water with a pH of 5.4???? It's a pain in the ^*# with adding pH buffers and carbonate!!! *crazysmil
 

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