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Shrimp substrate question.

No your dead right Ian the colour of the shrimp does not stand out very well.It served me well for learning a bit and it was cheap so i can't knock it.I have it in my hi tech 450L tank no problems,plants all grow well.I was a bit worried about it raising TDS and it is a bit magnetic,which im not sure would be good for a demanding shrimp nano.So will spend a bit of Euro for some Red Bee Sand and have a go!Cheers Mark
 
Hi guys my Shiakura Red Bee Sand should arrive soon.I was wondering when cycling the tank for a few weeks with plants only should I fill with a RO/Tap mix or just tap water?Is it necessary to remineralise the water during cycling process?Add mineral stone during cycling process or not?Any advice would be a great help🙂 cheers Mark.
 
What's your water parameters straight from the tap & with the ro mix as normally cycling a tank it will cycle quicker in harder water compared to soft water
I would add the mineral stone whilst cycling as these release minerals very slowly & will be perfect for when you are adding your shrimp
If mixing ro with tap water depending on the percentage of tap water used there may be no need to mineralise if using a 50/50 mix
 
Thanks for your good advice Graham.Did a few quick tests on tap water TDS 310,PH 8ish,KH 13,GH 18.Looks pretty good for Lake Malawi!!Pretty hard water.Reading a bit that I found on this substrate they say to use at least 20% tap and never straight RO as this could damage the substrate.The substrate is meant to stabilize the PH at about 6.5 lower KH to near 0 and drop GH being carefull not to go below 5.Like your comment that reminded me about bacteria growth is quicker in harder water.Let me know what you think.I think a mix of tap and RO not sure quite what kind of mix though.But will have a good few weeks without livestock so can play with it a bit and see what the substrate does to affect the levels.I have mineral stone,white powder and Chi Ebi from Shirakura allready.Cheers Mark
 
You could cycle your tank with no substrate using 100% tap water and when your cycle is finished lower the tds ph and gh with ro water a 50% straight ro water change should be about right then add your substrate and let it go to work on buffering the water
 
Almost had the tank going for 3 weeks with the Shirakura Red bee sand in.I was waiting to do the the water change with R/O water remineralising with bee shrimp GH+.Would this cause damage to the buffering capacity of the substrate?Cheers Mark
 
It wont affect it at all it will prolong the life of the substrate using mineralised ro water
I only use mineralised ro water in my set up with the shirakura red bee sand & know of plenty of others that are doing the same
 
Thanks Graham thats a wait off my mind while for me it is much easier just to get the R/o water add bee shrimp GH+ test the TDS is correct and water is sorted!Also people have said not to use water softners ie.guava,cattapa,banana leaves....which i would like to add with red bee sand.I am going to add them anyway as i think they do more benefit to the shrimp.Shirakura officialy say don't add them.Any views anyone?Cheers Mark
 
Adding a few leaves will make no difference to the water chemistry unless your planning on adding them by the handful there buffering abilities are pretty limited
Shirakura also say use 100% tap water for water changes if you followed this advice your soil would be knackered after a few months with water as hard as yours they don't state the parameters of the tap water they say to add so it could be soft 🙂 if adding mineralised ro water very close to the ph 6.5 & gh of 5 or 6 your soil will be doing very little work just steadying the ship so to say & will last way longer than the guide lines
 
Nice one exactly as i thought but allways good to hear it from someone else🙂 Tank has been running about 3 weeks now but will give it a bit longer.The parameters are looking good might put a few red cherry/Sakura in next week for a few days just to be extra sure there are no nasties in there!Then have to see what i am going to put in.There is a guy not to far away who could sell me low grade crs with taiwan bee gene for a decent price he also has various Tiger shrimp.Cheers Mark
 
You have some good options you could keep the F1's with sakura shrimp for a good mix
I would keep adding the bebi to feed the filter & build up a good layer of biofilm for the shrimp as well
 
Yes i am happy to have found somewhere that gives a bit of choice and a reasonable price it's not easy in Italy!I have not got any bebi but have been adding Shirakura Chi Ebi to try and get some micro organisms in the substrate and Seachem Stabilty for the filter sponges.Cheers Mark
 
Meant to say chi ebi works pretty much the same the only difference with the bebi is you can dose it directly into the substrate at set up as well as straight into the tank
Is the tank fully cycled now if so your ready for shrimp 🙂
 
Yes Graham,I'm happy with the parameters.I think fairly soon i will introduce some shrimp.Probably a few Red Sakura just for a bit of a test run before going with a caradina species.F1's definately looking favourite as my prefered choice🙂Cheers Mark.
 
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